4/11 What’s happening at St. Paul’s

“The Way of the Cross”
A pilgrimage of devotion around the neighborhood

For the first time in our nearly 170 years as a parish in Brunswick, the people of St. Paul’s will be conducting a Good Friday devotion that takes them around the block where we are located in the heart of Brunswick to re-enact the path Christ took to his death. We invite all “pilgrims” to meet at the corner of Pleasant and Union Streets, Friday, April 18, 11:15am where “The Way of the Cross” will begin.

“The Way of the Cross” is a seven hundred year old tradition formalized by the Franciscan Order in Jerusalem. As pilgrims visited the Holy Land and followed the path Christ took from Pilate’s house to the place of his crucifixion, they developed a devotion that consisted of 14 “Stations of the Cross.” These “Stations” were then made into a devotion that pilgrims brought to their own parish churches.

St. Paul’s deacons, the Rev. Chick Carroll and the Venerable Mary Lee Wile have planned this pilgrimage around the block of St. Paul’s beginning on Pleasant Street, on to Union Street, over to Elm Street, down to Maine Street and back up Pleasant Street. There are fourteen banners created with photographic images depicting Christ’s suffering and incidents noted in scripture of his path to where he died. These images connect the pilgrims with the human suffering that Christ suffered.

The posters are mounted on poles so that each station in sequence will be recognized with readings of scripture, responsive readings and prayers. This is a moving way to connect with the meaning of Christ’s death in preparation for his joyful resurrection on Sunday. I hope you will join us to be a pilgrim and to carry one of the “station posters” or to read the devotion at each station.

The trip around the block will end at the church at noon when Good Friday worship will commence. It will include the reading of St. John’s Passion, the Veneration of the Cross and Communion from the Reserved Sacrament. We invite you to stay for silent meditation after the end of the 75 minute Good Friday worship until 3:00pm, the time when traditionally the faithful observe Christ’s death.
For those who are not able to attend a service at Noon on Friday, the St. Paul’s Youth invite you to attend a Good Friday Prayer service of scripture, veneration of the cross, Taizé music accompanied by guitar and dramatic vignettes of the characters of Christ’s Passion, 7:00pm in the church.

For more information: www.stpaulsmaine.org; @stpaulsmaine.

Holy Week at St. Paul’s
Palm Sunday, Sunday, April 13
8:00 a.m., 9:30 a.m., and 10:30 a.m.
Liturgy of the Palms, Reading of St. Matthew Passion and Eucharist

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
7:30 a.m. Holy Week Morning Prayer followed by coffee

Holy Thursday
Noon Holy Eucharist
7:00 p.m. Maundy Thursday Liturgy- Foot-Washing, Eucharist, Stripping of Altar and Altar of Repose in Vestibule

Good Friday
11:15 a.m. The Way of the Cross, a pilgrimage of devotion around the neighborhood. Meet at Pleasant Street entrance.
Noon Good Friday Liturgy
7:00 p.m. Good Friday Prayers led by St. Paul’s Youth

Easter Vigil
Saturday, April 19 7:00 p.m.
with kindling of new fire of the Resurrection and readings of our Salvation History.
BE SURE TO BRING BELLS AND NOISE MAKERS IN CELEBRATION OF THE RESURRECTION!

Easter
Sunday, April 20
8:00 a.m. Celebration of Easter Holy Eucharist with choir.
10:30 a.m. Celebration of Easter Holy Eucharist and Holy Baptism… music and children’s procession.

No Church School on Easter! All are invited to the Easter celebration in the Nave. Children’s Easter activities and snacks will be provided in the Great Hall at 10:30. We invite you to come and go between the Nave and the Great Hall as you like.

