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The Newsletter of St. Anne's Episcopal Church………………
…March 1998
A HOLY LENT ………………………………Rev. Elizabeth Carpenter
LITURGICAL NOTES FOR LENT …………..Rev. Elizabeth Carpenter
THE HEIFER PROJECT …………………………………..Mary Grubb
THE WAY OF THE CROSS …………………Rev. Elizabeth Carpenter
FROM THE SENIOR WARDEN ………………………..Bill
Matthews
Dates to Remember at St. Anne's
As Anglicans, we understand sin to be a missing of the target, a failure to live into the image of God stamped into our very make-up as human beings. We acknowledge that we often seek our own will instead of the will of God, and that this willful self-deification distorts not only our relationship with God, but with other people and with all creation. When our relationships with God and others become distorted, we become prisoners of our own making, cut off from communion with those whose love can give us life and meaning. That is our understanding of hell--utter and complete isolation.
The glory of our story is that God longs for us with a desire beyond our comprehension, and that we do not have to remain cut off from our Creator and all creation. Through the sacrificial life, death, and resurrection of God's own son, we have been set free from the power of evil, sin, and death. That gracious gift to us came at a very high price, however.
Lent is the period when the Church focuses our minds and hearts on the story of Christ's redemption of the world. We are asked to gaze upon him as he makes his way deliberately, day by day, to Jerusalem, there to confront those forces of fear, hatred, jealousy, and naked aggression that could not bear his goodness and that would not rest until he hung lifeless from a cross outside the city walls.
The whole point of Lent is to prepare our hearts for the miracle of the Resurrection. It takes time. As our Lord was tried and tested in the wilderness for forty days, we have the forty week-days before Easter in which to do the spiritual work of preparation. (Every Sunday is a little Easter, so Sundays are never considered part of Lent; thus we see the designation of Sundays "in Lent," never Sundays "of Lent.")
Our work of preparation is described in the Ash Wednesday exhortation: "I invite you...in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word."
I urge each of you to consider your own spiritual preparation for the holiest and most glorious of all our Christian Mysteries, the Resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ. In your self-examination, consider whether you wish to avail yourself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If you have never done that, please call me so that I might counsel you and recommend some reading material that would help you prepare for that sacrament.
Set aside some quiet time each day for reading holy scriptures. It need not take a long time. The little publication called Forward Day by Day is a very simple way to observe this discipline. It lists the Prayer Book Lectionary for the day and contains two or three short paragraphs for reflection. Perhaps this could be your family devotion: Take ten minutes after dinner, as you all are sitting around the dining table, and read at least the New Testament readings and the brief reflection for the day.
Fasting is part of our tradition going back to Old Testament times. We read that Jesus and his disciples fasted, and the Church has continued the practice to the present day, with varying degrees of strictness. Our present Church calendar enjoins only two fast days--Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Fasting is understood differently by different people. Anglicans most commonly understand fasting to be a very light breakfast and two half-meals, with no flesh food and no alcoholic beverages. Water is never restricted. Fasting is expressly discouraged on the part of the very young, the very old, the sick, and the pregnant.
Fasting is not dieting, and the difference lies in intention. The intention of dieting is to improve one's physical health. The intention of fasting is to improve one's spiritual health. By denying the desires of the body for a short time, we simulate a kind of death, for the purpose of focusing our complete attention on the God who gives us life. Please note: It is NOT a statement that the body is evil and should be "punished"!
We are enjoined to "self-denial." If you want to "give up" something for Lent, think carefully about what that might be. Dear ones, as I come to know you better, may I suggest that rather than sweets or some minor indulgence, you "give up" your normal noise and activity level for one night each week. Decide as a family which night that will be, and then unplug the TV, the radio, the CD and cassette players. Turn the computer off. Put the Walkman in a drawer. For these weeks of Lent, clear one night a week--no meetings, no projects, no going out. Instead, talk with one another; look through your photograph albums; play games; read a book; write a letter to someone; invite a guest to dinner. This is a very serious challenge, to myself as well as to you! We are addicted to noise and "busy-ness." Let us experiment, one night each week, with giving up that addiction. I will be very interested in your observations on these quiet nights.
Undergirding and permeating everything, of course, is prayer, the turning of the heart toward God. There is no more profound act of love and self-surrender.
I hope that you will see this Lent as an opportunity for you to draw closer to God. Be gentle with yourselves. Do not set a goal so difficult that you become angry and self-blaming, but do set before your heart the desire to know and love and joy in God.
I invite you, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent.
--Elizabeth
A letter was sent to every parish family regarding our instructed Eucharists in Lent, so I will not repeat that information. I will remind you that the 8:00 Sunday Eucharist will follow Rite I and will contain no music or special instruction. The 10:15 Sunday Eucharist follow Rite II, will have music, and will be used for instruction. There will be no Children's Chapel March 8-29, because the children will all be upstairs for the whole service and will have responsibility for some liturgical roles.
You will notice other differences from the Epiphany season. Visual differences: There will be no flowers on the altar. The brass altar cross will be replaced by a simple wooden one, made for us by Dwight Cornell. The liturgical hangings will be purple. The chalice and paten will be earthenware. The purificators used by the chalice bearers will be unbleached muslin rather than fine white linen.
