Click here for a pdf listing of Lenten services, classes, recitals, suppers, and other events.

Mark your calendars -- the annual Shrove Tuesday celebration is Tuesday, February 17, at 6:15 p.m. in the Galleries! Celebrate with a FEAST of jambalaya, chicken, and waffles! Don't miss this great night of great food by the J2A youth and parents. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Afterwards we transition from Epiphany to Lent with Night Prayer and Burning of the Palms at 7 p.m.

On Ash Wednesday, March 5, St. Philip's offers four services. Holy Eucharist Rite I and Imposition of Ashes will be at 7:30 a.m. and Holy Eucharist Rite II with Imposition of Ashes will be at noon. At 5:30 p.m. there will be an All-Generations Ash Wednesday service (no Eucharist), and at 7 p.m. the St. Philip's Singers will lead a Sung Eucharist Rite II with Imposition of Ashes.

In addition, the "Ash Mob" from St. Philip's will be administering ashes at various locations around town, including the NW YMCA, Starbucks and the River Walk at Campbell, and Raging Sage. Team members will also take ashes to a women's and a men's transitional residence of Old Pueblo Community Services, as well as Campana Del Rio. Consider joining in this transformative experience -- by spending 1-2 hours that day you can be a gift while receiving immeasurable blessings. For more information call Geri Smith at 744-3230 or Rev. Vicki Hesse at 299-6421 (x33).

At the 11:15 a.m. worship services on three Sundays during Lent -- March 8, 15, and 22 -- our liturgy will be inspired by the ancient Sarum Rite of Anglican tradition. The Sarum Rite was the liturgical form used in most of the English Church prior to the introduction of the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549. In keeping with the time period of the liturgical language, the Scripture readings will be taken from the King James Bible. Incense will be used at these services. These special services will draw from ancient prayer forms that will invite our prayer and reflection through this sacred season.

St. Philip's Friends of Music presents noontime recitals during Lent on Thursdays at 12:15 p.m. beginning February 19. An array of talented local instrumentalists and vocalists will provide forty minutes of music -- an entertaining and relaxing way to spend your lunch hour. On Thursday, February 19, tenor Mitchell Sturges, with pianist Woan Ching Lim, perform musical settings of texts by James Joyce and Shakespeare. On Thursday, February 26, Skyline Flutes present French Flute Fantasy. The all-star ensemble -- founder Jerry Ervin, Fran Moskovitz, Christine Harper and Sandy Schwoebel -- performs selections by French composers, as well as American in Paris. Other recitals are listed on the schedule of upcoming Lenten events.

St. Philip's and Temple Emanu-El will join to present a special spring retreat weekend: Exploring the Pilgrimage of Life. It will be a weekend for growth, renewal, and community building with the Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, on March 20-22. Explore the pilgrimage of your life, your tradition, and our wider community during this inspiring weekend. Activities include Shabbat service at Temple Emanu-El on Friday, March 20; breakfast followed by teachings on Saturday morning, March 21, at St. Philip's ("The Way of the Heart"); vegetarian potluck lunch at noon and afternoon teaching at Temple-Emanu-El ("The Journey Home"); and morning worship at St. Philip's on Sunday, at 7:45, 9, and 11:15 a.m. Suggested donation $25; childcare available. To register contact the Rev. Greg Foraker at greg.foraker@stphilipstucson.org. Click here for more information.

Plans are underway to continue our tradition of an All-Night Reading of Dante's Inferno from the evening of Maundy Thursday, April 2, to Good Friday, April 3. There are many ways to participate in this inspiring night.

If you would like to be reader a Canto this year this year, contact Angela Wakeham or John Smith.

If you would like to offer music during this vigil, contact Anne Cotten.

If you would like to be a host for a portion of the vigil this year, contact Bob Stanton or Lance Dickinson.

To help spread the word about the vigil in the community, contact Julia Annas or Fabian Alfie.

To join in the preparations the night of the vigil, contact Kevin Justus.

Join the Rev. Vicki Hesse for a meditative hike at Catalina State Park, Romero Ruins Trail, on Saturday, February 21, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. We will stop for prayer and meditation in an ancient Hohokam village site. Bring hats, water, and sunscreen! We will meet at 12:30 p.m. in Catalina State Park in the Romero Ruins parking lot (across from the sign for the Romeo Ruins trail), and eat our bag lunches in the picnic pavilion before starting out. Bring items to share if you like. This is a short 3/4 mile walk, with stops for prayer and meditation. Please be aware that there are 77 gradual steps up to the Ruin -- but, you will be able to take your time, stop, and look at God's beauty. Please RSVP to Abby Marier or call 825-4878.

