Grace Episcopal Church offers many opportunities to observe a Holy Lent and celebrate Easter. All are welcome to be a part of our worship services and special events:

Lent:

• Wed., Feb. 22 – Noon & 6:30 p.m. – Ash Wednesday Holy Eucharist & Imposition of Ashes
• Sat., Feb. 25 – 9 a.m. – Lenten Quiet Day
• Tuesdays in Lent – 9:30 a.m. – Holy Eucharist
• Wednesdays in Lent – 9:30 a.m. – Morning Prayer
• Wednesday evenings in Lent – 6 p.m. – Holy Eucharist & Soup Supper Study
• Sundays in Lent – 8 and 10 a.m. – Holy Eucharist

Holy Week (April 1-7):

• Palm Sunday – Sunday, April 1 – 8 and 10 a.m. – Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
• Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – 9:30 a.m. – Holy Eucharist
• Maundy Thursday – Thursday, April 5 – 7 p.m. – Maundy Thursday Eucharist
• Maundy Thursday – Thursday, April 5 – 8:15 p.m. – Prayer Watch begins
• Good Friday – Friday, April 6 – 6:30 a.m. – Morning Prayer (Prayer Watch ends)
• Good Friday – Friday, April 6 – 11:30 a.m. – Stations of the Cross
• Good Friday – Friday, April 6 – Noon – Good Friday Liturgy
• Good Friday – Friday, April 6 – 4:30 p.m. – Stations of the Cross for children
• Good Friday – Friday, April 6 – 7 p.m. – Stations of the Cross
• Holy Saturday – Saturday, April 7 – 9:30 a.m. – Holy Saturday Liturgy

Easter:

• Easter Vigil – Saturday, April 7 – 7:31 p.m. – The Great Vigil of Easter
• Easter Day – Sunday, April 8 – 8 and 10 a.m. – Sunday of the Resurrection: Easter Day

Thanks to Michele Nicosia for sharing these great pictures!

To view the slide show, click on the arrow in the middle of the picture.

The two penitential seasons of Advent and Lent may speak most directly to the hurts in our place and time. Advent, plumbing the heritage of God’s people, reminds us of the future and tells us that present circumstances are not as good as they get. Advent reminds us to yearn. Lent lets us savor all of salvation history, and that history’s culmination in Jesus rising from the dead. The season looks to baptism for its meaning, as the means by which God joins the Church to the mystery of Jesus dying and rising. Lent reminds us to repent, for the sake of this mystery.

“Penitential,” however, does not mean “dreary.” It does suggest simplicity, directness, and honesty. Though Lent and Advent invite us to name our sins fearlessly, the focus is on the redemption and forgiveness which God has won in Jesus, and which God is working out in the world and in our lives. Lent, in particular, pushes us toward glory, not groveling.

Percy Dearmer’s great (and somewhat eccentric) hymn-text, number 145 in Hymnal 1982, gets to the point of Lent. These are the words, in one verse of his hymn:

To bow the head
in sack-cloth and in ashes,
or rend the soul,
such grief is not Lent’s goal

but to be led to
where God’s glory flashes,
his beauty comes near:
Make clear where truth
and light appear.

These words align with the gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, Matthew 6, the part of the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus teaches about prayer and fasting. Prayer and penitence are not about the sack-cloth and ashes, the “show” of it all. They are about being drawn God-ward.

I pray for a robustly penitential Lent, a good and glorious one, for us all.

If you are interested in learning more about our vocal programs, please contact Choir Master Phillip Brunswick.

Click on the link to download a printable copy of the schedule: Choir Schedule – Winter 2012

Winter Choir Schedule

1-15                          FULL                    10:00 Mass

1-17, 18 & 19        NO rehearsals

1-22                         FULL                    10:00 Mass

1-29                         FULL                    10:00 Mass (vest & process/no rehearsal for Girls & Boys)

2-2 Thursday      FULL                    6:30 Evensong (6:00 rehearsal)

Girls have regular rehearsal with supper before Evensong

2-5                           Adults & Teens     10:00 Mass

2-12                         FULL                        10:00 Mass (no rehearsal for Girls & Boys)

2-19                         FULL                       10:00 Mass

2-22 Ash Wed.    Men                         6:30 Mass (6:00 rehearsal)

2-26                        FULL                      10:00 Mass

3-4                        Adults & Teens     10:00 Mass

3-4                        FULL                        5:00 Evensong (4:15 rehearsal)

3-11                      FULL                       10:00 Mass

3-18                      Adults & Teens     10:00 Mass

3-25                      Adults & Teens     10:00 Mass

3-25                      FULL                       5:00 Evensong @ Christ Church Cathedral

Feast of the Annunciation (4:00 rehearsal)

It is a Grace tradition to gather for a Quiet Day early in Lent. Men and women are encouraged to participate in this sacred activity and this year our day will be led by our Associate Rector, the Rev. Rebecca Dinovo. We will be lead through a series of meditations through art, music, poetry, and Scripture based on the Lenten readings as we follow Jesus’ journey from his time in the desert and temptation to the events of Holy Week leading to the cross. There will be time for reflection and personal prayer. We will start at 9 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. Homemade soups are served for lunch at 12:30. Come for the whole time or at any time that works for you.

