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St. Paul's at Midweek
February 14, 2024
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Whoever you are,
and wherever you find yourself on your journey of faith,
we welcome you to our inclusive faith community.
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Due to the latest email authentication requirements, we want to make sure all our subscribers add st.pauls@stpaulsbakepiscopalchurch.ccsend.com or any other email under "@stpaulsbakepiscopalchurch.ccsend.com" to their contacts list in order to receive the latest editions of Midweek and other announcements and communications from St. Paul's. While no one has (yet) reported any issues, this latest change may require our subscribers to manually accept emails from the new address, depending on your email provider. Otherwise, everyone should receive Midweek and our other Constant Contact campaigns. If you have any questions, contact Michael Cava. | |
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This Week
by Rev'd Cathy Kline, Parish Deacon
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Today is the start of our 40 day reflection to Easter, the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday, our first day of this season, Christians throughout the world attend services and have ashes placed on their foreheads with the symbal of the cross that Jesus was sacrificed on. The marking of oneself with ashes has been seen in ancient traditions. The liturgical use of ashes was in the Old Testament, to denote mourning, mortality, and penance. However, the start of Lent was set in 601 A.D. by Pope Gregory with Ash Wednesday being the beginning of the 46 days before Easter, allowing for 40 days of fasting. The fasting consisted of only one full meal with no meat and the six Sundays counted as feast days, when fasting does not apply. He also established the tradition of marking parishioners’ foreheads with ashes in the shape of a cross. By the Middle Ages, they laid those who were dying on the ground atop sackcloth and sprinkled them with ashes. The priest would bless the dying person with holy water, saying, “Remember that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return.” reminding us of our own mortality.
This verse actually comes from the Old Testament in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes. This chapter starts out with telling us. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” However, the verse we use as we administer ashes, although talking about mortality, is comparing us to animals by saying “Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” However, today we have the glorious reminder of the end of the Lenten Season, Easter, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. We now have that hope in that resurrection, of rising upward to spend eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven. But today we continue this symbolism to all Christians on Ash Wednesday because the symbol of the cross not only reminds us of the resurrection, but it also reminds us of the sacrifice Christ made for us. Lent is the reminder of the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert, resisting temptation. The ashes on our foreheads remind us of our mortality, but also remind us of how Christ came down to live amongst us and allowed Himself to suffer like us in a world that causes so much suffering.
So, as I go into our Lenten Season, I like to look at the first eight verses of the third chapter of Ecclesiastes: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” I like to take the upcoming 40 days in Lent to reflect on these times and ask what time am I in and what times are those around me in? I like to reflect on how I can help others who may be in times that are hard for them, and do they need me to help them through these times? Is it a time I need to build, a time I need to embrace, a time I need to speak or be silent and mostly a time I need to love? Because, if we read on in this chapter, we are asked: what do workers gain from their toil? For we have seen the burdens God has laid on this world and with our help, He will make everything beautiful in its time; for He has set eternity in our hearts, and we cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. But we do know in our hearts that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and do good while we are alive; for all that has been given to us is a gift from God! May we all be blessed with a deeper understanding of what time God wants us to be in this coming Lenten season.
Deacon Cathy Kline
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The Coming Days at St. Paul's
Wednesday, January, 14
Ash Wednesday
12noon Eucharist (Quire)
5.30pm Evening Prayer (Chapel)
6.30pm Eucharist (Church)
Thursday, February 15
Thomas Bray, Priest and Missionary, 1730
8.30am Morning Prayer (Chapel)
Friday, February 16
Friday After Ash Wednesday
8.30am Morning Prayer (Chapel)
5.00pm Stations of the Cross (Chapel)
Saturday, February 17
Janani Luwum, Archbishop and Martyr, 1977
9.30am Eucharist
10.00am Bishop's Committee Workday
February 18, 2024
The First Sunday of Lent
8.00am Eucharist (Rite I)
9.00am Forum in the Forum Markan Study
10.00am Eucharist (Rite II)
Monday, February 19
Agnes Tsao Kou Ying, Agatha Zon Zhao, and Lucy Zhenmei, Catechists & Martyrs, 1856, 1858, 1862
10.00am Food Pantry
Tuesday, February 20
Frederick Douglass, Social Reformer, 1895
8.30am Morning Prayer (Chapel)
6.00pm Evening Prayer
6.30pm Lent Study Course: Will You?
Wednesday, January, 21
8.30am Morning Prayer (Chapel)
Margaret of Cortona, Monastic, 1297
8.30am Morning Prayer (Chapel)
Friday, February 23
Polycarp of Smyrna, Bishop and Martyr, 156
8.30am Morning Prayer (Chapel)
5.00pm Stations of the Cross (Chapel)
Saturday, February 24
Saint Matthias the Apostle
8.30am Matutina (Morning Prayer in Spanish, Chapel)
February 25, 2024
The Secon Sunday of Lent
8.00am Eucharist (Rite I)
9.00am Forum in the Forum Markan Study
10.00am Eucharist (Rite II)
The 10am service is live-streamed via our Facebook page.
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Today: Ash Wednesday Services
February 14
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Today is Ash Wednesday, which begins the Church's observance of Lent. The season of Lent calls us to see ourselves in the light of God's mercy and love, but also in the light of God's call to live lives of justice and integrity.
What is God calling you to leave among the ashes this Lent?
