From the Rector – The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
Every year I feel the same tension between the celebration of Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday (March 25 this year). It feels like whiplash to have such a brief Palm celebration and then immediately dive deep into the solemnity of the Passion reading. Why do we hold these two different liturgies together in one service? A part of the answer is that the Church doesn’t trust that people will come and experience Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. If we don’t get a little Good Friday on Palm Sunday, then people would float from the Palm celebration to the Easter celebration – and you can’t have Easter without Good Friday. So it is what we do, we hold the Palms and the Passion together.
This year though, we will experience this Sunday a bit differently – drawing out the glory of the Palms for more of the service and ending with the Passion reading. Our service will be adapted from a liturgical resource called Keeping the Feast: Bringing Holy Week to Life by Dent Davidson. The flow of this service gives stronger integrity to the Palm celebration. We will still begin outside with a reading and blessing of the palms, then process into the church. Our Gospel reading will be Mark’s Palm Gospel rather than the Passion, and will be followed by the sermon, Prayers, and Peace per usual. It is as we prepare to come to the table – remembering and celebrating Jesus’ last meal with his friends – that we will shift our focus toward the Passion. At the conclusion of communion we will read Mark’s Passion Gospel and end our service in silence, being sent out for Holy Week with Jesus’ last moments on our lips and in our hearts.
I welcome your thoughts and reflections for how this order of service feels afterward. And as we come close to the holiest week of our Christian calendar, I pray you will make time to sink deep into journey from the palms to the cross before encountering the empty tomb.
Yours in God’s peace,
Kristin+
Nursery School
St. James’ Nursery School’s Book Fair is today and tomorrow. You are welcome to come and shop for books from 9:00-3:00 on these dates.
Another way to support the Book Fair, and find some great books, is by shopping now for books at the Online Book Fair. Visit the Book Fair Homepage HERE and click on Shop Now. Online shopping is available until March 22. Best of all, every purchase benefits our school and will help us achieve our Book Fair goal.
Benefits of Online Shopping:
- Expanded selection for ALL ages—preschoolers to adults
- FREE shipping directly to our school for pick up
- Search for books by category, grade, reading level, and price
- Send a wish list to invite family and friends to shop
- Convenient shopping 24 hours a day, until March 22
- ALL purchases benefit our school
Altar Flower Ministry
The liturgical season is about to change…..which means flowers on the altar again. The 2018 sign-up sheet is posted in the narthex which allows you to pick any Sunday during the year. This will allow you to write your name on the calendar now instead of hoping to remember later. We just ask that you complete an Altar Flower Donation Form (also in the narthex) and drop it in the offering plate at least two weeks prior to your chosen Sunday.
Flowers may be given in thanksgiving for, honor of, memory of, or celebration of someone or something. All donations are tax deductible and will be acknowledged in the corresponding Sunday bulletin.
WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Easter Egg Hunt!
Join us between services on Easter Day for an Easter Egg Hunt! Weather permitting it will be outside in the Memorial Garden. All children will be given a bag to fill and bubbles once it’s full. We are asking folks to bring in filled plastic eggs for the hunt – not necessarily with candy (indeed, that’s preferable!). Stickers, erasers, seashells, charms, and printed scripture verses are all possible ideas. Feel free to be creative!
A is for Africa Mite Box Ingathering on Easter Day
A reminder to everyone to bring back your Lenten mite boxes on Easter Day! There will be a basket in front of the altar and during the Offertory you will be invited to bring forward you box. Thank you to everyone for your continued support of A is for Africa!
Easter Flowers and Music Memorials and Thanksgivings
Please remember to submit your request by Monday morning, March 26. There are forms available in the Narthex which can be placed in the collection plate or dropped off in the parish office.
Understanding Our Environmental Legacy III
Will be offered the four Wednesdays in April at 7 pm at St. James’. Topics will include Maryland’s biodiversity, food waste/composting, climate change. Please get the word out – more information to come. Contact Liz Peterson (jplp5@yahoo.com) or 240-446-1932 if you would like to help or have suggestions. We have offered light refreshments in the past, any help will be appreciated!
Basket Raffle
Spring is almost here!—THINK St. James’ 12th Annual Basket Raffle & Silent Auction DONATIONS!! – October 13, 2018
As you begin your Spring cleaning, downsizing or even if you would like to “re-gift” holiday items you would like someone else to enjoy, please consider donating any items in good condition that may be suitable for men, women, or children of all ages. If you have questions about Basket items, please contact Joan Fader at 301-703-8787 or faderj1@juno.com.
Items for the Silent Auction would be those that would generate higher bids by themselves rather than as a part of a basket. Such items could include paintings, quilts, unopened perfume, fine jewelry or high-value gift certificates, and the like. If you have questions about the Silent Auction, please contact Mary Hutchins-Danna at 443-277-0505 or mhdslp@hotmail.com.
Marked BR containers will be in the narthex to receive your donations. Thank you, in advance, for your generosity.
***One more very important request—we recently learned that the large trailer we have used in the past to transport our 60+ baskets and tables has been sold; therefore, we are greatly in need of a trailer approximately 28 feet long for Friday evening, October 12, through Saturday evening, October 13, 2018. Please contact Don or Cheryl Windsor at (c)301-642-8487, (h)301-865-3195 or dcwindsor@comcast.net if you or someone you know may be able to help us with the use of a trailer.
Prayer Rotation
Please join the Daughters of the King in praying for each parishioner in rotation during 2018 by taking this notice home and by posting it where it will remind you to pray on a daily basis for the needs and blessings of:
William and Karen Phillips
Gary and Betty Poole (Ben)
Gregory and Jillian Putnam
A member of the Daughters of the King will be contacting you this week for special prayer requests.