Please help us prepare by signing up in Albright Parish Hall.

We invite you to our Annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper Tuesday, Feb. 21, from 5:15 to 7 p.m. in Albright Parish Hall. Come share a meal and visit with friends. This event is for all ages and serves about 80 – 120 people every year. Not only is it fun, it’s cheap and the food is delicious!

Cost is only $5 for adults (age 12 and over) and $3 for children, with a family maximum of $16. We’ll serve pancakes (of course!), sausage, applesauce, coffee and milk.

If you’d like to volunteer to help setup, cook, serve, and/or cleanup, we’d love to include you! Helpers are needed between 4 and 8 p.m. Helping at a parish event is a great opportunity to serve the parish and to meet other Grace parishioners. If you’d like to help, please contact  David Jayne.

Burning of the Palm Branches; Making of the Ashes

Come take part in this brief and poignant service of reflection and preparation for Lent as we burn last year’s Palm Sunday fronds to use for this year’s Ash Wednesday ashes.

If you still have the palm fronds you received last year, bring them! We’ll gather in the narthex Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Come early or stay late for the pancake supper. (This service only lasts for about 10 minutes.)

by Mother Rebecca Dinovo

One way we have traditionally observed Lent is by deepening our spiritual and theological understanding through study. This Lent we will be offering a “Soup Supper Study” for adults on Wednesday evenings called “Mere Anglicanism.” In it we will go back to our Anglican roots to discuss and rediscover the wonder of what it means to be an Episcopalian as members of the worldwide Anglican Communion. We will cover the topics of Anglican History, Anglican Worship and the Prayer Book, Anglican Spirituality, Anglican Theology and the Bible, and Anglican Discipleship. We will gather at 6 p.m. for Holy Eucharist in the chapel, followed by a simple soup supper and the study.

Come and learn!

Soup Supper Study: Mere Anglicanism
Wednesday evenings during Lent (beginning Wed., Feb. 29 through March 28)
6 – 8:15 p.m.

• February 29: Anglican Worship & The Prayer Book with the Rev. Todd McDowell
• March 7: Anglican Church History with the Rev. Dr. Warren Crews
• March 14: Anglican Bible and Theology with the Rev. David Fly
• March 21: Anglican Discipleship with the Rev. D. Rebecca Dinovo
• March 28: Anglican Prayer and Spirituality with the Rev. Helen Ludbrook

Our Wednesday evening schedule will be:

• 6:00 Holy Eucharist (Chapel)
• 6:30 Simple Soup Supper
• 7-8:15 Lenten Study & Discussion

We will have sign-ups available for volunteers to bring bread/beverages/soup and salad. Come for all or part of this series, both long time Episcopalians and those new to the church are encouraged to participate. Childcare will be made available if requested in advance. Please contact Mo. Rebecca for more information!

I invite you, therefore, 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.”
(Book of Common Prayer, p.265)

Lent begins this year on Ash Wednesday, February 22. We will have services at Noon and 6:30 p.m. here at Grace with the imposition of ashes and Holy Eucharist and we encourage everyone to make time to attend this important Holy Day in the life of the Christian Church. If you’re wondering why we impose a cross of ashes that day, there are several reasons:

• First, it is a symbol of our mortality: we were created out of dust and will return to dust;
• second, it is a sign of our penitence (sorrow for our sins);
• and finally, it is a sign that we are given everlasting life as a gracious gift from God.

Lent is a penitential season and a time of spiritual preparation leading up to Holy Week and Easter. The two traditional days of fasting in the Church year occur on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and Lent is a time we traditionally give something up, as a sacrifice to God. Conversely, we may also want to “take something on,” such as an additional discipline or practice, to deepen our connection to God. This can come in many shapes and forms and is really up to you to prayerfully discern.

One way we have traditionally observed Lent is by deepening our spiritual and theological understanding through study. This Lent we will be offering a “Soup Supper Study” for adults on Wednesday evenings called “Mere Anglicanism.” In it we will go back to our Anglican roots to discuss and rediscover the wonder of what it means to be an Episcopalian as members of the worldwide Anglican Communion. We will cover the topics of Anglican History, Anglican Worship and the Prayer Book, Anglican Spirituality, Anglican Theology and the Bible, and Anglican Discipleship. We will gather at 6 p.m. for Holy Eucharist in the chapel, followed by a simple soup supper and the study. Clergy will lead the classes and the series is suitable for both long time Episcopalians as well as those new to the Episcopal Church. Come and learn!

And may you be renewed this Lent, as you observe this special, holy season.

Click here to download the Jan. 29 announcement sheet.

If you have any news you would like published in one of Grace’s publications, please contact Communications Coordinator Janis Greenbaum.