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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 Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church...
This child changed the world
From Isaiah Chapter 9:
For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given;
and the government shall be upon His shoulder;
and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
These words of Isaiah are often seen as words that foretell and foreshadow the coming of Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary. The truth is, these words befit Him because this child changed the world. This child changes lives. This child changes us.
I remember when our oldest daughter was a baby. My wife and I were young. We were footloose and fancy-free. It was just the two of us newlyweds, so if we wanted to go out to eat dinner, we went out to eat dinner. If we decided to go to a movie at the last minute, we just went. We actually felt like we had money back then. And we did have a little bit of discretionary income. We could pretty much do what we wanted to do, within reason, and we didn't have to think too much about the consequences or impact of a spontaneous decision and what we had to do to make that happen.
And then, all of a sudden, this little, innocent human being, a little child, came into our lives, and literally gained control over our entire world. Before we could do anything else we had to think about, "Who's going to keep the baby?" or "Is this a good time for us to go without the baby?" We soon learned that we were not in control of our lives anymore. Even our sleeping patterns became very different. We would stay awake when the baby was awake and we went to sleep when the baby went to sleep. Literally this child began to control our lives and the child didn't even know she was doing it. And then we had a second one she did the exact same thing. And I've since learned that that's what babies do. When they arrive they take over! And their parents begin to develop their lives around this child. To mold their entire lives around this precious needy baby.
Isaiah wrote, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given...and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." This child who was born of Mary changes everything. This child born in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes changes how we live. This child born to the sound of angels singing Gloria in excelcis Deo - this child to whom the wise ones came from afar bearing gifts - this child, changed the way the entire world works.
And this Jesus, born into a world torn by strife and hatred and division and pain and poverty, this child is born anew wherever men and women say, "I'll follow Him. I'll follow Him as my Savior. I'll follow Him as my Lord."
When this child grew up, He said His reason for coming, again quoting Isaiah, from the 61st chapter, he said,
The spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach Good News to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty all those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
This child, when He grew up, came to show us the way to live lives of love, lives of compassion, lives of goodness, lives of kindness, lives of justice. This child came to show us how to change the world. So this Christmas, make room for him to change us. This Christmas help us change the world. And make a new commitment, to go out from this day, to let this Christmas Day, be the first day of a new world.
God bless you. God keep you. Have a blessed Christmas. A Happy New Year. And go on out and change the world!
The Most Rev. Michael Curry
Christmastide
in our
Shared Ministry
Trinity Church, Hampton
Christmas Eve
7:30 p.m. Christmas Carol Sing
8:00 p.m. Festival Eucharist, Rite Two
with music and choirs
Christmas Day
8:45 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite One
8:45 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite Two
no 5:00 p.m. service Dec. 31
The Epiphany
Saturday, January 7
5:00 p.m. The Epiphany Feast of Lights
8:45 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite Two with the renewal of baptismal vows
Christ Church, Portsmouth
Christmas Eve
4:30 p.m. Christmas Carol Sing
5:00 p.m. Festival Eucharist, Rite Two
family-friendly service with children's sermon
Christmas Day
10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite Two
Feast of the Holy Name
January 1
10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite Two
The Baptism of Christ
10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Rite Two
with the renewal of baptismal vows
One change from our usual Christmastide practice
On Sunday, Jan. 1, the Feast of the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ (some of us know it better as New Year's Day), there will be services in each of our churches as usual, but...one recent tradition will be omitted this year.
It has been our custom to hold a service of Lessons and Carols on the first Sunday after Christmas, but this year, anticipating the likelihood that a number of us might choose to sleep in, we've decided to forgo Lessons and Carols. By the following weekend, we will have moved into Epiphany, which has its own tradition to uphold: the Feast of Lights service, which we've set for Saturday evening at 5:00 at Trinity Church. We're hoping to follow it with a fellowship event of some sort, but plans for that are but now forming.
