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Worship Services
The Rev. David "Chip" Robinson
Vicar
All people of faith are welcome to receive Holy Communion at the Lord's Table
1035 Lafayette Road
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Rite II at 10:30 am
Coffee Hour follows
Clergy office hours
Tues & Thurs 9am-12noon
200 High St.
Hampton, NH 03842
Saturday Rite l at 5pm
Rite II at 8:45 am
Coffee Hour after the service
Clergy office hours
Mon & Wed 9am-12 noon
The Vicar's sermons can be found by clicking on the link for either church and going to the Worship page.
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(603) 431-1809
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at Trinity Church, Hampton
(603) 929-7349
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Episcopal Churches on the Seacoast
Seacoast Convocation
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Ministry Schedule
Christ Church
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Going into the hospital?
Due to privacy laws, churches are no longer routinely informed if you or a loved one is admitted to the hospital. Please be sure you let us know when and where you will be a patient so we can be in touch with you and include you in our prayers and healing ministry. Don't assume the Vicar knows - he would much rather hear from several people than from no one!
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From the Vicar...
Advent: a season that seems to get lost in our culture
Advent is a season that seems to get lost in our culture. While the rest of the world lights up for the mid-winter season's crazy blend of commercialism, festivity and cultural Christianity, most of our Episcopal Churches remain rather unadorned, and what one commentator described as "preciously uncontaminated by the happy secularism all around us."
There's a reason for this. Advent was created to be a contemplative time - perhaps not as overtly penitential as Lent, but surely not celebrative. It's more about preparing our hearts than decorating our churches and homes. It's about deepening and growing our relationship with God, not about deepening our debt as we spend this time buying, buying, buying.
The earliest references in any surviving documents to what we now call "Advent" come from as far back as 336 AD when the obscure Christian writer Philatrius, in his essay "Epiphania," mentioned that following the example of the fast that precedes Easter, there was "the fast before Christmas" that had been adopted in Rome previous to that date - and later on in Gaul. Indeed, a penitential, contemplative Advent is older than the Nicene Creed (which wasn't completed until 381)!
This penitential emphasis is most evident in the lectionary for last Sunday and this coming Sunday - the cycle of readings surrounding the ministry of John the Baptist. What is the message John preaches to prepare his listeners for the advent of Christ? He preaches repentance, conversion - a change in our normal routine, a shaking up of our spiritual complacency. Whatever the world around us might be doing in its headlong rush to Christmas, it assuredly is not about what John the Baptist is proclaiming.
In my first parish in Massachusetts, the Episcopal and Lutheran churches were across the street from each other. As if to outline how different our message was from that of the world, my Lutheran colleague printed up a sign in purple ink saying "We Are Keeping Advent" and put it up in his churchyard. After some goading from my Lutheran friend, we put a similar sign out in front of our church. I have no idea if anyone "got" what we were saying - but it felt good to get out there with the statement and let it be known...even as, on another part of our property, we were selling Christmas trees!
I would suggest that we each make a simple decision as the final weeks of this season unfold: either decide to keep Advent as the contemplative, penitential season it was meant to be, or join the secular world in its paroxysms of loud noise, flashy colors, heaps of money, and madness. I, for one, choose the former.
Fr. Chip
P.S.: A Lutheran clergy colleague recently introduced me to a great resource for some sound Advent devotionals. Click on this link http://ccca.biola.edu/advent/ and check it out!
Bylaw forum this Sunday at Christ Church
Last winter, the Bishop's Committee authorized the formation of a working group to review our bylaws in both congregations. That committee has now completed its work, and the documents they produced were approved unanimously at the October Bishop's Committee meeting. You will find the proposed bylaws online at www.trinityhampton.org/contact.htm and www.christepiscopalchurch.us/contact.htm. On both pages, the actual link is in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.
Prior to their presentation at the 2017 Annual Meetings (Jan. 22 at Trinity; Jan. 29 at Christ Church), there will be a public forum at each church to introduce the proposed bylaws and respond to any questions you may have. Trinity Church's forum was this past Sunday. Christ Church's forum will be this coming Sunday, Dec. 11 at noon.
If approved at our two annual meetings, the proposed new Bylaws will then be submitted to the Standing Committee of the Diocese for final approval.
A new approach to our Shared Ministry Cycle of Prayer
Each week, in both of our churches, we pray for one ministry we share and one or two households in each church. At this fall's Cottage Conversations, however, a whole new model for this ministry of prayer emerged. The suggestion was made that, instead of just listing the names, we be directly in touch with those listed and suggest they form a prayer partnership with one another (purely on a voluntary basis - no one is forcing you to if you find that uncomfortable). As some of the names are from one church, some from the other, this would help folks get to know one another across congregational boundaries. As in the past, about once every six weeks, we will instead using the Shared Ministry Collect we prayed throughout the opening months of our Shared Ministry.
Your feedback on this new initiative is welcomed. Meanwhile, please hold in your prayers...
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Dec. 11
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Our Shared Ministry Administrator, Nita Niemczyk
Prayer Partners: John & Tena Wolf;
Robert & Phoebe Bischoff
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Dec. 18
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Our Music Director, Alexis Zaricki
Prayer Partners: Suzanne George, Amanda;
Dave & Fran Plank
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Three ways you can help us reach out... 
Through the Salvation Army Giving Tree at Christ Church
Christ Church is wrapping up its Salvation Army "giving tree" tradition. Tags are hanging from the tree for you to choose. Each tag lists the gender and approximate age of a child in need. You can buy a toy, plus something useful such as an item of warm clothing, and bring your present to put under the tree by this Sunday, Dec. 11. There is also a box for canned goods to donate to the Salvation Army.
Through the Vicar's Discretionary Fund
Please keep in mind the Vicar's Discretionary Fund when planning your year-end charitable gifts. The Vicar's Discretionary Fund is used to help the needy in our community and to help finance non-budgeted charitable efforts that come along from time to time. Individual donations are always welcome and are tax deductible. Checks are made payable to your church, with the memo, Vicar's Discretionary Fund.
Through Christmas Gifts for lasting change
Episcopal Relief and Development, the international relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church of the U.S., invites friends and supporters to honor loved ones with alternative holiday gifts to benefit people living in poverty. Check ERD's Gifts for Life online Christmas catalog for a range of gifts in all price categories, from a fruit tree or mosquito net to a smokeless stove or a solar energy system. What a great way to make a difference and share God's love with those most in need.
Heifer International is another very worthy organization with an online Gift Catalog allowing you to give meaningful gifts to your loved ones while helping children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant. $10 will buy one share of a goat or sheep, while $20 provides a flock of chicks or geese. These make great gifts for teachers, as well as nieces/nephews and grandchildren, especially when paired with a Heifer-related children's book like Beatrice's Goat or Flora and the Runaway Rooster.
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Contacts
The Rev. David "Chip" Robinson, Vicar
Christ Episcopal Church, 1035 Lafayette Road, Portsmouth, NH 03801
phone: 603-436-8842
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-Noon
Trinity Episcopal Church, 200 High Street, Hampton, NH 03842
Shared Ministry Administrator: Nita Niemczyk
phone: 603-926-5688
Office hours: Monday-Friday from 9:00-1:00
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