Category: Music and Choir

Dear parishioners,

Christians have often remarked that Good Friday has a strange name. A number of historians believe it is actually a modification of “God’s Friday”. It is the most solemn commemoration of the entire church year. Good Friday causes us to take our time to stop and consider the extraordinary reality of Jesus’ crucifixion. His humanity is on stark display. The focus is on the cross, and on what the cross means for us. The Passion story and liturgy move us in a profound way and invite us to see the Passion of Jesus as an act of compassion for the entire world.

In our current version of the Book of Common Prayer we have a special liturgy for Good Friday, but this was not always the case. Before the 1970s, churches often created their own versions of something often labeled the “Seven Last Words” of Jesus. Such services typically lasted from noon until 3:00 pm and consisted of a variety of readings, prayers, homilies and periods of silent meditation. They were designed so that individual parishioners could quietly drop in to the service for a period of time, stay as long as they wished, and then also leave quietly on their own.

This older “Seven Last Words” format seems like a particularly good fit for a Good Friday service that is to be held online. So our diocesan service will make use of it without being broadcast from any single location and will run from noon to 3:00 pm. Here is the link: https://diocesecpa.org/holy-week-2020-good-friday/

The program will include elements of our Book of Common Prayer Good Friday liturgy as well as other prayers and collects. Musical interludes will offer time for contemplation or departure. The highlight of the program will be offerings and homilies that a small group of preachers and worship leaders will share with the virtual congregation who participate. Viewers and listeners are welcome to come and go as well as follow along with their bibles and prayer books.

It is also worth remembering that Good Friday is a day of personal fasting. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that can bring great rewards because hunger acts as a constant reminder of the purpose of the fast. Fasts can be kept in different ways and with varying degrees of strictness. If you are a determined, healthy adult, you may wish to go the entire day without taking anything but water or liquids. Or you may simply choose to go as long as you can without feeling unwell. Those with health problems or those not physically 100% may choose to skip a meal, to avoid meat, or to merely eat lightly. And some people should not fast at all due to health reasons. The point is not to make it a matter of pride just how much you can give up, but rather to honor the occasion as best you can. Any sacrifice which serves to remind you of the day will be beneficial. Fasting sharpens our spiritual attention and remind us of the plight of those who must do without on a regular basis. Other self-disciplines commonly employed by Christians on this day are the writing of our own obituaries or the planning of our own funerals.

David +

And here is the link for Tonight’s service:

Our online diocesan service for Maundy Thursday will be unique:

https://diocesecpa.org/holy-week-2020-maundy-thursday/

Bishop Audrey is inviting us virtually into her home as she prepares an Agapé meal. This has been recorded so you can begin any time on Thursday evening. There will be prayers and scripture and the evening will end with her praying of Psalm 22, the traditional conclusion of Maundy Thursday. Afterwards, people are invited to participate in a live vigil on Facebook which will run from 8:00 pm until 8:00 am the following morning. (This will be a “drop in, drop out” vigil; no one is expected to stay the entire time.)

The Bishop suggests that in order to participate most fully in the program, those of us at home prepare a light meal — such as bread, soup, cheese, olives, dried fruit, and wine or juice — to enjoy during the Agapé portion of the evening.

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VIRTUAL COFFEE HOUR AT ST. EDWARD’S

Don’t forget to join Christina and Joe McLaughlin, hosting a weekly “Virtual Coffee Hour.”  This is all new to us, so take a chance, set up zoom and see how it all goes!  It will be fun to connect and whether you want to stay on for 5 minutes or the full session, grab your cup of coffee or tea, pull up a chair, and say hello to your fellow parishioners.

Here is a link of step-by-step instructions to set up zoom, that Christina put together.

https://sainteds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/St-Eds-Coffee-Hour-Invite-and-How-To.pdf

And, if you have any questions, Christina has offered to please give her a call and she can help!  Her number is 717-415-7043.

DATE:  EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 12^TH

TIME:  10 – 10:40 am

PLACE:  Wherever you are comfortable with your computer in your home environment!

ZOOM JOIN CODE:  419 646 4139

ZOOM PASSCODE:  449312

WHAT TO BRING:  Your coffee, and a favorite recipe to share!

