March 13, Fifth Sunday of Lent
Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 9:30AM “Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.”
From Thou Art Indeed Just Lord, by Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.
Daily Scripture Readings; bookofcommonprayer.net/daily_office.php
See the different options. There is full morning and evening prayer. There is also the option of the readings only. There is also an app for receiving the daily readings by email, or on a mobile device
Sunday Scripture Readings: bookofcommonprayer.net/lectionary.php
Set it for 1979 Contemporary, and the Bible version used in Church is Revised Standard Version
The Fifth Sunday of Lent, Sunday March 13, also Day Light Savings Time. Set your clocks ahead one hour on Saturday Night
Community Emergency Response Training
Saturday March 12 from 8-12.
Parish Hall,
Any member of the Parish is welcome to attend.
San Rafael Neighborhoods Association
SRNA
sponsors
Disaster Response Skills
and
Building a Neighborhood Response Network
Pasadena Fire Department Training
COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAMS (CERT-Overview)
Learn what to do to and how to do it when professional “first responders” are unable to respond to you, your family and neighborhood.
(Neighbors and children 12 and older welcomed!)
***********************
Saturday, March 12th
8am-12pm
Church of the Angels
Church Hall
1100 Avenue 64
Pasadena 91105
(Avenue 64 and Church Street, south side)
Street Parking
Please Plan to Arrive Promptly at 8:00 am
Coffee and Pastries Served
Church of the Angels will be the host for the Community Emergency Response Training, sponsored by the San Rafael Neighborhoods Association and the Pasadena Fire Department. SRNA meets the first Monday of the month in the Parish Hall. This is a great opportunity that goes along with our ongoing Emergency Preparedness planning. Fr. Bob took the training several years ago as did parishioner Elizabeth Bergholz. It is great fun and get to learn some very helpful skills.
Coffee Hour Needs:
Coffee Hour Sign Up for March and April will be on the Coffee Table this Sunday
Anglican Rosary: No Anglican Rosary this Saturday due to film shoot in the Church
Emmaus Road
Emmaus Road resumes it’s reading of Marilynne Robinson’s book, The Giveness of Things, on Monday, March 14. , in the Parish Hall Living Room. Anyone is welcome to join in. The book is readily available at Vroman’s in Pasadena. For Monday March 14, we will read chapter8, “Proofs”
At the Emmaus Road Group last Monday, one participant commented, “We’re having conversations that many people in the congregation would enjoy.” That’s right. Anyone is welcome to come and sit in an contribute. Reading the book is fun, but not absolutely necessary. Everyone’s contribution be they questions or reflections adds to the experience. Please consider joining in.
Easter Sign Ups
Sundays for the remainder of Lent, the sign up sheets for the various Easter Activities will be on the table outside Church. These will be sign ups for:
Church Decorations for Easter
Reflective Dinners in Holy Week
Holy Saturday Preparations
Easter Day, Easter Breakfast
Reflective Dinners in Holy Week
This year we will both keep things the way we normally do them, and change something as well.
What we always do: Meal Teams needed for each evening, Monday, Tuesday Wednesday.
The Meal Time collaborates on preparing a meal with a appetizer, salad, main dish, bread, drinks, and dessert. Many hands make light work!
What we’ll do differently.
Fr. Bob and Kelly Brandt are changing roles this year. This year Fr. Bob will do the readings during dinner and Kelly will read from the Last Supper Discourses from the Gospel of St. John.
Fr. Bob will be reading from Pope Francis’ new book: The Name of God is Mercy.
Sign up for the dinners and to help with the meal. Below is a more detailed descripton
Das Boot From Eric Jones
So just a little update about what got done yesterday.
I managed to get the foot re-attached to the angel podium. He should be good to go for a few more years. Somehow all the wood was stripped out from the hole that secures it. I glued some new wood into the hole and then put the screw back. I thought while I was at it, I'd go over the whole thing with a coat of paste wax. It would probably be a good idea of you could tell our cleaner that in the future to just dust or buff it with a soft cloth instead of using any liquid polishes. The liquid polishes don't last very long and will only make the wood look smudgy when combined with the wax that's on there now.
I thought that since I had my stuff out that I'd give the hymn announcement sign a coat of wax too. I also polished the metal plaque a little. Not enough to make it brassy, but to just have a light sheen. I can also give it more of a shine if it still looks too dull.
Lastly, I filed off the sharp points from the finials on the choir loft. They will still need some sort of protection (like a nut or something, which I'm still searching for), but at least someone will not get a spike through their hand if they rest on the wrong spot.
What Else We’ll Be Doing in Holy Week
Good Friday
March 25
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Good Friday is the day that Jesus died on the Cross. That being the case, some wonder why the day is called “good.” The name really derived from God as in “God’s Friday.” As is to be expected the liturgy for this day is very somber.
One might also ask, why are we revisiting this a second time? Didn’t we hear about Christ’s Passion on Palm Sunday? We did indeed. But while both days mark the same event, each day presents the Passion in a very different way. On Palm Sunday we hear the Passion of Christ from one of the three synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) in a order that rotates every three years. On Good Friday the we always hear the Passion of Christ from the Gospel of John.
