Flowering of the Cross

by Vicki Karsten

At St. George’s we have a tradition of Flowering the Cross for Easter.  This is an ancient tradition among Christians.  As worshipers bring beautiful, live, fragrant flowers to adorn the cross, eventually the cross becomes covered in a brilliant array of color, light and lovely fragrance. A symbol of death, darkness, pain and hopelessness is transformed into something beautiful, new and alive in celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. Together, we can transform the cross and help make this Easter a celebration of new life.

We look forward once more to the Flowering the Cross on Easter Sunday, April 17 at both the 9:00 am and 10:30 am services.

Please bring any flowers that day that you have to share in this beautiful tradition. Everyone at the service will be invited to participate in decorating the cross on Easter as a part of the worship service.

Holy Week 2022

Palm Sunday

April 10, 2022 | 10:00 am

 There will be one Sunday service on Palm Sunday with the procession of the palms, followed by time in the Community Garden & lunch outside. 

Maundy Thursday

April 14, 2022 | 7:00 pm

This service includes the very moving practice of having your hands or feet washed, following Jesus’ command to serve and love one another.

 

Good Friday

April 15, 2022 | 12:00 p.m.

Stations of the Cross

Easter Sunday

April 17, 2022 | 9:00 am & 10:30 am

Easter Sunday worship offered at two services.

Easter Egg Hunt | 10:00 am

All children are invited to participate in our Easter Egg Hunt at 10:00 am between services.

Invite-Welcome-Connect This Easter!

Thoughts From Our PIC (Priest in Charge)

Holy Week and Easter are coming very soon. This is the focal point of the whole church year.
There is so much drama in the services of Holy Week and Easter Sunday! This makes it a great time to
invite others to join us.

Our diocese has been participating in the process of “Invite, Welcome, Connect” for a few years.
In this process, we find creative ways to invite others to join us at St. George’s, welcome visitors when
they attend, and help newcomers become connected to our congregation.

Holy Week gives us an opportunity to invite friends or family to our services. Here is the schedule
for Holy Week and the highlights of our services:

Palm Sunday April 10 – We will have one Palm Sunday service at 10 a.m., followed by time to help out
in our Community Garden and to have lunch outside in the garden area. The Palm Sunday liturgy
includes the blessing of palms and the procession into the church building. We then will have the
dramatic reading of the passion account according to Luke. All of this is very dramatic and something a
visitor might appreciate. This also gives visitors a chance to see our Community Garden and learn about
our outreach ministry through the garden.

Maundy Thursday April 14 – Eucharist at 7 p.m. with hand or foot washing. This service includes the
very moving practice of having your hands or feet washed, following Jesus’ command to serve and love
one another. This is another good opportunity to invite a guest to participate.

Good Friday April 15 – Stations of the Cross at noon. The Stations of the Cross are a dramatic and
visual way to follow Jesus on the way to the cross. This is a chance for a visitor to experience the
meaning of Good Friday in a powerful way.

Easter Sunday April 17 – Easter services at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The Easter services are a great
celebration of the resurrection. This is a wonderful time to include guests in the celebration. The 9 a.m.
service will be informal and include our tradition of having the Resurrection Eggs which tell the story of
Holy Week. The 10:30 service will be traditional and include wonderful Easter music.

Easter Egg Hunt Sunday April 16 – Our annual Easter Egg Hunt will be at 10:00 a.m., between the two
services on Easter Sunday. We especially would like to invite children from our neighborhood or from
our families and friends to come to the egg hunt.

Please think and pray about whom you might invite to attend one or more of our Holy Week
services, and be on the alert to welcome any visitors during Holy Week!

In Jesus’ love,
Father Ray

A Special Easter Message from the Bishop

Dear Friends in Christ:

Our long pilgrimage of Lent now comes to its conclusion, taking us through the powerful, ancient liturgies of Holy Week, to the great goal of Easter. Lent has been all about getting ready for Easter; now Easter comes, and begs the question, “What next?”

St. Mark’s version of the Easter story likewise leaves us in mid-air. The tomb is empty; the message is clear; but there is no appearance of the risen Jesus. He has gone on ahead, we are told. If we want to see him, we must follow him. We must make the journey where he has led the way. Our pilgrimage continues, from strength to strength, from glory to glory.