** This join code and passcode will not be posted on the public website of Facebook.

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LENTEN MEDITATION, MAUNDY THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2020

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them…“I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”

• John 13:12a, 15

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Last year a mother and her two children wandered into our church just as the altar guild began clearing away items used during the foot washing ceremony. From the celebrant’s chair, I watched the altar guild quietly return a pitcher and basin as another member greeted our guests and invited them to participate. The daughter let go of her mother’s hand, removed her sandals and gingerly walked forward. My own daughter then rose from her acolyte chair beside me, knelt down in front of the visiting child and washed her feet.

The act of washing a stranger’s feet surely offers an example for us to follow, but that’s not what brought tears to my eyes. It was instead watching my yellow- haired, pale-skinned daughter tenderly wash the feet of a child her age with meticulously braided hair and dark-brown skin. It was a profoundly holy moment. Families of color never wandered into the church of my childhood, but if they had, I am certain no one would have voluntarily knelt down to wash their feet. In that moment I was reminded how often our children with their unblemished points of view set Christ-like examples for us follow.

• Allison Sandlin Liles lives in Dallas with her husband and two children and works as a parish priest and editor for growchristians.org.

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Holy Week and Easter Music Offerings!  Brought to you by:  Members of the St. Edward’s Choir!

The following Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter offerings are courtesy of Libby Sternberg. 

HOLY THURSDAY

Ubi caritas by Maurice Durufle

Where love is, there is God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-LQve92U1o&list=RDl1BTWCpEFRQ&index=2

GOOD FRIDAY

Crucifixus by Antonio Lotti

He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLyB8nxvOeY

EASTER

Haec dies by William Byrd

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Alleluia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnMvq20SxCM

Peter Weber recalls one of his favorites, here.  Enjoy!

Billings, Easter Anthem, ed. Shaw.  I well remember this one as an elementary school chorister! The piece ends in fff on the word “bliss.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyRhy6NjINA

Dear parishioners,

The coronavirus pandemic has prevented us from gathering in Holy Week as we normally would. Some of us are still quite busy if we work in an essential job, work from home, or care for children. But for a group of us, we have more time on our hands than usual and more solitude as well.

These are ideal conditions for prayer, contemplation and spiritual reading. Those with extra time have an opportunity to connect to Holy Week in a deeper way than normal, and also to hold up in prayer those who are ill, who are poor, and those pouring out their lives in service working on the front lines of this crisis.

After the drama and intensity of Palm Sunday: the Sunday of the Passion, the church backs off and marks the early days of Holy Week quietly. On Monday and Tuesday are simple services that mark some of the moments from the Gospel of John during the final week of Jesus’ life while he is in Jerusalem. Monday’s story, which is both shocking and poignant, is of Mary (the sister of Lazarus) anointing Jesus’ feet with costly perfume and wiping them with her hair. Tuesday’s story is a classic about a group of Greeks (non-Jews) who would like to see Jesus.

Our diocese has provided an online service for each day of this Holy Week. The Monday service is being broadcast live at 7:00 pm on the diocesan Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/diocpa/. You don’t have to be a member of Facebook to view it. It will be led by youth and young adults from around the diocese. I’m not certain, but if you’re not able to watch this service live, it may be available afterwards as a recording you could view later.

The Tuesday service, which has already been recorded and is available to view any time, is one of Evening Prayer from St. John’s, Huntingdon, done in the traditional language of Rite I. The link — https://diocesecpa.org/holy-week-2020-tuesday-april-7/

— includes a service leaflet you can download as well.

I’ll have more to say and post later this week about the remaining days of Holy Week as they come up.

David +

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From the parish office:  We have experienced wonderful “gifts” from our parishioners and staff, and for that, we are grateful.  Here are some updates:

