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St. Thomas Episcopal Church February 14, 2021 10:00 Am

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St. Thomas Episcopal Church February 14, 2021 10:00 Am WELCOME ST. THOMAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH FEBRUARY 14, 2021 10:00 AM Thank You for Being with Us! Whether you are watching us online or with us in person, we are glad that you have joined us today! We invite you to interact with us. If you are watching online, please fill out an online Connection Card by clicking the link in the post. If you are in person, you can find a Connection Card in Gosnell Hall where you got this bulletin. We hope that our worship today will help you find a measure of comfort and God’s grace in these challenging times. • CONTACT US • SHROVE TUESDAY-ASH WEDNESDAY 1416 North Loop 1604 E. Church members, look in the mail for a packet from the San Antonio, TX 78232 church next week with a pancake recipe and two Q-Tips Church: (210) 494-3507 with ashes! Make plans to join us for a church-wide www.tom1604.org “Virtual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper” at 6pm on Tuesday, February 16th. Father Mike will be making pan- School: (210) 494-3509 cakes from scratch - and you can cook along with him! [email protected] We’ll do it all over Zoom so we can talk and interact with www.stes1604.org one another. Don’t miss the fun! Not on our mailing list or not receiving our emails? Fill On Ash Wednesday, join us for an online service at 7pm. out an online connection card and we’ll add you to the You can use the ashes you get in the mail, or sign up for list! one of our extended Communion in the Courtyard times to receive communion and the imposition of ashes from • PRAYER REQUESTS Noon to 3 pm. Look for the link to sign up in your You can submit your prayer requests by filling out a Thursday Notes and on our Facebook page. “Connection Card” on the church website or by calling • LENTEN SERIES: FROM the church office. Please indicate if you would like us to share your requests with our intercessors and include MAINTENANCE TO MISSION them in our Devotional Guide prayer lists. Join Father Mike for a five part Lenten series beginning Wednesday, March 24th at 7 pm on Facebook and • DEVOTIONAL GUIDE YouTube. He’ll be interviewing five different church and Links to our weekly devotional guide can be found on our city leaders about how St. Thomas can move toward Facebook page or in our weekly email, “Thursday Notes”. growth and ministry outside of our walls, especially as we envision our re-opening. • WEEKLY BIBLE STUDIES • COMMUNION IN THE COURTYARD Wednesday Bible Study with the Rector at 7 pm. Private communion for individuals or families will be offered Wednesdays in fifteen-minute time slots between Thursday 12 and 1:30 pm in the courtyard. To attend you must sign Bible Study with the Rector at 9:30 am up online with the link in your “Thursday Notes”, the Women’s Bible Study at 1 p.m. link on the churches website or by calling the church You can find more information by filling out a office. “Connection Card” on our website. The Holy Eucharist, Rite II The Last after the Epiphany • February 14, 2021 10:00 AM _________________________________________________________________________ orship lies at the heart of the Christian life. It is in worship that we express our theology and define our W identity. It is through encountering God within worship that we are formed and transformed as the people of God. One of the glories of the Episcopal Church is its liturgical worship. Liturgy refers to the patterns, forms, words, and actions through which public worship is conducted. The people’s responses are in bold. This type of note, offering directions about the service is called a “rubric,” which comes from the Latin word rubrica (red) referring to a time when these instructional notes were always written in red. Today’s altar flowers are given to the glory of God in loving memory of Fran Sigerfoos THE ENTRANCE RITE Our service begins with an instrumental piece of music called a Voluntary. During the voluntary the congregation is encouraged to prepare for worship. Today’s prelude (and hymns) are inspired by the lectionary readings appointed for the fifth Sunday in Epiphany. In the Old Testament reading and in the Psalm you will hear beautiful imagery describing God’s creation and omnipotence. THE VOLUNTARY Alleluyas Simon Preston Today’s opening voluntary, Alleluyas, by Simon Preston is a musical interpretation of the following quotation from the Liturgy of St. James: At his feet the six-winged Seraph; Cherubim with sleepless eye, Veil their faces to the presence, As with ceaseless voice they cry. Alleluya, Alleluya, Lord most high. Alleluyas is built from the juxtaposition of two contrasting ideas-the one fast and spikily rhythmic, the other a series of richly scored jazzy chords. This piece is especially appropriate on the last Sunday of Epiphany because beginning on Ash Wednesday it is our tradition to refrain from using the word Alleluia during Lent. 2 THE HYMN • 137, Stanzas 1-3 Wareham 3 THE OPENING ACCLAMATION Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever. Amen. THE COLLECT FOR PURITY This prayer was an English rendering of a Latin prayer that began the liturgy in the medieval church before the Reformation. Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen. THE GLORIA The ordinary of the mass employs texts that remain the same for every mass. In the Latin mass the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Benedictus, and the Agnus dei are the five parts of the mass that remain the same every week. 4 THE WORD OF GOD The proper of the mass are the scriptural texts that change with the liturgical calendar. The collect, lessons, psalm, Gospel and preface to the communion liturgy are propers. Our lessons come from a prescribed cycle of readings called the lectionary. The lectionary consists of a three year cycle: Year. Each year we retell the story from Advent through Pentecost. THE COLLECT OF THE DAY The collect is the prayer appointed for each Sunday that “collects” or captures the theme of the day or season of the Church year. It summarizes the attributes of God as revealed in the scriptures for the day. The Lord be with you. And also with you. Let us pray. O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 5 THE OLD TESTAMENT READING 2 Kings 2:1-12 This reading is typically from the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) which Jesus knew and from which he often referred or quoted. When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.” Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be silent.” Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
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