Please submit your 2025 Pledge Cards if you have not yet done so. You can Pledge online here. Our Goal is 150 Pledges and a balanced budget. Currently we have 115 Pledges for $504,785.
The Holy Eucharist, the principal act of Christian worship on the Lord's Day and other major Feasts, and Daily Morning and Evening Prayer, as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer, 1979, are the regular services appointed for public worship in the Episcopal Church. At Christ Church we celebrate the Holy Eucharist every Sunday at 8am and 10am, occasionally Sundays at 5pm, and also on Holy Days and other occasions. The 10am celebration of the Holy Eucharist includes organ music, congregational hymnody, and during the academic year psalms, anthems, and motets sung by our choir.
Lent is the season when the Church prepares to celebrate Holy Baptism at the Easter Triduum. During Lent the Church invites her members to participate in the works of the Spirit that will help bring to faith those who are preparing to die and to rise in Christ. For those who are already baptized, prayer, penance and active works of mercy are the ordinary means by which the Christian community helps its members prepare for the Triduum. According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Lent may have originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter. Every Sunday (including each Sunday in Lent) is observed as a Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, commemorating his resurrection, and thus every Sunday is considered a feast day on which fasting is inappropriate. Christians are called by the Church to observe the ordinary weekdays of Lent by special acts of discipline and self-denial in commemoration of the crucifixion of the Lord. In addition, the ordinary Fridays of Lent are traditionally days of abstinence from flesh meats. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are traditionally days of strict fasting and abstinence.
Throughout Lent our service begins with a Penitential Rite. On the First Sunday in Lent the Great Litany is offered as the Penitential Rite. On the other Sundays in Lent the Penitential Rite is the Confession and Decalogue.
About Scout Sunday
Today is Scout Sunday, and we are thrilled to have Scouts, leadership, and families of Troop 1 Pelham. The Boy Scouts of America designates a Sunday that falls near February 8 (Scouting Anniversary Day) as Scout Sunday, which is the primary date to recognize the contributions of young people and adults to Scouting. Scout Sunday was postponed in February due to snow, so it is today! Troop is chartered by Christ Church, and the Troop meets every Thursday is Hoag Hall. This is our first Scout Sunday as the Troop recently affiliated with Christ Church. Please speak to Scoutmaster Ted Hopper or any of the adult leaders if your child is interested in joining the troop. After this service concludes, all are invited to the Undercroft for a pancake breakfast!
Music & Lectionary Notes for the 10am Choral Eucharist
Prelude: Trio Sonata No. 3. II Adagio e dolce by Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
Processional Hymn: #718, God of our Fathers, National Hymn
Kyrie eleison: #S-91, from Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena, Healey Willan (1880-1968)
Old Testament: Exodus 3:1-15
Gradual: Psalm 63:1-8, plainchant VIII.1
New Testament: 1 Corinthians 1-:1-13
Sequence Hymn: #671, Amazing Grace, New Britain
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9
Offertory Anthem: Wash me Throughly from my Wickedness by Samuel Sebastian Wesley 1810-1876
Offertory Improvisation
Sanctus & Benedictus: S114 from Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena, Healey Willan (1880-1968)
Agnus Dei: S158 from Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena, Healey Willan (1880-1968)
Communion Anthem: Lord, for they tender mercy’s sake by Richard Farrant 1525-1580
Post-Communion Hymn: #L-60, How Great Thou Art, Swedish Folk Melody
Processional Postlude: Allegro serioso by Justin Bischof