Our
plans for Holy Week and Easter are mostly complete, though there is still much
to do. Our services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and the Great Vigil of
Easter on Saturday will all be livestreamed on Zoom and Facebook, the same as
our usual Sunday morning services.
Palm
Sunday and Easter morning will both include the Eucharist and will be
livestreamed from the church. We have purchased a new Wifi system that gives us
a good signal in the church, so we think we have solved the problem that caused
us to move into the parish hall on Christmas Eve.
At
the end of the Palm Sunday service everyone is invited to come to the church
parking lot to pick up individual Communion kits and palms, and at the end of
the Easter service all are invited to pick up Communion kits and a small pansy.
Recording sessions are underway for all of the music (last year we hadn’t quite
figured out the best way to record music so didn’t have much). A big thank you
to Bunny, Val, Ann and Chris and Carolyn for recording all of our music!!
We
will print bulletins for those who want them – please call or email the office by
Monday, March 22 if you’d like copies so Deb will know how many to print.
We
will also make arrangements to bring bulletins, Communion kits, palms and
pansies to those who are homebound or who are unable to come by the church to
pick them up. Please let us know by March 22 if you would like to
receive these.
Reader
schedules and readings will be sent out in the next two weeks.
I
hope you will join us for the Holy Week and Easter services!
Blessings,
The remaining Sundays at 10:00 AM
This Sunday-March 14th
at 10:00 a.m.
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
via Zoom (email RectorSAITV@gmail.com for Zoom information)or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/standrewsinthevalleytamworth/
AND...
JOIN US FOLLOWING THE SERVICE FOR
A VIRTUAL
on ZOOM
READINGS FOR SUNDAY
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
The Collect
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The First Lesson Numbers 21:4-9
In our Hebrew Bible lesson the impatient Israelites set out from Mount Hor, where Aaron was buried, to detour around the hostile country of Edom. The people complain against God and Moses about challenging conditions, as they have so often since their departure from Egypt. God sends poisonous serpents among the people, and the people respond by repenting of their disobedience. The Lord instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole so that any who are bitten may look upon this sign of God’s faithfulness and live.
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Thanksgiving is offered to the Lord, who saves from storms and other dangers those who will call upon God’s name.
The Second Lesson Ephesians 2:1-10
This New Testament passage emphasizes the manner in which Christians have been saved by God’s free gift. When we were dead in our sins, God raised us up with Christ that we might know the immeasurable riches of God’s graciousness. Although we are saved by faith and not by our good deeds, we are now able to do the good works for which God has made us capable.
The Gospel John 3:14-21
In our gospel, the image of Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in the wilderness is metaphorically related to Jesus’ lifting up on the cross. Just as the repentant Israelites could look upon Moses’ raised standard and be saved from the poisonous bite of a serpent, so all who look upon the crucified Christ in faith will be saved from their sins. Jesus did not come to condemn, but to be the saving light who draws many to himself.
Lenten Quiet MorningSaturday, March 20, 2021, from 10:00am – 12:30pm
The Spirituality of the Desert
Go and sit in thy cell, and thy cell shall teach thee all things.
Abbot Moses
The spirituality of the desert comes to us from stories of the Hebrew Bible in Exodus and from the stories of John the Baptist in the New Testament. In the third century, Christians sought refuge from persecution in the deserts of Palestine and Egypt. Men and women were seeking solitude, simplicity, and a way of living that prioritized the spiritual life.
Over the last year, the pandemic has thrown us into a kind of desert spirituality – isolation, testing, struggling with the unknown. How might we learn from our own experiences and those of our faith ancestors, learning from practices of self-emptying, listening, and wonder?
Please join Christi Humphrey, Saturday, March 20, 2021, from 10:00am – 12:30pm, for a virtual program which will include the practices of Lectio Divina, Visio Divina, and guided meditation. Fellowship, individual quiet time, and reflection will be woven together supporting you in deepening your relationship with the Divine.
To Register:
Email Christi Humphrey at cchumphrey1@gmail.com or call (508)633-7466 to register or for more information.
HOLY WEEK
For our First Nation people and those in this country who are living in impoverished areas of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans and the inner city areas populated by some of our poorest citizens.
For all those who are on the front lines serving communities during these difficult times.
Updating the Prayer List
Please let Deb know when a person can be removed from the prayer list. Thank you.
Safe Church Zoom Trainings 2021
Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 6:00 pm - Click HERE to register
Praesidium, the operator of the Armatus System that tracks and presents our safe church training is planning a major system upgrade. As a result of this upgrade your email address will now become your user/login name and your unique identifier effective Friday, February 26. Accounts with more than one person using a single email address and users without an email address will no longer be allowed. Please be aware of this change and report any problems to Marty Cloran.
Good shepherd, thank you for walking with us through
this valley of the shadow of death: through the suffering, the anxiety, the
loneliness, the boredom, the longing for closeness and the longing for personal
space, the confusion and fear, the impatience and hope, the good days and the
bad.
Forgive us for our suspicions of each other, the
ways this ordeal has made us more divided, as a country and a world. Help us
bridge our differences and come together - even as we are physically distant.
Thank you for all the ways, large and small, that
this ordeal has strengthened us as a community: the acts of kindness, the new
ways of doing things, the support we’ve offered and received.
Forgive us for the inequities this pandemic has
exposed. Kindle in our hearts a new commitment to justice as we build our
community together. Keep us ever mindful of those most in need.
We pray especially for those of us who have lost
loved ones, lost jobs, lost hope.
Let us be good company, even from afar; good
neighbors; and good friends.
We pray especially for those on the front lines of
the pandemic, for all who are in harm’s way.
Gentle God, we ask that you continue to keep watch
with those who work, or watch, or weep this day. Walk with those whose bodies
are holding memories of sickness, of trauma, of pain, of confusion, of chaos,
of isolation.
Give your angels charge over those who still cannot
sleep because of anxiety or grief.
Tend the sick, give rest to the weary, bless the
dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; all for
your love's sake.
God of love and hope, lift our spirits as we dare to
look ahead, dare to hope and dream about the new world to come. Strengthen our
efforts, deepen our wisdom, so we might hasten that day.
And until that day, keep our eyes and hearts open to
the signs of hope and life all around us.
For new ways to connect, we give you thanks and praise!
For teachers and nurses and doctors and agricultural
workers and grocery clerks and small business owners and frontline workers of
all kinds, we give you thanks and praise!
For the beautiful hope of being together again in
person one day, lifting our voices in song, passing the peace, sharing a cup of
coffee, being able to hug one another again — for that day that is surely
coming, we give you thanks and praise!
For the ways in which our eyes have been opened by
this ordeal, for the ways in which our hearts have been broken and put back
together differently, softer and more attuned to the needs of the most
vulnerable, we give you thanks and praise!
For all of these things and more, gentle God, we
give you thanks and praise in the name of Jesus, our crucified and risen Jesus,
Amen.
13 Trudy Thompson
16 Caroline Hines
20 Albert Bunker
21 Chris Boldt
30 Kaitlyn Marshall, Barbara Lord
31 Claudia Kennedy
