LENTEN OFFERINGS
Ash Wednesday, 7pm
Distribution of Ashes
Sunday Formation, 9am
Adult study topic: The Prophets
Children are welcome to participate in Godly Play
Sunday Eucharist, 10am
Healing laying on of hands
Childcare available
Wednesday Service
Holy Eucharist or Morning Prayer, 10am
Supper and Study, 6pm
Topic: Death & Dying
Evening Prayer, Thursdays, 5pm
Stations of the Cross, Fridays, noon
We strive to know Christ more deeply and bring others to his redeeming grace.
CELEBRATIONS AND EVENTS
MARCH 2019
2 Brotherhood of St Andrew, 8am, Fellowship Hall
3 Morning Prayer, 8:30am, Chapel
Godly Play. 9am, Upstairs Classroom
Adult Forum, 9am, Fellowship Hall
Holy Eucharist, 10am, Sanctuary
4 Bible Study. 2:30pm, Library
5 Game Night, 6:30pm, Fellowship Hall
6 Ash Wednesday
Holy Eucharist 10am, Chapel
Holy Eucharist & distribution of Ashes, 7pm,
Sanctuary
7 Evening Prayer, 5pm, Chapel, followed by Pub
Fellowship at Old Town Vault
8 Stations of the Cross, noon, Sanctuary
9 Stitchery, 9am, Fellowship Hall
10 Morning Prayer, 8:30am, Chapel
Godly Play. 9am, Upstairs Classroom
Adult Forum, 9am, Fellowship Hall
Holy Eucharist, 10am, Sanctuary
11 Bible Study, 2:30pm, Library
13 Morning Prayer, 10am, Chapel
Lenten Soup Supper, 6pm, Fellowship Hall
14 Evening Prayer, 5pm, Chapel, followed by Pub
Fellowship at Old Town Vault
15 Stations of the Cross, noon, Sanctuary
16 Brotherhood of St Andrew, 8am, Fellowship Hall
17 Morning Prayer, 8:30am, Chapel
Godly Play. 9am, Upstairs Classroom
Adult Forum, 9am, Fellowship Hall
Holy Eucharist, 10am, Sanctuary
18 Bible Study, 2:30pm, Library
20 Holy Eucharist. 10am, Chapel
Lenten Soup Supper, 6pm, Fellowship Hall
21 Evening Prayer, 5pm, Chapel, followed by Pub
Fellowship at Old Town Vault
22 Stations of the Cross, noon, Sanctuary
24 Morning Prayer, 8:30am, Chapel
Godly Play. 9am, Upstairs Classroom
Adult Forum, 9am, Fellowship Hall
Holy Eucharist, 10am, Sanctuary
25 Bible Study, 2:30pm, Library
26 Community Hands Up Food Pantry, 4pm,
All Saints Church, Hillsboro
27 Morning Prayer, 10am, Chapel
Lenten Soup Supper, 6pm, Fellowship Hall
28 Evening Prayer, 5pm, Chapel, followed by Pub
Fellowship at Old Town Vault
29 Stations of the Cross, noon, Sanctuary
31 Morning Prayer, 8:30am, Chapel
Godly Play. 9am, Upstairs Classroom
Adult Forum, 9am, Fellowship Hall
Holy Eucharist, 10am, Sanctuary
ST. BEDE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
1609 Elm St. Forest Grove, OR
MESSAGE FROM OUR VICAR
Last Sunday I was eating a yellow bell pepper and I told Wade “This has got to be the best bell pepper I have ever eaten.” The flavor was so full and sweet, and the crunch was loud and crisp. Then I realized that I had forgotten to eat much on Sunday. I had a light breakfast and then a cup of tomato soup for lunch and then nothing until dinner. “Aha!” I then thought, “It was a good bell pepper, but it was because I was hungry that I was so keenly aware of its goodness.”