• Julie and Jerry Hoff were kind enough to come in when nobody else was in the church to set up the altar in preparation for our St. Edward’s Easter service filming this week.
• In preparation for Palm Sunday, we were able to source palms, and with the help of Father David, Father Rick was able to come in on Saturday and bless them and they were available to parishioners to come and pick up.  It was nice to see so many parishioners stop by and get their palms and a printed copy of the  Scepter.
• And speaking of Scepter. . . as usual, Mac Miller did a fantastic job with the Scepter this month, filled with great photos and stories.  There will be so much more to share in the May issue!
• The Wednesday Bible Study group has been holding wonderful weekly meetings via zoom and, as reported by Bill and Yvonne Gasperetti, they have 13 participants in the group, which is fantastic.  Their study will continue after Easter, as well, for 7 more sessions as they finish up their Blackaby, James bible study book.
• Christina and Joe McLaughlin launched the first “virtual coffee hour” on Zoom and it was a success with 8-10 families participating.  We will continue to give the details of that, for our parishioners to join, in our Thursday Daily Message, as it requires a join number and a passcode.  We share those only in the parish email (you can pass on to friends or interested parties) so as to protect meeting privacy.
• Social Outreach shares our Facebook posts with our Embrace community so that they have a liturgy that they can get in touch with for worship.
• Patrick Ishler, Karen Waddill, and Father Rick filmed the music portion of our planned Easter service on Sunday afternoon and by all accounts it sounds like it will be beautiful!
• Our organist, Karen Waddill has provided us with wonderful piano pieces she recorded for Holy Week.  Here is the post to listen to the pieces throughout the week:  https://sainteds.org/music-for-holy-week-from-our-organist-karen-waddill/
• Jamie Alton, choir member, reader, and stewardship committee member relayed that the choir had a virtual “meet up” and it was great to see so many faces and have the ability, through technology, to get together and chat face-to-face.  Jamie also recorded his Easter reading which will be part of our upcoming service. Leslie Arnold and Rosie Westgate will be our other technology-savvy recorded readers.
• People have been calling each other to say hello and check up on their fellow St. Edwardians, which is fantastic!
• The office receives wonderful tidbits to add as content for the Daily Message, and we are most grateful, including personal messages from members of the parish to each other.  Keep sending!!!
• Work on restoring the narthex ceiling continues and should be completed this week.  Our kitchen work may be a bit delayed due to some subcontractors unable to get waivers to do their work.
• The lawn just got cut for the first time last week!  It looks great.
• Our Vestry continues to communicate and plan the business of the church and will be holding their next vestry meeting, tomorrow, April 7th, virtually.
• Community Aid Bin:  Please DO NOT drop any items in the bin in our parking lot.  Community Aid is still working on getting their waivers to start making pick-ups and it is overflowing right now.  We will let you know when it is ready to be of service.
• Holy Week Resources:  Here is a link to some wonderful free resources provided by Church Publishing:
•   https://sainteds.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Holy-Week-Activities-for-Families_FINAL.pdf

Finally:  The Rector and Senior Warden are looking for interested parishioners to serve as our delegates to convention. The Diocesan Convention is one day, October 17, 2020, and is a wonderful opportunity to represent us and to be involved in the very important work and decisions that shape our diocese.  As per the by-laws, we are seeking confirmed or received Episcopalians who are over 18 years of age and who attend regularly, financially support the Church and who have been a member of St. Edward’s Church for at least 12 months.  It would be wonderful if parishioners who have not served as delegates in prior years would seek this as an opportunity to serve our parish community. We need you! Please prayerfully consider submitting your name(s) by Monday, April 13th to the parish office.

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LENTEN MEDITATION – APRIL 6, 2020

Will you cherish the wondrous works of God, and protect the beauty and integrity of all creation?*

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God created, and, indeed, it was very good.

My family has gone backpacking every summer since our daughter was four years old. This time together immersed in creation—even amidst the moans of blisters and heavy bags and who-got-the-last-packet- of-lemonade bickering—is one of my favorite times of the whole year. Being in the wilderness with nothing to plug in or answer brings us to our essential selves and reminds us of who we are together.

Creation, of course, is all around us, no less in rivers and mountains than the dandelions creeping up between gaps in the sidewalk. Being a person of faith is about learning to see God everywhere; the life force of a weed is as fearsome as the tallest mountain. To cherish God’s wondrous works and protect its beauty and creation is a twenty-four-hour-a-day proposition. It’s more complicated than just packing our trash in and out on a long hike; we are in a crisis of our own making, and time is short. True creation stewardship means being committed at every level, from how we shop to how we vote. Will you cherish the wondrous works of God, and protect the beauty and integrity of all creation? I will. With God’s help.

– Sarah Irwin is an Episcopal priest serving as pastor of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, married to Noah Evans and mother of their two children.

*This sixth baptismal promise was authorized for trial use at the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church.