As we approach Easter in this time of Pandemic, once more, many of the rites and symbols of these days will have to be adapted. That's true also of some of the practical aspects this season brings to our community life. The following section, therefore, is to address some questions that have come up in recent days.
We will gather, as we have been since last March, on Zoom. But unlike last year's Holy Week, we have the option to gather in person. The online option may enable some to experience the Triduum services.
The Sacred Three Days, (Triduum), of Maundy Thursday (7PM), Good Friday (7PM), and the Great Vigil (7PM), will be celebrated in our sanctuary. However, our Easter Sunday Morning Eucharist (10AM), will take place in St. Mary's Hall. This is due to the ability for us to safely accommodate more people in the Hall.
If you plan on joining worship in the Hall on Easter Morning, please call (631-749-0770), or email ([email protected]), the office by Good Friday morning, so that we have an idea of how we should set up the hall. But of course, come anyway even if you don't..
We will be having Easter Flowers. With most of us attending online we couldn't do the usual hard copy request for remembrances. Therefore if you would like to place names in the PDF leaflet that will be emailed Holy Saturday and in the hard copies used Easter Morning in the Hall, please send an email, ([email protected]), to the office by Maundy Thursday. Please share with us the names you want included and which type of dedication:
Donor's Name
In Loving Memory:
In Honor of:
In Thanksgiving for:
In Celebration of:
You can also phone the request in, (631-749-0770), but email helps us make sure the spellings are correct.
Any donations you may wish to give towards the Easter Flowers can be given to St. Mary's at a later time. Make checks payable to St. Mary's Church
(note: -Easter Dedication- on the check memo line)
Envelopes for the Easter Offering are in the mail. For those who have been using our online donation page, anything given online using the Rector's Discretionary Fund link, for the next two weeks, will be credited as Easter Offering for the Parish rather than the "RDF". This is because we only have two donation options currently on our donation page.
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Holy Week, the holiest week of the Christian year, has begun for us at St. Mary’s. We have waved our branches and shouted Hosanna as Jesus enters Jerusalem. We hail him as King and hope that he will shine his glory upon us. Now comes Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Great Vigil of Easter.
As we walk alongside Jesus, he invites us to share a meal, but first he kneels before us and washes our feet. By this sign we have been given the great mandatum, mandate,(in Old English.. Maundy), "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." It is a night of remembrance when the Passover meal becomes the Paschal feast. It is also the night of Jesus' betrayal. When he is arrested by the authorities and handed over to death, death on a cross.
Suddenly the voice of the crowd changes from Hosanna to crucify him and the road becomes the via dolorosa, the sorrowful way. It is here, stunned in silence, that the cross becomes the via salutis, the way of salvation. Numbed by the horror of crucifixion, we sit in darkness and we wait.
Slowly but surely the light of Christ forges itself through the door of our heart. Even though the darkness remains, in the heat and light of this new fire we remember. We tell the story of our ancestors in exile, we dream of home, the stone of the tomb is rolled away and we are filled with new life. Easter has come.
Creating a sacred space
Though we are back in worship together, there are many of us who are not yet comfortable coming "in person". There is a certain sense in which we shouldn't call what happens on Zoom "virtual worship." There is nothing "virtual" about it. Its real worship, in a different way. We are all present "in-person" in different ways.
And so, as some will continue to join us from home, we are called to realize more clearly what has always been true. That is that our homes are extensions of the visible and “focused” sacred consecrated space in our sanctuary at St. Mary’s and vice versa. Though it still might be something new for many of us we invite you during these holy days to make a sacred space in your home.
We have long known that it is helpful for kids to have a designated study/homework space in the home where all they do is study and homework. It sets the tone for them and unconsciously put them in the mode for study and work. The same has been true in many traditions when it comes to a sacred space for prayer in the home. In Christian Eastern Orthodox tradition it’s the icon corner where a shelf in the corner of one of the rooms holds the family icons. This sacred space can simply be the dining table, a coffee table, or in the middle of your living room floor, on the porch or in the bedroom. Decorate it in whatever way you would like, with a cloth, an open Bible, a cross, an icon, a candle, and maybe some branches. As we celebrate each day of Holy Week, you will be asked to prepare this sacred space before we begin the liturgy. We will try to utilize the powerful symbols of this week to experience and pray in the way of our Anglican tradition these holy days. It might feel a little strange to some of you to do these things, and don’t feel you have to or are expected to. They are here as suggestions to help us enter more deeply into these cyber experiences as a group.
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The Zoom Last Supperl
THE ZOOM SERVICES OF THE SACRED THREE DAYS (TRIDUUM) and Easter Morning
MAUNDY THURSDAY LITURGY
Thursday, April 8 At 7:00pm
Join us at home for a live Zoom version of a Maundy Thursday liturgy, featuring a Washing of Hands.
Before this celebration of Maundy Thursday we invite you at home to place a bowl with warm soapy water and a towel at your Sacred Space.
GOOD FRIDAY LITURGY
Friday, April 9 At 7:00pm
Join us for this live Zoom format of the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion.
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On Good Friday your Sacred Space at home should be empty. Later in the Liturgy you will asked to place a cross in your Sacred Space.
GREAT VIGIL OF EASTER
Saturday, April 10 At 7:00pm
Join us for a live service of the Great Vigil of Easter, featuring the Service of Light.
We invite those at home to place a single candle in your Sacred Space. Once the Paschal Candle has been lit, we invite you to light your candle. We also invite you to bring daffodils or forsythia or other spring flowers to your Sacred Space. We also invite you at home to place a small bowl and pitcher of water near your device, so that you can pour the water during the Praise of Water.
EASTER MORNING LITURGY
Sunday, April 11 At 10:00am
This live service will be in the Zoom meeting format.
We invite you at home to place a small bowl of water near your device, so that you can participate in the Baptismal Covenant. We also invite you to bring daffodils or forsythia or other spring flowers to your Sacred Space
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P.O Box 1660, 26 St. Mary's Road , Shelter Island, NY 11964
(631) 749-0770
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