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Ash Wednesday for Children
5pm Tuesday February 12th, Undercroft
Ash Wednesday is hard enough for adults to understand but the children see adults walking around with smudges on their foreheads and wonder what is going on. Ash Wednesday is an experience more than a service. We burn some of last years palms, show a short clip of the Lion King, talk about the cycle of life and then give each child, who wishes to do so, a chance to impose the palm ashes on themselves or another child's forehead. It takes about 20 minutes.
Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper
February 12th, 5:30 to 7:30 pm, undercroft.
On Shrove Tuesday folks used to clean the house of fats in preparation for the penitential and sacrificial season of lent. One way to use up the fats was to make pancakes and so a tradition was born. This year our Youth Group is making and serving the pancakes and sausages and requesting donations toward defraying the mission work in which they are involved.
Ash Wednesday Services
February 13th
10 AM at All Saints' in the church. A traditional Episcopal Ash Wednesday service with the reading of lessons, a short homily, the imposition of ashes, the Litany of Penance and Holy Communion.
7PM at the First Congregational Church of Wolfeboro. A joint service with the Congregationalists which is contemporary in nature so both have an opportunity to observe Ash Wednesday and "contemporary" worship. The service will include sections on forgiveness with the imposition of ashes, Communion and renewal-renewal being one of the basic themes of Lent.
Evening Prayer Weekday Evenings in Lent
February 14th - March 22nd, 5:15 p.m.
Evening Prayer was one of the new services designed and published in the first Anglican Prayer Book. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (1489-1546) took ancient monastic services and combined them to form Morning and Evening Prayer services. Each parish church received a bible and the clergy were required to lead these services in a language the people could understand reading through the whole of the Old and New Testament each year. It is a service of the Word, the biblical Word, giving the people a chance to hear, be inspired, led, understand the bible for themselves without Church directed interpretation.
Lenten Suppers and Study
Monday evenings during Lent at 6:00 p.m.(soup and sandwich)
6:30 p.m. (study) beginning Monday February 25th, undercroft.
The themes of Lent: prayer, penitence, fasting and the giving of alms are, to some large degree, foreign to our culture so many Episcopal parishes set time aside during Lent for the exploration and experiencing of them. A "lite supper" - soup and bread, cheese and fruit are ways of experiencing fasting. Study and discussion gives us a chance to explore these themes so unfamiliar to contemporary parlance. The Rev Rob Hirschfeld, our new Bishop, has asked those preparing for the annual retreat of the Commission on Ministry to read, The Mystic Way of Evangelism. Though most Episcopalians are into neither mysticism nor evangelism, this is an excellent book and the subjects are very important to our new Bishop who will be visiting and leading our parish for worship on Palm Sunday, March 24th, 2013. The book also lays out one way Episcopal parishes, members and leaders can go about discovering a new and powerful way to be Church in the future. Since none of us know the future into which we are moving but do know that there is a keen interest in spirituality, meditation and service on the part of many who are not yet members of our parishes, we thought that studying this book would be a good way to prepare for the Bishop's visit, get to know something about core issues to him and traditional Lenten themes, we hope you will join us for these discussions. Presentations summarizing the book will make it easier for those not able to read it to be part of our explorations. Please volunteer to make a pot of soup for one of the suppers if you can. All are asked to bring bread or cheese or fruit to share which makes it easier for those coming straight from work to participate. If you prefer to have a sandwich - the All Saints' tradition, bring one.
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