Auditory differences: Rob Passow has chosen some different settings for the service music, and the hymns and anthems will reflect the themes of Lent. We will try to observe periods of liturgical silence, although with so many young children they will necessarily be very short.
Taste differences: The communion bread will be whole wheat pita, and the communion wine will be dry sherry.
The service itself will be different in places. The exalted, somewhat mystical tone of Eucharistic Prayer D will yield to the more penitential tone of Prayer A. The first Sunday in Lent, we will begin with the Great Litany. For the remainder of Lent, we will begin with the Penitential Order and the Decalogue. The Trisagion will be sung in place of the Gloria in Excelsis. Of course, the "Alleluias" will disappear until the Great Vigil of Easter. In place of the customary blessing at the end of the service, there will be the more ancient Solemn Prayers over the People.
The Church Year is designed for the purpose of moving us along on a spiritual journey with Christ. Your Worship Committee and I will try to make that journey, with its different stages and emphases, clearly demarcated, because we worship God not only with our intellects, but with our whole selves, including our bodies and our senses. The differences should point up the richness of our worship traditions.
--Elizabeth
Our mite box money this Lent will go to the Heifer Project, a non-profit organization that provides food and income producing animals to poor families around the world. It also provides training in animal husbandry, ecology, and sustainable farming in 100 countries and 35 U.S. states. The Episcopal Church is one of the member agencies.
For five decades, Heifer Project has helped people around the world become more self-reliant through the gifts of animals and training in their care. Support from churches has made it possible to provide food and income-producing animals to more than a million families in need. The Heifer Project works in partnership with denominations and local churches to help alleviate world hunger.
Twenty types of animals, from goats for nutritious milk, to camels to haul farm supplies and produce, to chickens for their eggs that add protein to poor diets, are provided by the Heifer Project.. These animals bring a new beginning to communities threatened by hunger and environmental destruction. Each family is asked to pass on the gift they receive by giving one or more offspring to a neighbor; a gift to one family is truly a gift to many.
Heifer Project goals include helping children, building community, enabling families and women and caring for the environment. Project families can provide life-saving nutrition through milk, meat or the ability to produce or buy food. Extra income can help them afford health care and education. As families join together to manage their own projects, they gain new skills and the confidence to take on other challenges. Many women who have traditionally been denied education and other privileges are empowered as they are able to provide directly for their families needs for the first time.
Participating families plant trees and grasses and learn techniques to preserve the environment for future generations.
Containers for your Lenten donations to the Heifer Project may be found in the back of the church. Pray for those less fortunate as you make your daily offering.
--Mary
Early Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem often participated in a special devotion, following the traditional route that Jesus trod from Pilate's house to Golgotha on Good Friday. It was called the via dolorosa, the "way of sorrows." It is still the custom, and every Friday a group of Franciscan monks lead pilgrims through the streets of the Old City, stopping at fourteen places ("stations") along the way, where tradition says that special incidents occurred during Jesus' last journey. Readings are done and appropriate prayers are offered at those stations.
The early pilgrims wanted to share something of their Jerusalem experience with their families and friends when they returned to their home churches. They deveoped the custom of placing fourteen pictures or carvings, depicting the places in Jerusalem, along the walls of the church, especially during Lent and Holy Week. It made a symbolic Way of the Cross. Our Book of Occasional Services contains a Way of the Cross service, with scripture readings, reflections, and prayers.
On Tuesday nights during Lent, the church will be open from 6:30
PM for silent prayer and meditation. At 7:00 PM we will observe
the Way of the Cross. This will replace Evening Prayer during
Lent. Please join us if you can.
--Elizabeth
This years annual vestry retreat was held at Bishop Claggett retreat center Jan.30 through Feb. 1st. The retreat leader was our very own Elizabeth and our theme was GROWTH AND VISIBILITY. We welcomed new members Adele Quinn, John Trenholm, Marty More and our new Junior Warden Dale Griggs.
Although many of you heard my short report at both services the following weekend, I felt that there were elements of that weekend that deserve special attention. First, you should know that we have again underscored Christian Education as being one of our primary areas of focus. Bettianne Quinn agreed to take on overseeing the "Journey to Adulthood" program for our older youth. As a result, she will no longer appear as acting Christian Education director even in invisible ink. Christian Education questions that our Sunday school superintendents can't answer should either be directed to Elizabeth or the vestry through Dale Griggs (Junior Warden), Adele Quinn (vestry liaison to Christian Education) or myself.
We revisited VISION 2000, to see how we were doing and what we needed to accomplish in order to be on track with goals VISION 2000 expressed. This church owes such a huge debt of gratitude to those people who worked on this impressive body of work. If you have never read it, I strongly urge you to get a copy. We discussed what needed to be done in order to reopen the issue of a new building. We are going to assemble the most recent information available and discuss feasibility later this year.
Our brainstorming sessions concerning "growth and visibility" generated a wealth of ideas, and you will be seeing some of them implemented in the very near future.
In short, it was a perfect kickoff for what I am sure will be a year to remember.
--Bill
Last updated on Thursday, 05-Mar-1998 23:51:01 EST.