Music Notes
Music at 10:30 Sunday begins in the Great Hall as the choir sings an exuberant Hosanna for Palm Sunday. We continue in procession with the traditional “All glory, laud and honor.” Its text dates from the ninth century, is perfect for this occasion. The traditional tune has been associated with it since the seventeenth century. At the gradual we sing “What wondrous love is this,” a song from nineteenth-century America that extols God and the Lamb, recalling Jesus’ sacrifice. The choir’s anthem is “I heard the voice of Jesus Say,” by Betty Carr Pulkingham. This is a meditative setting of Jesus’ call to us, and our response, that employs well-known melodies (English traditional; Thomas Tallis). At communion we continue to reflect on the sacrifice as we sing “My song is love unknown,” written by Samuel Crossman in 1664. The unknown love we sing about is that love for us that Jesus showed through his life and death, especially with reference to Romans 5:8: “God demonstrates his love for us thus: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We conclude with “When I survey the wondrous cross,” by Isaac Watts. This is a frank meditation on Jesus’s work for us on the cross, and our response: “Love so amazing demands my all.” The organ voluntary concluding worship is a setting of Bach’s “O sacred head, sore wounded.”
Church School Happenings
Church School classes will be making items to carry in the procession on Easter. The Lions and Lambs will create tissue paper flowers and the Eagles will be making streamers.

Volunteer Opportunity
Volunteers are wanted to set up activities and snacks in The Great Hall for those who need to stretch during the Easter 10:30 service. Please contact the parish office to volunteer.

This Sunday’s Announcements
On the second Sunday of the month the plate offering is designated to the Rector’s Discretionary Fund.

Exploring the Word will be in recess for Palm Sunday and Easter. Meetings will resume on Sunday, April 27 at 9:30 a.m.

FUTURE DATES. MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

10:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 23. Winter has not been kind to our Memorial Garden and a committee is forming to look at ways to reinvigorate that very important space. The first meeting of this group is scheduled in the library and we invite your ideas, concerns, and participation. We’ll be walking around outside so bring appropriate footwear. Contact Mary Ann Hoy for more information.

9 a.m. to noon. Saturday, April 26. Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, and “The Negative Way” to God. “Poems are verbal icons into the eternal,” says the Reverend Dick Bamforth of Maine. And Brother Mark Brown of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist adds that in the original Greek, the Nicene Creed describes God as “the Poet of heaven and earth.” In this workshop we will look at a few poems by Emily Dickinson and T. S. Eliot as guideposts for us in our own journeys toward the Eternal–two very different poets, each of whom struggled to establish a relationship with God. Each chose what’s called “The Negative Way”: describing what God is not, rather than trying to fathom who or what God is. This Via Negativa is an ancient path that goes back to the Old Testament and the “ineffable name of God,” through the Middle Ages and The Cloud of Unknowing, through some of the writings of C. S. Lewis to the present-day work of Cynthia Bourgeault and other contemplatives. For Dickinson and Eliot, this Negative Way took them to different places, which in and of itself might be helpful to us. Please join Rick Wile for some reading, reflection, discussion, and even some writing on our own.

2:00 p.m. Sunday, May 4. As part of the church covenant with Habitat for Humanity, 9 parishoners are walking in the annual spring walk on Sunday, May 4 at 2 p.m. You can support them with pledges online at: http://habitat7rivers.org/runwalk/sponsor.php?7HFH-7R9 If you are interested in participating in the spring walk, pledging on paper, or providing finger sandwiches for the hungry walkers, please contact Madeleine Msall (607-4049). More information about our covenant with Habitat is available on the Outreach board.

REMINDERS

Please Note: On Sundays, the doors to the parking lot will be locked from the outside at approximately noon. As we have had too many instances when the doors remained unsecured all day, ushers will now lock the doors as a matter of routine. Exceptions of course will be made for events taking place on Sunday afternoons. And, nothing in this policy means anyone has to rush home – by all means, stay and enjoy the coffee and fellowship.

Easter Flower memorial envelopes are available in the pews. Please PRINT the necessary information and place the envelope in the plate or return it to the church office by Monday, April 14.

Tuesday Bible Class will not be meeting during Lent. The group will resume studying Hebrews, Chapter 6 on April 22.

Please be sure to wear your nametag! If you need one, even if you are a guest or newcomer, please sign up in The Great Hall. Magnetic closure nametags are available.

St. Paul’s Celebrates the New Ministry of their Rector,The Rev. Carolyn H. Eklund

Please save the date: Tuesday, May 13, 2014

5:00 p.m. Light Supper in the Great Hall

6:00 p.m. The Celebration of New Ministry Holy Eucharist,
Presiding -The Rt. Rev. Stephen T. Lane
Bishop of the Diocese of Maine
Preaching – Dr. Lucinda Mosher, Th.D.
Hartford Seminary Faculty Associate in Interfaith Studies Director, Multifaith Chaplaincy Program

Followed by a gala reception afterwards in the Great Hall.