Lent and Holy Week St. Francis Episcopal Church Lent is the most important time of the year to nurture our inner life. It is the time during which we not only prepare ourselves to celebrate the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also the death and resurrection that constantly takes place within us. Life is a continuing process of the death of the old and the familiar, and being reborn again into a new hope, a new trust and a new love. The death and resurrection of Jesus therefore is not just a historical event that took place a long time ago, but an inner event that takes place in our own heart when we are willing to be attentive to it. True repentance is an interior attitude in which we are willing to let go of everything that prevents us from growing into spiritual maturity, and there is hardly a moment in our lives in which we are not invited to detach ourselves from certain ways of thinking, ways of speaking, ways of acting, that for a long time gave us energy, but that always again need to be renewed and recreated. Lent offers a beautiful opportunity to discover the mystery of Christ within us. It is a gentle but also demanding time. It is a time of solitude but also community. It is a time of listening to the voice within, but also a time of paying attention to other people’s needs. It is a time to continuously make the passage to new inner life as well as to life with those around us. When we live Lent attentively and gently, then Easter can truly be a celebration during which the full proclamation of the risen Christ will reverberate into the deepest place of our being. -Henri J.M. Nouwen TABLE OF CONTENTS Calendar of Events for Lent through Easter ...................... 2 Lenten Challenge ............................................................... 3 Ash Wednesday .................................................................. 4 Wednesdays During Lent ................................................... 4 Daily Offices ...................................................................... 5 Forgiveness Workshop ....................................................... 6 Sunday of the Passion ....................................................... 6 Maundy Thursday .............................................................. 7 Good Friday ....................................................................... 8 Holy Saturday .................................................................... 9 The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ ..................... 10 Holy Week Music ............................................................ 11 About Holy Week ....................................................... 12-13 1 SERVICES & EVENTS CALENDAR Lent Through Easter February 17—Ash Wednesday Services (see page 4) 12:15 PM and 6 PM February 21—March 21—Sunday Services during Lent 9 AM and 11 AM February 21—March 21—Daily Office (see page 5) 9 AM and 11 AM March 27—Forgiveness Workshop (see page 6) 9 AM - 12 Noon in the Hogan Board Room March 28—Palm Sunday Services (see page 6) 9 AM & 11 AM April 1—Maundy Thursday Service (see page 7) 6 PM Service April 2—Good Friday (see page 8) 12 Noon - Liturgy of Good Friday 12 Noon - Walk to Calvary (Families meet in Wheatcroft Parish Hall) 1 PM - The Seven Last Words 2 PM - Stations of the Cross April 3—Holy Saturday (see page 9) 11:00 AM-1:00 PM - Private Confessions in the Chapel 4 PM - Easter Eve Baptisms April 4—Easter Sunday Services (see page 10) 7:30 AM, 9 AM, and 11 AM 8:30 AM - 1 PM Refreshments available 10 AM Easter Egg Hunt 2 2021 LENTEN CHALLENGE This year our Lenten Challenge will be Feeding Our Hungry Neighbors. This will be a focused fundraiser and food collection to help our neighbors who are less fortunate. The first two weeks (February 21st and 28th) Beth Martinez and Janie Slocum, two hard working teens, will be collecting non-perishable food items and an assortment of canned goods to support the Houston Food Bank, the second largest food bank in the nation. There will be boxes marked "Feed Houston's Hungry" located in the Narthex or the Parish Hall. During March we will intensify our collection for the Fairhaven Food Pantry. We will gather donations and non-perishable food items. There is a great need for food and basic items. The Pantry is especially in need of plastic grocery bags, as well as diapers, canned food, pasta or other non- perishable items. Please consider donating, clean out your pantries or purchase extra cans at the grocery store to help feed the community to support these worthwhile causes. There will be collection baskets located in the Narthex every Sunday morning. 