Trinity Newsletter

April 2019 ---

From the Rector

A s I write, we are approaching the Fifth Sunday in Lent. We move ever closer to Holy Week, and the intensity of its services and the narrative of Jesus’ death and resurrection that they portray.

I hope you will attend as many services as possible during Holy Week. Jesus’ death was preceded by suffering and followed by joy. It is appropriate that we trace this plotline so that we may also experience the fullest joy in our Easter services. Our Easter Sunday services will be filled with beautiful music, and at the 10:30 service, will also include a baptism.

B ut I particularly hope you will attend Easter Vigil Service on Saturday evening, April 20. “The Great Vigil of Easter is the primary liturgy of the Church,” says a recent blog posting at Virginia Theological Seminary’s Music, Liturgy, and the Arts. “It is the liturgy toward which all other feasts point and it is the liturgy from which all other feasts derive.” See the article below for more information about Easter Vigil and its importance.

Here is the link to a beautiful YouTube production of an Easter Vigil as it should be done, filled with joy, wonder, baptisms, and children. The parish is St. John's Episcopal Church, Portsmouth, Virginia.

Pam+

Come to Easter Vigil! You are in for a Treat!

I n the late fourth century, a nun named Egeria took an extended pilgrimage to Egypt, Israel, Palestine, and Syria. She wrote detailed accounts of all the religious services she attended, particularly those of Holy Week in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, Egeria faded into obscurity, but was rediscovered during the Liturgical Movement of the past century. For decades liturgists and historians had studied newly-found ancient texts outlining the earliest liturgies of the Christian faith, including especially Egeria’s detailed description of Easter Vigil. So those who revised the Book of Common Prayer in the 1970s decided to include the Easter Vigil as the principle service of the Easter festival.

W hy is Easter Vigil so significant? Because it is one of the earliest liturgies known, and to experience it is to be immersed in the experience of the earliest Christians. Because it is dramatic and evocative, requiring all the known five human senses, and thus involving us fully in the Vigil.

A lso because it is great for kids! Easter Vigil is particularly appropriate for children, because it does engage all the senses, and allows for fun and frivolity, as well as tenderness and quiet joy. Many churches will use balloons, streamers, clanging bells, to mark the transition from darkness to Resurrection. It is a great way to help our children make memories that will inscribe the Christian faith into their hearts and souls indelibly.

S o come to Easter Vigil! Bring your kids! “Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies, and everyone goes!” as Neil Diamond once sang in a different context. Experience this great service of the ancient and modern church. Then gather with everyone in the Parish Hall for the Easter Feast.

Want to learn more about Egeria? Click on the links below for more information on this fascinating woman of early Christianity:

Egeria and the Holy Week Liturgies

Women in the Early Church: What Egeria Sees

Trinity is looking for Facebook writers—right here in our own church!

We want to increase our Facebook impact and outreach of the church.

Trinity is looking for Facebook writers—right here in our own church!

We want to have postings on Facebook that tell stories about our parish: Quick anecdotes about various ministries; human interest stories about our members and their work in the world.

Email Pam at [email protected] if you would like to participate in this important ministry.

C'mon! You know you want to!

Upcoming Events

Save the Date

Aram Basmadjian

in Concert!

Sunday, May 19, 2019

3:00 pm

Trinity Episcopal Church

‌

Cleaning and Greening

Saturday, April 13, 2019

1:00-4:00 p.m.

Come help get the Nave ready for the solemn services of Holy Week and the great joyous Festal Services of the Resurrection!

Bring gloves, cleaning cloths, etc., and join others to make God's House of Prayer ready for all people!

A great event planned for Middle School

and High School youth!

Scholarships available!

Next Potluck Sunday will be April 14, Palm Sunday

Sign-up sheet on bulletin board outside Rector's office.

Potluck Sundays

April 14

May 12

The Return of UTO!

Every Episcopal Church should participate in United Thank Offering! It is an offering that supports innovative mission and ministry throughout the Episcopal Church and Provinces of the Anglican Communion.

We are dedicating the time from May 5, the Third Sunday of Eastertide, until Pentecost Sunday, June 9 to focus on UTO. Everyone will have the opportunity to have a UTO "hope chest" to stash various types of cash and coin during the weeks prior to the Pentecost Ingathering. Then bring your UTO box to church that Sunday for a time of recognition and blessing.

UTO offering boxes available soon

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