ONLINE PARISH NOTES

Sunday 15 March 2015

Alexander Gibbs, Moses and the Bronze Serpent, Tile Painting, 1889
All Saints Church, Margaret Street, London

FROM THE RECTOR

Mid-Lent Sunday. Mothering Sunday. Rose Sunday. Laetare Sunday. However we describe it, it's a good day to come to Mass. It's been a tough winter. Maybe we haven't made as good a start with our Lenten disciplines as would have liked. No matter. It's never too late to make a new beginning. We do well to come to Mass this Sunday and take advantage of the opportunity to recommit ourselves to following in the way of the cross this Lent and Holy Week, so that we may enter ever more fully into the joy of the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. -- Fr. John D. Alexander

THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS

The Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year B
Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Lenten Series – This evening at 6 pm, we will offer the fourth and final in our series “Science, Religion, and Extraterrestrials.” Tonight’s speaker will be Phoebe Pettingell on “Extraterrestrials, Mad Scientists, and Mere Christianity: The Science Fiction Trilogy of C. S. Lewis.” Phoebe Pettingell is a literary critic with a lifelong interest in C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams. From 1976 until 2010, she wrote the column “On Poetry” for The New Leader, and has published in numerous magazines. She is the author of the Foreword to the American edition of The Poems of Rowan Williams (2002). Following Evening Prayer at 5:30, a light dinner will be served at 6 pm. The program will begin at about 6:45 pm and will conclude by 8 pm. Please see the flyer enclosed in the Kalendar for more details.

Saint Joseph (March 19th) – a major feast day of the church year, will be celebrated on Thursday with Morning Prayer at 8 pm and Low Mass at 8:30 am.

Stations of the Cross & Stabat Mater – This coming Sunday 22 March at 5:30 pm, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, we will offer Choral Stations of the Cross, featuring the Schola Cantorum singing Orlande de Lassus’s Stabat Mater à 8 voci. Please note the date and plan to join us.

Eucharistic Adoration -- In place of our usual Friday evening Lenten service of Evening Prayer and Stations of the Cross, this Friday, March 20, we will be observing an hour of silent prayer and meditation before the Blessed Sacrament in the Lady Chapel, beginning at 6 pm. This devotion begins with a Litany, and concludes with a simple service of Benediction. Please join us.

Vigil at the Altar of Repose – There is a signup sheet in the narthex for the Vigil at the Altar of Repose, which begins on Maundy Thursday, April 2nd, after the completion of the 7:30 pm Liturgy, and ends at midnight. Come watch with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

Easter Vigil Reception – Trays of ready-to-serve savory and sweet treats are needed for the reception following Easter Vigil (April 4th) in the Library. If you can prepare something, please contact Cory MacLean at 421-6702, ext.1, or via email at office@sstephens.necoxmail.com.

Easter Flowers – If you would like to make a flower offering at Easter – in thanksgiving or in memoriam - please fill out the enclosed envelope and either put it in the offering plate or return it to the parish office no later than Wednesday 25 March.

Parish Retreat – Our annual parish retreat is scheduled for Friday 24 April through Sunday 26 April at Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham, Massachusetts. Deacon Buck Close will be giving the meditations. The cost is $140 per person. To reserve a place on the retreat please write a check for $70 payable to S. Stephen’s, with the notation “Retreat” in the memo line, and give (or mail) it to Father Alexander so that he receives it no later than Friday, April 10. (If the retreat is canceled this deposit will be refunded to you.) Don’t miss this opportunity to get away for some Eastertide quiet time with our Lord!

FOR YOUR PRAYERS

Prayers have been requested for: Joyce, Nicholas, Jonno, Patrick, Townsend, Norman, Andrea, Marion, Sue, Hannah, Kaitlyn, Mary, Gus, Harrington, Kate, Davaughn, Richard, Angela, Sally, Rhoda, Ned, Henry, James, Richard, and Dianne.

The faithful departed: Year’s mind: Eleanor Retallick (15 March 2009), Betty Louise Claunch (18 March 1999), and Edna Brazil (19 March 2008); Recently departed: Howard Johnson, Peter Shaw, and Arthur K. D. Kepert, Priest.

Anglican and Diocesan Cycles of Prayer – In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, please pray for pray the Church in Missouri - (V, The Episcopal Church): The Rt. Rev’d Wayne Smith; and in the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, please pray for clergy widows and widowers of the Diocese.

THE SUNDAY ROTA

Acolytes - MC B Rose; SD S Brazil; Thurifer L Verdelotti; Crucifer L Bledsoe, Torches D Callanan, L Hooks
Lector – W Dilworth
Ushers – P Pettingell, J Chamberlin
Coffee Hour – L Latimer, E Hooks

THIS WEEK AT S. STEPHEN’S

PARISH PROGRAMS, EVENTS & MEETINGS

Sunday 15 March
Lenten Series (Speaker: Phoebe Pettingell) 6 pm


EXTRA-PAROCHIAL EVENTS HOSTED AT S. STEPHEN’S

Saturday 21 March
Epiphany Soup Kitchen 2 pm


LITURGICAL CALENDAR & SERVICE SCHEDULE

Sunday 15 March
THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT (Rose)
Morning Prayer 7:30 am
Low Mass 8 am
Solemn Mass 10 am
Evening Prayer 5:30 pm
Compline 9 pm

Weekday Office and Mass Lectionary: Week of Lent 4, Year 1

Monday 16 March
Monday in IV Lent (V)
Evening Prayer 5:30 pm
Low Mass 6 pm

Tuesday 17 March
Tuesday in IV Lent (V)
(Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Patron of Ireland, c. 460)
Morning Prayer 8 am
Low Mass 8:30 am

Wednesday 18 March
Wednesday in IV Lent (V)
(Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, 386)
(Edward, King and Martyr, 978)
Evening Prayer 5:30 pm
Low Mass 6 pm

Thursday 19 March
SAINT JOSEPH (W)
Morning Prayer 8 am
Low Mass 8:30 am

Friday 20 March
Friday in IV Lent (V)
(Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 687)
(Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1711)
Angelus 12 noon
Low Mass 12:10 pm

Eucharistic Adoration 6 pm

Saturday 21 March
Saturday in IV Lent (V)
(Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1556)
Morning Prayer 9 am
Low Mass 9:30 am

Sunday 22 March
THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT (V)
Morning Prayer 7:30 am
Low Mass 8 am
Solemn Mass 10 am
Choral Stations of the Cross & Stabat Mater 5:30 pm
Compline 9 pm


NEXT SUNDAY'S READINGS (March 22)

The Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year B
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 51:1-13, Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33