3 ASH WEDNESDAY February 17, 2021 Begin your Lenten journey that leads to the Cross and the Joy of the Resurrection with the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Eucharist on Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021. The first day of Lent is a special day of Holy Obligation. Services are at 12:15 PM & 6 PM to accommodate your schedule. WEDNESDAYS DURING LENT Wednesday Evening Schedule 6 PM Holy Eucharist in the Church 4 LENTEN DAILY OFFICES Add prayer to your spiritual life. Fr. David Price continues to lead corporate offerings of the Daily Office by zoom. These simple prayer offices, offered without sermons, last about thirty minutes. We encourage you to enter into this rhythm of prayer as often as you can. Morning Prayer || 9:00 AM, Contact: Fr. David Price [email protected] Join Zoom Meeting: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74430393620 Meeting ID: 744 3039 3620 / Passcode: 046258 Evening Prayer || 5:00 PM, Contact: Fr. David Price [email protected] Join Zoom Meeting: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/986428707 Meeting ID: 986 428 707 / Passcode: 002711 Prayers for in the morning, at noon, in the early evening, and at the close of the day can be found in the Book of Common Prayer beginning on page 136. Online access to these and other online prayers and scripture readings can be found at: The Forward Movement http://prayer.forwardmovement.org (Click the daily readings or daily prayer any time to find the different prayers and readings appointed in the Book of Common Prayer for every day.) Fr. Price’s daily inspirational messages are found on the St. Francis website: https://www.sfch.org/father-david-prices-reflections 5 FORGIVENESS WORKSHOP March 27, 2021 FORGIVING OTHERS This Lent, consider who you need to forgive and work through a process of forgiving them. On Saturday, March 27th, Father Bates will lead a seminar on the steps to forgiveness from 9 AM to 12 noon in the Hogan Board Room. Refreshments will be provided. Come ready to learn and release others and yourself! RSVP to Sally Jo Flores: 832-325-2983 | [email protected] Take the challenge and find freedom! THE SUNDAY OF THE PASSION March 28, 2021 Palm Sunday Worship begins outside in the courtyard. We process, waving palm branches hailing our King Jesus in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Our 9 AM service includes a Palm Sunday Pageant for children. The Gospel reading for the Sunday of the Passion includes the dramatic shouting by the crowd, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!” Holy week begins… 6 MAUNDY THURSDAY April 1, 2021 This evening’s service at 6:00 PM commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist in the Last Supper and Christ’s new commandment to love one another as He has loved us. At the conclusion of the Eucharist, the altar is stripped bare in preparation for the solemn darkness of the Cross on Good Friday. The service concludes with a crown of thorns placed on the bare altar. After a time of reflection, the congregation departs in silence. 7 GOOD FRIDAY April 2, 2021 12 noon Good Friday Liturgy We begin the Good Friday Liturgy in the same way we ended the Maundy Thursday Liturgy: in silence. We move from the Last Supper, the stripping and humiliation, to the cross and the tomb. The Good Friday Liturgy is marked by somber reflection on the love of God revealed in the self offering of the Crucified Christ. We focus on the large wooden crucifix that looms behind the stripped altar. The service ends as we entered, in silent reflection on Christ’s Passion for our salvation. 12 noon Children’s Walk to Calvary Children meet with Father Wismer in Wheatcroft Parish Hall to participate in their own journey of the Stations of the Cross. This is an interactive experience, and families are welcome to participate with their children. The Walk to Calvary takes place at the same time as the Liturgy of Good Friday service in the church, so parents may drop off their children (ages 6 and older) in the Parish Hall and then attend the Good Friday Service in the church. 1 pm The Seven Last Words of Jesus Jesus Christ made seven final statements during his last hours on the cross. These phrases are held dear by followers of Christ because they offer a glimpse into the depth of his suffering and faithfulness to God to accomplish redemption for us all. The use of these seven sayings in Good Friday Liturgy has been a tradition since the 16th century. The service is divided into seven segments, each focusing on one of the final statements, with silent meditation and complimentary hymns to help us reflect on the duality of Christ’s divinity and humanity in his sacrifice. 2 pm Stations of the Cross This service takes the faithful on a spiritual pilgrimage of prayer, through meditating upon the chief scenes of Christ’s sufferings and death. The Celebrant travels to each of the 14 scenes (stations) placed around the church with readings, prayers and congregational responses reflecting upon each. Between each station, there will be appropriately reflective music by our orchestra and singers. 8 HOLY SATURDAY April 3, 2021 What is Holy Saturday? On Holy Saturday the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord's descent into Hades, the place of the dead.