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Liturgy of Ash Wednesday
February 14
6.00am Morning Prayer (Chapel)
6.30am Contemplative Eucharist (Chapel)
12noon Eucharist (Quire)
5.30pm Evening Prayer (Chapel)
6.30pm Eucharist (Church)
Imposition of Ashes is available at all Eucharistic services.
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Stations of the Cross
Every Friday in Lent
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The Stations of the Cross is a devotion that arose early in the Church's history as Christians sought to walk with Jesus the last hours of his life, and to join themselves to his passion. Join us as we walk the Stations of the Cross each Friday in Lent at 5pm in our church. | |
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Our St. Paul’s community response to our food pantry needs have been very generous. Thank you to all who so generously help to restock our shelves each week. This week we are in particular need of the following:
Cereal, Sausage, Hearty Soups, Crackers, Soft snack bars, Chili, Spaghetti, Spaghetti sauce, Spam, Cup of Soup (all flavors), Pork & Bean, Fruit Cups, Oatmeal
Toilet paper, Combs, Toothbrushes, Spoons, Forks
If possible, all canned items should have pop-tops.
Thank you for supporting this vital ministry and remember you can continue to make donations of socks, hats, and gloves throughout the winter. If you have any questions, contact Jan Dunlap.
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Lent Study Course: Will You?
Beginning February 20th
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This year's Lent Study Course is a study of our baptismal promises using as a focus the book Will You? by Amanda Perkins McGriff and recommended by the Presiding Bishop’s office. The Sessions will meet at 6.30pm on Tuesdays beginning February 20. There will be five sessions in all. This study is “an invitation to think in new ways about the promises we make to God, to each other, and to ourselves in baptism.” It is a wonderful preparation for Easter as we look to renewing our baptismal promises. Copies are on backorder from Church Publishing, but eBooks are available on Kindle or other reading apps/devices. Any future copies St. Paul's receives will be available for $10.00 (that’s $2.00 off the listed price). If you have any questions, contact Fr. Luis.
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Do You Sing?
Easter Singers Wanted!
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We are hoping to start a number of four-part quartets to sing anthems during the seven weeks of Easter Season (March 31 through May 12). If you read music and hold a tune, please consider joining us to praise God together! Practices will start in Lent, on Sunday February 18.
We are looking for everyone who sings and reads music, so don’t rule yourself out! We want to rotate singers so everybody gets an occasional breather, and everybody gets a chance to sing. Actual time commitment will be worked out once we see how many people respond.
If you are scheduled to sing an anthem, there will be one early practice in Lent (a Sunday at noon or 1:00pm) as well as a “Sunday before you sing” noon practice, and a 9:00am “day of” brush up. Recordings of your voice part will be available upon request.
If you’d like to help out, send your name, cell number, and email to Heidi at (603) 733-9061 or heidirashidi@yahoo.com. Let her know your preferred voice part (Soprano, Alto, Tenor or Bass). Please also include a listing of any weeks you will be away between Feb 18 and May 12.
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This Lent (beginning on Ash Wednesday) will feature a special sermon series will focusing on the Collect of the Day. The collects (opening prayers at the Eucharist) are a particular treasure of Anglicanism. Many of them find their origin in medieval liturgical texts, while others at hands of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer who compiled the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549, and still others are of a more recent composition. All help us to focus our prayers as we gather Sunday by Sunday, and as such have been instrumental in forming our Anglican ethos and identity. They will be our special study and focus for reflection this Lent.
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St. James Episcopal Cathedral
Concert of Sacred Choral Works
This Sunday, February 18, at 3:00pm
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Forward Day by Day
The "Forward Day by Day" devotional booklets for February, March, and April are available now. Many people use this publication as part of their regular prayer life. If you do or would like to, be sure to pick one up in the narthex.
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O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. | |  |
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In Our Prayers
Remember in your prayers Grace, Warren, Lorraine, Emily, Rohana, Roberto, Maureen, Joan, London, Hannah, Ed, Charles, and all those in any kind of need.
Remember in your prayers the recently departed, among them, Bob Bugalski and Felicia Ross; as well as those whose year's mind falls at this time, among them, Lillie Mae Brown and Vernon Green.
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Monthly Prayer Diary
You can access the
Prayer Diary for February here
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The Order of the Daughters of the King is an order for women whose mission is the extension of Christ’s Kingdom through prayer, service and evangelism. At the St. Paul's the order serves our community through their prayers and acts of service.
Do you have a special concern you'd like the Daughters to pray for? Contact Cathy Henry who heads our parish chapter. You can also contact her for further information on the DOK, or you can visit the Order's website here. The Daughters of the King are also at the front of church during the distribution of communion to pray with you for your needs and concerns.
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The task of making the Eucharist possible is entrusted to the Altar Guild, a volunteer group of women and men in our parish who assist the Priest-in-Charge in creating beautiful worship services as well as all other services or ceremonies such as funerals and weddings. Altar Guild members care for the altar, vestments, altar linens of the parish, and eucharistic instruments. We are currently looking for more volunteers who can help for a few hours once a month.
For more information on how to get started, contact Jan Dunlap.
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Finding the Sunday Readings
Did you know you can always find the readings for Sunday by following this link? Did you find two sets of readings for the Sunday? If there are two "tracks", at St. Paul's we are using "Track 2"
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Our Bishop's Committee meets next on
Sunday, February 17.
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Connecting with St. Paul's
and The Episcopal Church
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