We make this decision reluctantly, but it seems to be the most sensible course. We will miss hearing the familiar stories and the joyful carols, and will look for them again a year from now.
Epiphany Feast of Lights
Saturday, Jan. 7 at 5:00 p.m. at Trinity Church
The Feast of Lights is one of the oldest observances of the Christian Church dating back to the Fourth Century after Christ. Introduced here five years ago, it is a moving, candlelight service that celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the world.
This year, we will celebrate it at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 7 - with a festive "Twelfth Day" gathering to follow. Bring any "leftover" Christmas goodies to share.
If you have not yet experienced this service, you are in for a remarkable worship opportunity. Do plan to join us!
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, who we suggest seeing themselves as Prayer Partners. As in the past, about once every six weeks, we will instead using the Shared Ministry Collect. The next two weeks, please hold in your prayers...
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Dec. 25
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No cycle of prayer for Christmas Day
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Jan. 1
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Trinity Church Altar Guild
Prayer Partners: Barbara Allen; Alberta True;
Howard & Nancy Stiles
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Annual Meetings...and Annual Reports
Annual Meetings are coming up in both of our churches this January. At Trinity Church, the meeting will be at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 22. At Christ Church, the meeting will follow the 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday, Jan. 29.
Annual reports are due to the shared ministry office no later than Friday, Jan. 6 (earlier is better!). Conveners of all committees as well as activity/ group coordinators are asked to submit reports. Please email these to trinity55ad@gmail.com. Thank you!
Christmas Home Communion
The Sacrament of Holy Eucharist is available to any church member at home or in the hospital who desires to receive it. Fr. Chip will be setting aside time during Christmas week to make visits. If you find yourself temporarily sick or confined at home or in the hospital and would like communion brought to you, please call the shared ministry office, 603-926-5688, to set up a convenient time.
An important note about year-end charitable giving for 2016
Internal Revenue Service regulations regarding year-end giving are quite precise - and are enforced vigorously. Please be aware that gifts in check form made by mail must be postmarked by Dec. 31 to qualify as a gift in the current tax year. Gifts given in person cannot be back-dated to 2016 if physically given in 2017. The date on the check is irrelevant to the tax treatment of that check. The date of transmittal if mailed, or receipt if delivered in person, is the determining date for tax purposes.
Assisi House seeks intern placements
As you gather with your loved ones who are home to visit family and friends this Advent season, please let them know about a new opportunity from the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire. Assisi House, our Episcopal Service Corps site in New Hampshire, invites young adults, age 21-29, to serve at a partnering nonprofit or social service agency for one year (Sept. 2017-Aug. 2-18). Interns live together in an intentional community, work 32 hours a week at a local nonprofit, and gather weekly for reflection and training.
If you have a family member or colleague with a willingness to live simply and serve compassionately, we hope they will consider applying to be a part of Assisi House.
Intern placements at New Hampshire nonprofit organizations will include roles such as volunteer coordinators, teaching assistants, advocacy and community organizers and outreach coordinators. Intern applications are being accepted now, and more information can be found at www.escnh.org. Questions can be directed to Program Director Laura Simoes at any time during the holiday break: lsimoes@nhepiscopal.org.
Coming in January 2017...
Love your Muslim neighbor as yourself
 This program will look at the basic tenets of Islam. We live in an era in which much of what passes as information about Islam is "disinformation" rooted in stereotype and watered by fear.
This program will weed out the tares of ignorance by speaking to some actual Muslims and to Christian scholars who will provide us with the tools of "fact-based" knowledge. We will gain a harvest of reliable information about what our Muslim neighbors believe, and about how they live out their faith.
When: Thursdays, Jan. 5th thru Feb. 2nd, 2017, 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Corpus Christi Parish Hall, St. James Church,
2075 Lafayette Rd., Portsmouth
Program facilitator is the Rev. Bayard P. Herndon, M.A., M.Div., a United Methodist pastor. There is no cost for the program. To pre-register, call Carol at Corpus Christi Parish, 436-4555 ext. 15.
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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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