Year: 2011

Prayers and liturgy

Tuesday in Holy Week

The collect for today, Tuesday in Holy Week, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Pilate condemns Christ to deathALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Isaiah 50:5-9a
The Continuation of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St Mark
The Gospel: St Mark 15:1-39

Artwork: Pilate condemns Christ to death, 12th-century mosaic, Passion Vault, St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice.

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Sermons

Sermon for Monday in Holy Week

What mean ye by this service?

The beginning of the Passion according to St. Mark, read on Monday in Holy Week, offers a sequence of rituals which revolve around the opening statement that “after two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread.”

Mark’s account of the Passion includes the breaking open of “the alabaster box of ointment of spikenard” and the anointing of the head of Christ with the precious oil. It includes Judas’ plan to betray Christ to the chief priests for money; the preparation for the celebration of the Passover by the disciples; the amazing statements at the ritual meal of the Passover by Jesus himself; the prophecy of Peter’s betrayal of Jesus; the singing of an hymn and proceeding to Gethsemane to pray; the betrayal of Jesus by the kiss of Judas; the trial and mockery of Jesus. The beginning of the passion concludes with Peter’s denial and his conviction of conscience when the cock crew twice. For then “Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him … and when he thought thereon he wept.”

It is quite a sequence. It reveals our hearts of treachery and betrayal, our hearts of love and devotion, as well as our divided and sleepy hearts. It is not exactly a pretty picture of ourselves and our humanity.

“What mean ye by this service?” This is the question of the Passover. The opening scene of this beginning of Mark’s account of the Passion is most intriguing and important. The unnamed woman does an extravagant thing. She breaks open an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard and she anoints Jesus’ head. What does it mean?

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Prayers and liturgy

Monday in Holy Week

The collect for today, Monday in Holy Week, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Isaiah 63:7-9
The Beginning of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark
The Gospel: St Mark 14:1-72

Etimasia

Artwork: Etimasia, c. 1220, detail from Apse Mosaic, Basilica Papale di San Paolo fuori le Mura (Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls), Rome.  The Etimasia shows two angels flanking an empty throne with the Cross and the instruments of Christ’s passion. A closed Gospel book sits on the cushion of the throne. Behind the cushion are the crown of thorns resting on a pole, the lance, the vinegar-soaked sponge, and the nails of crucifixion in a chalice of blood.

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Sermons

Sermon for Palm Sunday

“What mean ye by this service?”

It will be the recurring question for this week. It all begins today, Palm Sunday. It is the beginning of Holy Week, the week of the Passover. Christ is our Passover. But what does that mean?

Our liturgy shows us what it means. It all begins today and ends at Easter. It is one continuous liturgy. Christ crucified and Christ risen. The story captures the whole range of human emotions and experience, the whole range of sin and evil, the whole picture of human redemption. All of it is focussed on the figure of Jesus Christ. In a way, the whole story of Christ is concentrated in the events of this day and week. Palm Sunday makes us confront the paradox of contradiction that exists in our own souls.

“Hosanna to the King,” we cry, only to turn around and cry, “Crucify him.” The one, a cry of exaltation and delight; the other, a cry of violence and viciousness. This is what we cry. We are not merely by-standers. No. The whole point of Palm Sunday and Holy Week is that we are participants in the drama of human redemption. We are part of the unfolding of the spectacle of human redemption. It is the Passover of the Lord. We are in the story of this week.

But what does this mean? The ancient story of the Passover underlies the meaning of this week. Jesus enters triumphantly into Jerusalem. He does so to celebrate the Jewish Passover. Everything that transpires in the spectacle of this week relates to the Passover story.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 18-26 April: Holy Week & Easter

Monday, April 18th, Monday in Holy Week
7:00am Matins & Passion
7:00pm Vespers & Communion

Tuesday, April 19th, Tuesday in Holy Week
7:00am Matins & Passion
3:30pm Holy Communion at Windsor Elms
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
7:00pm Vespers & Communion

Wednesday, April 20th, Wednesday in Holy Week
7:00am Matins & Passion
9:00pm Tenebrae

Thursday, April 21st, Maundy Thursday
7:00am Penitential Service
7:00pm Holy Communion & Watch

Friday, April 22nd, Good Friday
7:00am Matins of Good Friday
11:00am Ecumenical Service – Windsor Baptist Church
7:00pm Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday

Saturday, April 23rd, Holy Saturday
10:00am Matins & Ante-Communion
7:00pm Vigil with Lauds & Matins of Easter

Sunday, April 24th, Easter
7:00am Ecumenical Sunrise Service at the Fort Edward Blockhouse
8:00am Holy Communion – Christ Church
10:30am Holy Communion – Christ Church
2:00pm AMD Service of the Deaf
4:30pm Evening Prayer at Christ Church

Monday, April 25th, Easter Monday
10:00am Holy Communion

Tuesday, April 26th, Easter Tuesday
10:00am Holy Communion
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-7:30pm Brownies’ Mtg. in Parish Hall

