-
2/17: Shrove Tuesday, 5 - 7 pm. This "Feast before the Fast" meal of pancakes and sausage is a celebration of the good things we're setting aside as we begin Lent disciplines. Our youth lead this and take up a freewill donation to help fund their ministries through the year.
-
2/18: Ash Wednesday, 12 Noon or 6:30 pm. We offer two opportunities to begin Lent with worship at Ash Wednesday. This service traditionally reflects on our need of God, and includes marking our foreheads with ashes.
-
3/29: Palm Sunday, 8:30 and 10:30 am. Our Palm Sunday worship services include gathering in the Parish Hall and processing our way towards the sanctuary, remembering Jesus's entry into Jerusalem. We hear the story of the cross at this service, and prepare for Holy Week.
-
4/2: Maundy Thursday, 6:30 pm. From the Latin "Mandatum" for "Commandment," this Thursday evening service begins the 3-day connected worship called the "Triduum." On Thursday, we remember the new commandment Jesus gave to be known as his followers by our love, and the creation of the Eucharist through the Last Supper. The service ends quietly, marking the time Jesus departed with his friends for the garden of Gethsemane, to pray until he was arrested.
-
4/3: Good Friday, Noon and 6:30 pm. On Good Friday, we will walk the Stations of the Cross at Noon; this is a brief and traditional service marking the steps of the crucifixion. At 6:30, we will hold the Good Friday service, which includes a reading of the Passion of Jesus. This continues the Triduum, and again ends in silence as we move to the third service.
-
4/4: Holy Saturday, 6:30 pm. The Holy Saturday service and the Great Vigil of Easter moves us through scriptures that foreshadow the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We kindle a new fire for the Paschal (Easter) Candle, chant an ancient hymn called the Exsultet, and move from darkness into light. The first proclamation of the Easter comes midway through, and we celebrate the resurrection together again.
-
4/5: Easter Sunday, 8:30 and 10:30 am. We celebrate the Easter mass by proclaiming that Christ is Risen! We do hold an Easter Egg Hunt In Between Services.
-
4/12: UTO Ingathering Sunday, 8:30 and 10:30 am. We will have a special prayer at this service for all coins collected throughout Lent, praying with the United Thank Offering for the big work these small offerings add up to.
| |  | Spending Lent in Jerusalem | |
Lent has long been a season for Christians to spend the 40 days before Easter in a time of particular prayer, discipline, and study. Our worship services wrap around this, and many people take up a personal commitment — a "fast" from something we enjoy (ideally, something that distracts us from the deepest ways we can love God or neighbor), or commitment to a discipline through this time. We have some specific things we do together: worship becomes quieter, and we refrain from proclaiming the word "Alleluia" through the season. We even decorate a banner with Alleluia written on it and hide it away throughout Lent. We'll also have some special activities — the United Thank Offering, which collects coins through Lent and gathers them with prayer the Sunday after Easter, and a Lent Madness voting game run by Forward Movement in the broader Episcopal Church, which learns about saints and other examples of faith.
For years, I've found myself at the end of Lent, thinking during Holy Week, "I wish we had more time to talk about everything that happens in this week." This year, we're making the time! Throughout Wednesdays in March, and at the Thursday noontime Bible Study, we'll talk about the days of Holy Week (see separate box). We'll prepare deeper teaching and discussion prompts, with the goal that attending these sessions will enrich your understanding and worship this year and for a lifetime to come. We're very excited to offer this special class, and hope you have a chance to attend on Wednesday evenings or Thursdays at noon! See the box below for more info, and feel free to bring a friend to any part of it!
Fr Ben †
| | | Wednesday Evening/Thursday Noon Program: Lent in Jerusalem | |
On Wednesday evening and (Thursdays at noon) in March, we'll have special classes during Lent, focusing on the events of Holy Week, so we can take our time learning about the days that Jesus spent there with his disciples before the cross, tomb, and coming Easter. Our Wednesday evening program will include all-parish dinner at 6, a talk for youth and adults at 6:30, Lego Lessons about Holy Week for K-5th grade at 6:30, and discussion groups for adults and youth at 7:00 (adults with K-5th graders may excuse themselves for bedtime or have them stay with Legos through til 7:30). The Youth Group will meet until 8 for their usual fellowship. See chart of Wednesday evening schedule below.
March 4th: Teachings on Palm Sunday. What did it mean for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem? How did he and the disciples prepare beforehand? What was happening in Jerusalem that week? What did the disciples fear, understand, or hope for?
March 11th: Teachings in Jerusalem. Between his entrance on Palm Sunday and the Last Supper, Jesus spent days in Jerusalem, visiting the Temple and teaching the disciples. What were these lessons, and how did they fit into all that happened that week?
March 18th: Teachings on Maundy Thursday. "On the night before he died," as our Eucharistic prayers say, Jesus did quite a bit. He offered the "farewell discourses" to his friends. He instituted the Eucharist. He gave a New Commandment. He identified Judas as his betrayer. He withdrew with the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, and prayed his most human prayer to God. Come, take some time with all of this, and learn about this night both fraught and hopeful.
March 25th: Teachings on Good Friday and the Tomb. As Pilate and Herod put Jesus on trial, his Passion puts everyone around him on trial in turn. What is at stake for the disciples, for Peter, for Nicodemus, for the crowds, for Mary, for Herod, and for Christ himself, as the world offers God a cross in response to an Incarnate Son? We will look ahead to the traditions of the tomb as our Lent nears the coming of Holy Week and Easter.
| | Practicing Gratitude During Lent with UTO | | The United Thank Offering is a longtime ministry of the Episcopal Church, using "little blue boxes" made of cardboard to collect coins at home. The invitation is simple: as you feel grateful for something, put a coin in the box as an act of thanks and prayer. We will have boxes available throughout Lent, and invite people to keep them near a stash of coins at home to pray. On Sunday, April 12th, we'll have Ingathering prayers at both Sunday services, give thanks for our collected boxes, and send them on to UTO. These funds go to support ministries throughout the world — up to one per diocese — with grants small and great. Locally, Magdalene Omaha started up with support from a UTO grant of over $30,000 several years ago ... little offerings from our thanks add up to big projects! Our diocesan coordinator is St A's member Barb Hall, so please reach out to her with more questions or to help with the coffee hour celebration on 4/12! | | Since 2010, Lent Madness has offered a fun way to pray and learn through Lent. Each day, two saints or holy people are paired against one another, with "celebrity bloggers" from throughout The Episcopal Church writing reflections about their life and example. People from throughout the church can vote (you included!) on the website, with the popular winner of each day advancing towards the "Golden Halo" award ... don't think too hard about potential idolatry; this is for fun! We'll have a bracket up at church to track things week by week as we learn more about the saints of God! CLICK HERE for more information. | | | | |