May God bless and sustain you in that journey, in the power of the Resurrection. May we faithfully follow him and show the world his way of peace.

Yours in the Risen Christ,

+Barry

Flowering of the Cross

by Vicki Karsten

At St. George’s we have a tradition of Flowering the Cross for Easter.  This is an ancient tradition among Christians.  As worshipers bring beautiful, live, fragrant flowers to adorn the cross, eventually the cross becomes covered in a brilliant array of color, light and lovely fragrance. A symbol of death, darkness, pain and hopelessness is transformed into something beautiful, new and alive in celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. Together, we can transform the cross and help make this Easter a celebration of new life.

We look forward once more to the Flowering the Cross on Easter Sunday, April 21 at both the 9:00 am and 10:30 am services.

Please bring any flowers that day that you have to share in this beautiful tradition.  All members of the congregation will be invited to participate in decorating the cross on Easter as a part of the service.

Father Ray’s April Message

I wish everyone a joyous Easter Season! I hope that you will be able to worship with us during the season of Easter –worship is at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. Remember that Easter is a season that lasts for fifty days from Easter Sunday through Pentecost (May 19 this year). This is a season to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and to look for signs of the resurrection around us. Where do you see signs of the resurrection in your life and the life of our parish?

I am getting settled into my new ministry with you as Priest in Charge. As I said in last month’s newsletter, I see my major role as a facilitator and coach with you in the process of Total Ministry. Later in the year, we will do some things to think and  explore together what Total Ministry will mean for us at St. George’s. In the meantime, I look forward to getting to know you better.

Because my position is a quarter-time one, my challenge is to use my hours well each month (about forty hours per month) as your Priest in Charge. Most months, I will be with you for two Sundays. I also will be in the church office one morning each  week. I am also available anytime by phone or text message on my work cell phone or by e-mail at FatherRay@frontiernet.net.  I check for phone, text, or e-mail messages very frequently and will get back to you if you leave a message.

Deborah and I will be away from April 9-23 on the diocesan Holy Land Pilgrimage.  We are very excited about our first trip to this part of the world.  This is intended to be a pilgrimage, not just a tourist trip. We see this as a spiritual journey – outward to this very important place for our faith, and inward as we are open to the work of the Holy Spirit in our journey. On our pilgrimage, we will be visiting the Christian National Preschool in Nablus, a town on the West Bank.  This is a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem which serves children from all religious backgrounds, something rare in the Middle East.  St. George’s took up a collection for a donation to this kindergarten, which I will present in person on our trip.  Deb and I ask your prayers for a safe and good pilgrimage.

Deborah and I both thank all of you for your warm welcome for us. St. George’s is a very loving and welcoming community! I wish you a wonderful Easter Season, filled with experiences of the resurrection of Jesus.

In Jesus’ love,

Father Ray+

Homework from Fr. Ray for the Easter Season:

Homework from Fr. Ray for the Easter season:

Go on a Jesus hunt- look for signs of the Risen Lord in your life and the world around you.

Eastertide or the Season of Easter by Deacon Bob Olsen

Eastertide or the Season of Easter.

By Deacon Bob with some help from Wikipedia and Welcome to the Church Year.

During the Church year we make a great deal of Advent and Christmas and then the season of Lent, starting with Ash Wednesday leading up to Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday, then our Maundy Thursday service, Good Friday, and finally the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. But what of the Sunday’s between that and  Pentecost and then Trinity Sunday. I know for a long time the only thing I remember of those Sunday’s was the Sunday after Easter was informally called “low Sunday” speaking more to attendance than anything theological.

The Season of Easter lasts 59 days, beginning with the Easter Vigil and concluding the Day of Pentecost. I found it interesting that Pentecost Sunday isn’t officially part of Pentecost Season, even though the Sundays in Pentecost are labeled the Sundays after Pentecost. On the other hand, the Sunday’s during Easter Season are called the Sunday’s of Easter.

That “of” rather than “after” may sound like a small thing, but Easter, the oldest celebration of the Christian year, is not a single day but an entire season. The season also includes the feast of the Ascension when the resurrected Jesus ascended to heaven and was seen on earth no longer.

All of the other seasons have grown up around this most ancient feast. The primary theme of Easter is the resurrection: Remembering Jesus overcoming the power of death and the grave with his resurrection, but also celebrating that we too are raised to everlasting life with him in our Baptism.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!