Sunday, March 31, 2013 - Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day

Sunday, March 31, 2013 - Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Worship: 8 & 10:45 am; Carry-in Breakfast  between Festive  Liturgies

Saturday, March 30, 2013 - Holy Saturday

Saturday, March 30, 2013 - Holy Saturday

Vigil of Easter: 8:30 pm

Rom. 6:3-11; John 20:1-18

• Visit someone. Take them some hot cross buns for their Easter feast.
• Bring a votive candle in a canning jar to church to take home the new fire of Easter.
• Bring a small bell with you in your pocket to ring at the Easter Proclamation at the Vigil this evening.

Friday, March 29, 2013 - Good Friday

Friday, March 29, 2013 - Good Friday (from “God’s Friday”)

Worship: 12 Noon Stations of the Cross & 7 pm Adoration of the Cross

 Is. 52:13-53:12; Ps. 22; Heb. 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42

• Bake hot cross buns to break the fast. Turn off the radio, television, computer, phone.

Hot Cross Buns

375° oven      Yield: about 15 buns

In a small bowl, combine:
1 pkg. dry yeast
¼ c. warm water

In a small saucepan, scald:
1 c. milk (or soymilk)

Add:
1 t. salt
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. butter

Pour milk mixture into a large bowl. Let cool to lukewarm.


Stir in:
1 c. flour

Add:
yeast mixture
1 egg, beaten
½ t. ground cinnamon
½ c. raisins or currants

Mix well. Add:
2½ - 3 c. flour

Knead 5 minutes on floured surface. Place in greased bowl. Cover with clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 ½ hours. Punch down. Turn out onto floured surface; let rest 10 minutes. Shape into round buns (about 2 ½” diameter), and place on greased baking sheet. Cover with towel; let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove to racks. Cool.

Mix: (to make a moderately thick frosting)
1 c. powdered sugar
2 t. to 1 T. milk
a few drops of vanilla

Pipe frosting through the snipped corner of a sandwich bag into the shape of a cross on each bun. Makes about 15.

Thursday, March 28, 2013 - Maundy Thursday

Thursday, March 28, 2013 - Maundy Thursday (from “Mandare” – to command) First Day of Triduum (Three Days)

Worship: 7 pm

Ex. 12:1-14; Ps. 116:1-2, 12-19; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35

From a 1923 sermon by Bishop Frank Weston:

You cannot claim to worship Jesus in the Tabernacle, if you do not

pity Jesus in the slum.

...I am talking the Gospel, and I say to you this: If you are

Christians then your Jesus is one and the same: Jesus on the Throne

of his glory, Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, Jesus received into

your hearts in Communion, Jesus with you mystically as you pray, and

Jesus enthroned in the hearts and bodies of his brothers and sisters

up and down this country.  

...Go out and look for Jesus in the ragged, in the naked, in the

oppressed and sweated, in those who have lost hope, in those who are

struggling to make good. Look for Jesus. And when you see him, gird

yourselves with his towel and try to wash their feet.

• Clean out a closet. Give away what you don’t need.

March 27, 2013 - Wednesday in Holy Week

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - Last Day in Lent

Worship: 12 Noon

Is. 50:4-9a; Ps. 70; Heb. 12:1-3; John 13:21-32

Full moon

Psalm 70:4 "Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say evermore, "God is great!"

            Lent in the early days of the church was a time of learning and preparation for new converts awaiting baptism at the Easter Vigil. In the darkness of the spring night, the converts faced the west and three times renounced all forces that would separate them from God. Then they faced east, faced the direction from which the Easter dawn would soon break upon them, and three times were immersed, naked and vulnerable, into flowing water or pool. Thirsty souls began a new life in water and God’s Word. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come!

O God, our springtime, blessed are you for the waters that nourish the earth, for the springs in the desert, for the waters of new life. Amen

• Take a walk. Look for signs of spring.

March 26, 2013 - Tuesday in Holy Week

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Worship: 12 Noon

Is. 49:1-7; Ps. 71:1-14; 1 Cor. 1:18-31; John 12:20-36

Passover

John 12:24 "[Jesus answered them,] Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

From the First Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians:

Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord continually proves to us that there shall be a future resurrection, of which He has rendered the Lord Jesus Christ the first fruits (1 Cor. 15:20) by raising him from the dead. Let us contemplate, beloved, the resurrection that at all times is taking place. Day and night declare to us a resurrection. The night sinks to sleep, and the day arises; the day again departs, and the night comes on. Let us behold the fruits of the earth, how the sowing of grain takes place. The sower goes forth (Luke 8:5), and casts it in the ground, and the seed being thus scattered, though dry and naked when it fell upon the earth, is gradually dissolved. Then out of its dissolution the mighty power of the providence of the Lord raises it up again, and from one seed many arise and bring forth fruit.

O God, our springtime, blessed are you for the bursting forth of new life. May we die to all that keeps us from bearing the fruit of your Spirit. Amen

·       Plant spring flower or herb seeds.

March 25, 2013, Monday in Holy Week

Worship: 12 Noon

Is. 42:1-9; Ps. 36:5-11; Heb. 9:11-15; John 12:1-11

Feast of the Annunciation

Passover begins at sundown

            When the early Church finally set a date for the Festival of the Nativity of Christ, it chose (or ceded to) the time of the Winter Solstice, the time of the Roman festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the "Birth Day of the Unconquered Sun", December 25, a time when light was gradually coming into the dark of winter. As a result of the setting of a specific date for Christmas, the festival of the Annunciation by the angel Gabriel to Mary was placed exactly nine months earlier, on March 25. Thus, although the Annunciation gospel reading from Luke 1:26-38 is generally heard as a part of the Advent pericopes, the actual festival usually falls during Lent. As we approach the Triduum, the Three Days, it may be poignant to call to mind Simeon's words to Mary when Jesus was presented in the Temple: "This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel… - and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

·       Find the text of the Stabat Mater and use it for your prayers. Listen to one of the Choral settings - by pergolesi, by Szymanowski, Dvorak, Palestrina, Poulenc, Pärt.