Upcoming Events:

Friday, April 29th
3:00pm Choral Evensong with King’s-Edgehill Cadet Corps

Saturday, April 30th
7:00-9:00pm Newfoundland & Country Evening of Musical Entertainment

Saturday, May 7th
4:30-6:00pm Annual Lobster Supper

Saturday, June 4th
7:30pm King’s Chorale Concert (under the direction of Bill Perrott)

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Prayers and liturgy

Palm Sunday

The collect for today, the Sunday Next before Easter, commonly called Palm Sunday, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: Philippians 2:5-11
The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to St. Matthew
The Gospel: St Matthew 27:1-54

Ugolino di Vieri, Entry of Christ into Jerusalem

Artwork: Ugolino di Vieri, Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, c. 1338. Enamel and gilded silver on silver plaque, Reliquary of the Corporal, Orvieto Cathedral.

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Leo the Great

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Leo the Great (c. 400-461), Bishop of Rome, Teacher of the Faith (source):

O God our Father,
who madest thy servant Leo strong in the defence of the faith:
we humbly beseech thee
so to fill thy Church with the spirit of truth
that, being guided by humility and governed by love,
she may prevail against the powers of evil;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 2 Timothy 1:6-14
The Gospel: St Matthew 5:13-19

Solimena, St. Leo the Great going to meet Atilla

Artwork: Francesco Solimena (1657-1747), Saint Leo the Great Going to Meet Attila. Oil on canvas, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

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Sermons

Sermon for Passion Sunday

“By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place”

Passion Sunday. It is, perhaps, a curious and a rather perplexing term. What does it mean? What are we to make of Passiontide?

Suffering. That is what it means. Passion Sunday marks the beginning of our intense participation in the Passion of Christ; in other words, the sufferings of Christ. The suffering is for us and in us. The suffering is redemptive, even celebratory, and all the more so if we attend to the sufferings of Christ, which is what the reading from the Letter to the Hebrews is suggesting. The Gospel reading, too, points to the redemptive nature of this suffering and to the themes of discipleship and service and the idea of learning through sacrifice.

But suffering? Surely there is more than enough suffering and on a far greater scale than any of us can really imagine in our own world and day. It has been scarcely weeks since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and already it is fallen off the front page and, indeed, was often eclipsed by the fears and worries about nuclear fallout. The loss of life and destruction of property along the coast of Japan was overwhelmingly huge, the magnitude of the earthquake and flood unprecedented. But humans can bear only so much truth, even the truth of suffering, it seems. And yet, suffering is the main concern of Passiontide.

Whose sufferings? Ours? Yes, in a way. Suffering here is seen as part and parcel of the human condition in its brokenness and fallenness; part and parcel, too, of a fallen world where things are not always as certain and stable and as safe as we would like them to be. Suffering in the Christian viewpoint is a result of sin, original and actual, personal and collective, but in Passiontide, all of it, I repeat, all of it, is concentrated on the figure of the Crucified.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 10-17 April

Tuesday, April 12th
6:00pm Prayers & Praises – Haliburton Place
6:30-7:30pm Brownies’ Mtg. in Parish Hall
7:30pm Parish Council Mtg.

Sunday, April 17th, Palm Sunday
8:00am Holy Communion
9:30am Holy Communion at KES
10:30am Holy Communion with Palms
4:30pm Evening Prayer at Christ Church

Upcoming events:
Friday, April 29th
3:00pm Choral Evensong with the King’s-Edgehill School Cadet Corps

Saturday, April 30th
7:00-9:00pm Newfoundland and Country Evening of Musical Entertainment

Saturday, May 7th
4:30-6:00pm Annual Lobster Supper – Eat in or Take-out!

Saturday, June 4th
7:30pm King’s Choral Concert (under the direction of Bill Perrott)

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Events

Holy Week and Easter Schedule of Services

Monday, April 18th, Monday in Holy Week
7:00am Matins & Passion
7:00pm Vespers & Communion

Tuesday, April 19th, Tuesday in Holy Week
7:00am Matins & Passion
3:30pm Holy Communion – Windsor Elms
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
7:00pm Vespers & Communion

Wednesday, April 20th, Wednesday in Holy Week
7:00am Matins & Passion
9:00pm Tenebrae

Thursday, April 21st, Maundy Thursday
7:00am Penitential Service
7:00pm Holy Communion & Watch

Friday, April 22nd, Good Friday
7:00am Matins of Good Friday
7:00pm Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday

Saturday, April 23rd, Holy Saturday
10:00am Matins & Ante-Communion
7:00pm Vigil with Lauds & Matins of Easter

Sunday, April 24th, Easter
7:00am Ecumenical Sunrise Service at the Fort Edward Blockhouse
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
2:00pm AMD Service of the Deaf
4:30pm Evening Prayer

Monday, April 25th, Easter Monday
10:00am Holy Communion

Tuesday, April 26th, Easter Tuesday
10:00am Holy Communion
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place

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