Author: websexton

Newsletter & Order of Service for the Third Sunday of Easter

We continue our celebration of Christ’s resurrection at 11 a.m. Sunday, via Zoom; please join us! (Pro tip: Sign on 5 minutes early for preludial music.)
 
We’re also worshiping online at 5:30 p.m. every weekday evening with the Office of Evening Prayer. (If you don’t have a prayer book at home to join in, use this link; psalms are here.) And we’re resuming our midweek, in-person Eucharist services at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, starting April 28! For now, seating is limited to 20 worshipers at a time, so that people may be safely distanced. Use this link to reserve a pew for one of the upcoming Wednesday Eucharists. Alleluia!

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Drawing of Jesus washing a disciple's feet
Music

Music – Hymns and Anthem for April 11

This podcast episode features the hymns and anthem recorded by Dr. Dennis Keene and the Ascension Choir, featuring the Manton Memorial Organ, for the Church of the Ascension’s worship service on the Second Sunday of Easter, April 11, 2021, which took place online via Zoom.

  1. O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing (O filii et filiae)
  2. But Thanks Be to God (from Messiah) – George Frideric Handel
  3. We Walk by Faith, and Not by Sight (St. Botolph)
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Sermon – The Second Sunday of Easter

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; 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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Join Us: The Second Sunday of Easter

Please join us for worship online or by phone this Second Sunday of Eastertide. Preludial music — three pieces by baroque composer François Couperin this week — begins at 10:45 a.m., followed by a service of scripture, hymns, an anthem from Handel’s Messiah, and a sermon to be preached by our seminarian, Linda Brandt.
 

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Allelulia! Jesus is Risen!

The Lord is risen indeed! Allelulia!
 
Happy Easter! Our service again this year takes place via Zoom. Preludial choral music begins at 10:45 a.m.; the service itself begins at 11 a.m. Please join us as we celebrate the resurrection, rebirth and renewal of Easter, spring, and an increasingly vaccinated city!

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Sermon – Maundy Thursday

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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The Great Vigil of Easter

The Great Vigil — Easter’s equivalent of Christmas’s Eve — was the ancient gathering of believers in the hours of darkness to hear scripture and offer prayer. Initially a night-long service ending at dawn, this practice of prayerful watching anticipated the baptisms that would come at first light. Easter was the primary baptismal baptismal occasion for the early church, and still today, whether we celebrate a baptism during the Vigil or not, we reaffirm our own baptismal vows after hearing the record of God’s saving deeds in history. In this way, we further link the meanings of Christ’s dying and rising to our understanding of our own baptisms.

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Newsletter and Order of Service for Good Friday

To commemorate Good Friday, please join us online, via Zoom, at noon. The rector writes: “We invite you to bring a cross with you to the service. This may be a cross that you already use for prayer, or one that you make, paint or draw for this day. This past year has been so full of extraordinary occasions that show us the cross: agonized suffering, cruel injustice, helpless vigils, unspeakable courage, self-giving sacrifice. As we contemplate all that we have lived through in the shadow of Jesus’ Passion, may the crosses we bring remind us of the depth of God’s love for us and for the whole world.”

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Newsletter and Order of Service for Maundy Thursday

At 7 p.m. on Maundy Thursday, we will gather online via Zoom to remember Jesus’ last night before his crucifixion. The rector invites us, in our own homes and in our own ways, to then spend part of our evening following the service keeping watch with Christ. “Light a candle, read a psalm, perhaps open your journal. Sit in quiet. Ask Jesus to be present to you and bring all your griefs, struggles and hopes for yourself and the world into that space.”
 
And please join us for the rest of the week for our Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Great Vigil and Easter services, as well. See the complete schedule here.

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Newsletter and Order of Service for Palm Sunday

The rector writes: “The liturgies of this week speak to some of the deepest, most difficult experiences of human life. They invite us to walk with Jesus from Palm Sunday hosannas to the crowd calling for a lynching; from the intimacy of the upper room to the betrayal, dereliction and God-forsakenness of Good Friday; from the anguish, and silence of death to the wonder and joy of Easter Day.”
 
Please join us for our Sunday service for Palm Sunday, March 28 at 11 a.m., via Zoom, when we start to share the wondrous gift of Holy Week with its readings, characters and moments. And please join us for the rest of this week, Monday through Easter, by joining our different services marking the passion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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