A Field Guide to Holy Week at St. Timothy’s This post on Fr. Brandon’s Blog. contains a description of the various services during this week and their significance. Consider sharing this with anyone you are inviting to attend all or part of Holy Week with you.
A Word from the Rector From the Ashes
This week’s conflagration at Notre-Dame de Paris, with its horrifying images and tales of loss and destruction, brought up for me once more the distinction between church buildings and the Church itself.
Church buildings are structures built to the glory of God, consecrated for worship and service. These buildings are sacred places of holy encounter. The Church is Christ’s Mystical Body in heaven and earth with Christ as its head, eternally present, not contained by time or place. Keeping the distinction between these two is important.
Church buildings are often places of intense meaning for Christians and others—holy places soaked in prayer, memory, beauty, and dedication to providing sanctuary. They are, however, prone to all the problems of buildings: decay, earthquakes, warfare, vandalism, and fire.
Christ’s Body the Church is, however, eternal and beyond destruction. Even if every church building and every sacred Christian object were destroyed tomorrow, the Church itself would continue and, in fact, be unaffected in its essence. This must never be forgotten.
The worship we offer this week combines both the body and building senses of this word: the members of Christ’s Body come together in a building to share in the sacred liturgies which express the central belief and experiences of our faith. The intertwining of the two senses of “Church” reminds one of the Mystery of the Cross, whereon the Son of God hung at a particular time and place in history, yet is also salvific for all ages and places.
As we prepare for the Great Three Days, we re-affirm the Church as the imperishable Body of Christ. Our faith is in this, not buildings—important as they are. While we lament the loss of so great and holy a place of worship as Notre-Dame, we have confidence that from the ashes will rise a new temple glorifying God, whose victory in Christ is beyond reach of all earthly dangers and perils. For, in the Christian faith, Life has the final word, always.
Brandon+
Agape Feast
The word Agape means a special kind of love in Greek. This kind of love involves the offering of ourselves, and is manifested not in "warm feelings," but in acts of care and compassion.
The Agape Feast after the Easter Vigil is one of this parish's most distinctive and enjoyable traditions, rounding out the celebration of the night of Christ's Resurrection.
For this feast truly to be about agape, with food for our parish and guests brought to us that night, we need your participation. Look at the signups in the narthex and see where you are led to contribute.
Invite some friends to share in this event, and let us all prepare to savor that Most Holy Night with true and abiding love, one for another.
+ Notices
Please bring a side dish to share and your own beverages and glassware to the Agape Feast after the Great Vigil of Easter.
Sign ups! We still need volunteers to watch at the Altar of Repose on Maundy Liturgy through Noon on Good Friday; and to help with the Agape Feast. Please see the sign-up sheets in the narthex.
Colored hard-boiled eggs are sought for the Easter Vigil. Please sign up to bring a dozen or two!
Our Lent Outreach Project this year is collecting socks for Be Bold Street Ministries' work with the homeless. Socks are the most requested item in homeless shelters. We are gathering new and good used socks until the Second Sunday of Easter, April 28th. Men's socks are the most needed, but women's and children's socks are wanted too.
Nursery News: We are in the process of hiring a new nursery caregiver. Details will be forthcoming, but your prayers have been the "essential ingredient" in making progress on this important matter.
Godly Play News: The Godly Play team, with the support of the rector and vestry, is exploring the possibility of expanding Godly Play on Sundays this fall to include a new elementary-age level. We need your input on this. Please contact Pamela Filbert for details or to converse with her about your own interest in supporting this ministry.
Standing Notices
Being prayed for at St. Timothy’s:
+ The Sunday bulletin carries those intercessions of a more urgent nature. Contact the parish office if you have a name to added to this list.
+ An intercessory team of parishioners offers prayer daily on requests through the week. E-mail marymraney@gmail.com or phone Mary Rainey or Marsha Witt to add a name to this list. All prayer requests to this group are treated with discretion.
New to St. Timothy’s? Recently change your contact information? Please make sure the parish office has your contact information so that you may receive the monthly parish newsletter (The Tidings), e-mails, and a phone call in case of sudden and important parish news.
Record of Baptism & Basic Data: If you are worshipping with us regularly and receiving the Holy Sacrament, you are asked to provide a record of baptism (baptism with water in the name of the Trinity is a prerequisite for receiving communion in the Episcopal Church); you may then be entered as a baptized member of the parish; full adult membership in the Church is through Confirmation (preparation for this is through participation in the Catechumenate).
If you are already an Episcopalian, you may ask your previous parish to transfer you to St. Timothy’s. Questions? Please contact the parish’s Registrar, Sue Bergquist or the Rector. We are very ready to help.
Birthday and Anniversary information. If you desire to have dates listed in the Sunday bulletin and the monthly Tidings, please make sure to get them to the parish office, where the database is kept.
Please notify the Parish Office if there has been a hospitalization so we can arrange a visit. Due to privacy laws, hospitals do not automatically contact the parish with this information; the parish can only respond if we know you have a need!
Fr. Brandon's days off are usually Friday and Saturday. You may contact him if you have an emergency at any time. On his days off he tends not to check e-mail frequently.
The Parish Office is normally open Tuesday-Friday, 9-Noon, 1-3 PM, except for major holidays.
+At the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. John the Baptist, St. Timothy, and all the Holy Saints of God, may you be granted a truly Holy Week of encounter with those saving acts where by we have been given life and immortality. Amen.
The Mission of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church: We gather to experience the Holy Trinity through Scripture, worship, study, and fellowship. Receiving and reflecting God’s love and grace, we are sent out to love and serve our neighbor, see the Christ in others, and share the Gospel by the example of our everyday lives.
