March 7, 2013


Services for this coming Sunday, March 10th and the fourth Sunday of Lent, will be at 8 and 10 am with Coffee hour following the service. The Fourth Sunday of Lent is also known as Laudate Sunday, Mothering Sunday, or Refreshment Sunday. In the midst of Lent, almost a “little Easter” or a least a glimpse of Easter down the road. By whatever name, this Sunday we are invited to lighten the austerity of the Lenten season. If we had rose-colored vestments, we would use them! And, who knows … maybe there will be Simnel Cake this year. Come and see!

Turn your clocks ahead before you go to bed Saturday night (9th)!

 
Readings for this Sunday:
Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32.
Easter Flower envelopes are in the pews. We depend on your contributions for our Easter Flowers. Please turn your envelopes in to the office by the Wed, March 20th. Thank you.

(left) Installation of the new doors to the Parish hall.
Trim, stain and finishing to happen in the near future.

 
Take a look at the bulletin board in the Parish Hall for reports form Sammie Wakefield aas she works with Eleanore's Project in Peru!

 The Tuesday Group will be meeting this week (3/12) for families. We’ll gather at 5:00 pm with our box suppers, eat together, then continue our Lenten Bible study and project.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry discussion group will meet this Tuesday (3/12) at 7:00 in the Prince Room. If you know others who have read the book, invite them to come along. There may be a few Unitarians joining us as well on this portion of our Lenten pilgrimage.
The Women’s Lunch Bunch will meet Wed (3/13) at noon at the Mountain View Station Restaurant in Center Ossipee. If you have questions, please contact Dale Appleton. All are welcome.

 Food for thought as we approach the Fourth Sunday of Lent,
Now quit your care and anxious fear and worry;
for schemes are vain and fretting brings no gain.
Lent calls to prayer, to trust and dedication;
God brings new beauty nigh;
reply, reply with love to love most high.

To bow the head in sackcloth and in ashes,
or rend the soul, such grief is not Lent’s goal;
but to be led to where God’s glory flashes,
his beauty to come near.
Make clear, make clear where truth and light appear.

For righteousness and peace will show their faces
to those who feed the hungry in their need, and wrongs redress,
who build the old waste places, and in the darkness shine.
Divine, divine it is when all combine!

Then shall your light break forth as doth the morning;
your health shall spring, the friends you make shall bring
God’s glory bright, your way through life adorning;
and love shall be the prize.
Arise! Arise, and make a paradise!
            Hymn 145, word by Percy Dearmer (1867-1936)

Blessings,
Heidi+

 Looking ahead to Holy Week and Easter Services…
                                
Palm Sunday, March 24

8 and 10 AM: Blessing of the Palms,
            the Passion Narrative & Holy Eucharist 

Wednesday, March 27
9 AM: Morning Prayer
6 PM: Candlelight soup supper followed by Evensong

 Maundy Thursday, March 28
7 PM Liturgy of the Day with foot washing,
Holy Eucharist and the stripping of the altar

Good Friday, March 29
12-2:30 PM: Come and go as needed
            Noon to 2: Meditations on the Seven Last Words
            2:00  Stations of the Cross
7 PM Liturgy of the Day with hymns and
            communion from the reserved sacrament

 Holy Saturday, March 30
8 PM The Great Vigil of Easter, with kindling of the new fire,
            Vigil readings and the First Eucharist of Easter

Easter Sunday, March 31
 8:00  Holy Eucharist Rite I
10:00 Rite II Festival Eucharist with hymns, choir and organ