The Passion as depicted in the synoptic Gospels portrays Jesus as the victim of the events. This is most graphic in the Gospel of St. Mark, and less so in the Gospel of St. Luke. However in St. John’s Passion, Jesus is not the victim, but rather directs the whole action from beginning to end. That is because for St. John, Jesus crucifixion is his glorification, his exaltation. In the 12th Chapter of his Gospel, St. John quotes Jesus as saying, “When I am lifted up, I will draw all to myself.”
As the Passion unfolds, Jesus is master of the action. When they come to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asks who they seek. When they say, “Jesus of Nazareth,” they are thrown off their feet. Jesus makes sure that his disciples are released. Later in the interrogation, it is Jesus who takes charge calling first the High Priest, then most powerfully, Pontius Pilate to account, exposing their falsehood for all to see. In his crucifixion, Jesus commends his mother to the care of the Beloved Disciple, and his last words are, “It is accomplished.” His side is pierced by the spear and out flows blood and water. The Gospel writer is firm that this is the truth. The early Church theologians saw this outflow of blood and water as the setting forth of the Spirit and the baptism of the whole world, in fact the whole cosmos. For St. John, the moment of Jesus’ death is the moment of his ultimate triumph.
Good Friday services are done in many ways. In some places it has been a long practice to have a service from 12 to 3 to mark the time Jesus was on the cross. Often the service has a meditations on Jesus’ last seven words. At Church of the Angels we follow the liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer. Out liturgy begins at 12:00 and usually ends by 1:45 p.m
The liturgy is in several parts. The first part is the Liturgy of the Word. This involves the reading of the Suffering Servant from Isaiah, a long passage from the Letter to the Hebrews, and the Passion of St. John. This is followed by the homily. The homily is followed by a period of silence, then as set of prayers called The Solemn Collects. On Good Friday we make a special effort to concentrate our prayer on the needs of the world for which Christ died. The Solemn Collects are quite profound. There may be a traditional choir anthem called The Reproaches. The Reproaches are a dialogue between God and his people where God enumerates all that he has done for us in Salvation History only to be met by our response of the different acts that make up the Passion. There are other musical anthems that are also used instead of The Reproaches. A concern among some people is the anti-Semitic tone of both the Gospel and The Reproaches. However, anyone paying attention to the Liturgy will soon discover that the cause of Christ’s death is not just the Jews, but all of humankind.
After this comes the Veneration of the Cross where the black veil is removed, and then we conclude with the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified. We move the Sacrament from the Altar of Repose to the main Altar. We recite the Confession, hear the Absolution, recite the Lord’s Prayer and make our Communion from the bread and wine consecrated at the Liturgy on Maundy Thursday.
When the Sacrament has been consumed, all the candles are extinguished. The Tabernacle door is opened because it is now empty. There is no longer the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament anywhere. On those times when in the Eastern Orthodox and Western Church calendars, Easter falls on the same day, this means that after Good Friday there is no Eucharist celebrated anywhere in the whole world. I lay down the candles sticks and turn over all the communion vessels leaving them in a wreaked pile on the Altar. It recalls that hymn “In the Cross of Christ I glory, towering over the wreaks of time.” There is a final prayer and we go out.
We are left with the wreckage on the Altar and the Cross in shining splendor over it. It is the radical paradox of the death that brings life to the whole world. The sacrifice that unites God and all things always and forever.
You might say that it is accomplished, but not finished. It will be from here that at the Great Vigil of Easter we begin the journey back from darkness to light, from death to life with no death at all.
Food For Thought
On the Food For Thought Table this Sunday another article dealing with the second of the two themes of Lent, the love of neighbor. From The New York Review of Books : “Kicked Out In America.” This is a review of a new book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City., which deals with the problem of poor people having to spend the majority of whatever income they have on shelter, and always living one toothache, or non-starting car from the whole house of cards falling apart, and when money won’t stretch far enough to cover the rent, becoming evicted . It’s just devastating. This article is a bit like the one a few weeks back from Barbara Ehenrich that illustrated all of the frustrations and hassles that poor people are subject too, things about which most affluent people have no knowledge or experience. It’s a window on to a world most would rather not see.
Getting Ready for Easter
Below is the schedule for Holy Week and Easter. This is to give you a heads up as to what will be happening.
Liturgies for Holy Week and Easter 2016
March 20 Palm Sunday 7:45 & 10:15 a.m. Liturgy of Palms and Holy Eucharist
March 21 Monday in Holy Week 6:00 p.m.
Reflective Dinner: and Gospel of St. John: Parish Hall
March 22 Tuesday in Holy Week 6:00 p.m.
Reflective Dinner: and Gospel of St. John: Parish Hall
March 23 Wednesday in Holy Week 6:00 p.m.
Reflective Dinner and Gospel of St. John: Parish Hall
March 24 Maundy Thursday 7:00 p.m.
Maundy Thursday Liturgy, Foot washing and Holy Eucharist
March 25 Good Friday 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Good Friday Liturgy Mass of the Pre-Sanctified
March 26 Holy Saturday 8:30 a.m. Altar Guild and Friends Prepare Church for Easter
Other Times Set up Parish Hall, Prepare Easter Breakfast, Prepare Easter Eggs
March 27 Easter Day 5:45 a.m. The Great Vigil of Easter
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Easter Egg, Hunt Parish, Easter Breakfast
10:15 a.m. Holy Eucharist