"Three Years of Silence: An Evening of Stories and Relevant Wisdom from Three Years of Meditation" will be presented on Tuesday, February 24, at 7 p.m. in the Children's Chapel. Will Duncan, who recently completed a traditional 3-year silent retreat, will talk about five lessons he learned and the relevance of those lessons for us in our busy lives. Known for the humor and light-heartedness of his teaching style, he strives to bring to life the brilliance and usefulness of the ancient spiritual traditions.

Please plan to join us on Saturday, February 28, for our annual Bach Marathon at St. Philip's. This celebration of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach begins at 10 a.m. with a program entitled "Light and Dark" -- organists Woosug Kang and Jeffrey Campbell explore major and minor key organ works, including preludes and fugues, a trio sonata, and chorale preludes which traverse the range of baroque affects in music of sublime genius. Follow the morning concert with a "Bach's lunch," available to order at the door. Then, at 2 p.m., a fabulous program from famed organist Dr. Kimberly Marshall, entitled "Handel and Bach -- Cosmopolitans of the Organ." Dr. Marshall makes a welcome return to the St. Philip's Holtkamp organ, in works that trace the similarities and differences between these two Baroque giants, as well as the influence on the French nineteenth century symphonic organ school. This program includes the mighty Passacagilia in c minor. More information on the Friends of Music web site. On Sunday morning, March 1, at both the 9 and 11:15 a.m. services, the St. Philip's Singers, soloists, and chamber orchestra under the direction of Woosug Kang will present Bach's uplifting Cantata 4, Christ lag in todesbanden, in the context of morning worship. Dr. Jeffrey Campbell will perform organ music of Bach.

St. Philip's and St. Michael's Border and Immigration Ministries present a Lenten Retreat on Saturday, March 7, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Michael and All Angels. Keynote speaker is the Rev. Sean Carroll, S.J., Executive Director of Kino Border Initiative, speaking on the topic "The Spirituality of Migrants and What They Teach Us As People of Faith." Other sessions include "Our Identity As People Of Migration," "The Migration Story in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament," "The Journey's Ending and Beginning," and Eucharist with the Rev. John Smith, Rector of St. Michael's, celebrating. Retreatants activities such as sacred readings, prayer, private reflection and journaling, and labyrinth walking, as well as discussion in small and large groups. The sanctuary and labyrinth will be open for individual meditation during the final hour of the retreat. We will plan post-retreat opportunities for action. The cost is $25 including materials and lunch. To register, make your check out to St. Michael and All Angels, Social Action Committee; send it with your name, phone, e-mail address, and church affiliation, if any, to Lenten Retreat, P.O. Box 40884, Tucson, AZ 85717. For more information call 207-9114. Deadline for registration is March 2.

Lord, you have searched me out and know me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; You discern my thoughts from afar.
What thoughts do you wish to share with God? What are your concerns? Your joys? Consider taking the journey to Confirmation, Reception, or Reaffirmation for adults beginning on Sunday, March 22, and continuing through May 17. The Rt. Rev. Kirk Stevan Smith will celebrate Confirmation with us on Sunday, May 24. Call the Rev. Greg Foraker in the church office (299-6421) to register.

SAVE THE DATE -- Sunday, April 19 -- for the first and fabulous gourmet multi-course dinner to raise funds for the St. Philips After School Music and Homework Program. Dinner will begin at 6 p.m. in the Galleries. This will be an evening to remember-and for a very good cause. Winter members and frequent flyers, make your travel reservations accordingly-you will want to be here for this first-time culinary event. Volunteers to help cook and serve needed. Contact Jean Cooper or call 529-4961 to volunteer.

Two noted theologians have become Advisors to the Library Committee at St. Philip's. The Rev. Dr. Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, a Professor of Practical Theology at Claremont Theological Seminary and Professor of Anglican Studies at Bloy House in the Diocese of Los Angeles, and Dr. Darleen Pryds, Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality and a medieval historian at the Franciscan School of Theology at Berkeley and San Diego, California, are presently serving as advisors for the expansion of library books and audio visual capacities. They will send annual recommendations for book purchases to the Library Committee.

Dr. Kujawa-Holbrook is retreat leader for the special Interfaith Spring Retreat Weekend offered jointly by St. Philip's and Temple Emanu-El, entitled "Exploring the Pilgrimage of Life." Click here for more information.