Who knew Alleluias have a lot in common with yellow bell peppers? Lent, as you may know, is almost here. The church year invites us on a little trek of 40 days in which we will stow our alleluias away. It is NOT because there is something wrong with saying alleluia that we do this, but because in our tradition alleluia is uniquely associated with Easter. When we take time to be quiet even in our vocal “alleluia-ing”, there is a way in which alleluia takes on a new meaning. It comes to life in a new way, much as our resurrected Lord, or like eating a yellow bell pepper when you are famished. Saying alleluia after a long time without it can be so joyful, it’s like saying it for the first time. It is through the quiet of this Lenten practice that we come more fully to understand the meaning of Alleluia, which means “Praise God!” (Allelu (praise) + ja or ia (God)). Boone Porter in his classic, Keeping the Church Year, (p.40) says that we don’t translate Alleluia, or Hallelujah in its Hebrew form, into English much because “it is part of the international, timeless, truly universal language of Christian worship...It is an expression into which countless generations of worshipers have poured their spiritual feelings and aspirations,” including our Jewish forbears.
St Bede’s worship team has cooked up some beautiful ways to mark this time as we move into Lent. First, this Sunday, March 3 - which is also glorification Sunday and the final Sunday before Lent - we will say farewell to alleluias with a special activity. Kids in Godly play will make and decorate their own alleluias on a small slip of paper. And
the “big kids” (the rest of us) will have the opportunity to
write and decorate our own alleluias during the service.
We will then all put our written alleluia slips of paper in a
basket as we leave the service. Afterward, we will hoist
the alleluias up to the roof level in the basket in the church
nave where they will remain silently throughout Lent as a
visual reminder of our Lenten quiet.
Second, we will have healing ministers present during
communion for our Sunday services during Lent. Not
everyone will feel led to desire healing prayers. For those
who do, we ask that you first go to the south solarium to
pray with members of our healing ministry and then come
to the communion rail as communion is offered. This is
because theologically the Eucharist is the source of healing
for all of us together. It therefore makes sense to pray for
healing before receiving the ultimate source and grace of
healing in the Eucharist.
Third, we ask that congregation members bring crosses
from home to bestow temporarily in and around the south
solarium as a visual tribute to taking up our cross as a
congregation during Lent. There are more details about
bringing crosses later in this newsletter.
St Bede is thankful to provide you with plenty to feast on
even amidst our Lenten fasts. We welcome one and all to
our Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday March 6, our
Lenten Study on the Prophets – Sunday Mornings at 9 a.m.
and our Wednesday soup suppers – from March 13 to April
10. Godly play for grade-schoolers continues at 9 a.m. on
Sundays and our monthly youth event for middle to high-
schoolers is happening on Tuesday, March 12 at 7pm.
What a world where praising God and eating vegetables
are related! I hope that you will join us in the adventure
and the quiet of Lent. Who knows what we may find?
God? Ourselves? May God bless us with a good and holy
Lent.
Marlene+
ADULT EDUCATION AND FORMATION
The Prophets
Sundays March 10-April 7, 9am
This series will lead us through studies and discussions about the Prophets: Who they were in Scripture and the Prophetic call today. Abraham J. Heschel's book The Prophets will be used as a resource.
Join us at 9am in the Fellowship Hall for the Adult Forums each Sunday.
Wednesday Soup Suppers: Death & Dying
Wednesday evenings March 13-April 10, 6pm-8pm, Parish Hall.
Marlene+ is putting together a panel of professionals to lead us in a study and discussion as to how ready we are to accept the inevitability of our personal transformation and physical dying to this life on Earth. Topics are still being finalized but will include: planning a funeral service, health directives, taking care of a loved one at home, and more.
Upcoming class topics
March 20 Care choices – a hospice program presentation
and information about end of life documents
March 27 Grief
April 3 Planning your own dying and companioning the
dying
April 10 Funeral Planning Workshop and the BCP’s gifts to
us as we near death
Monday Bible Study
Mondays 2:30-4pm
The Bible study group continues to read and enjoy We Make the Road by Walking by Brian D. McLaren. More than at any other time this study is providing tools and space to talk about life’s journey in terms of themes and teachings of the weekly Lectionary readings.
UPCOMING DIOCESAN YOUTH EVENTS
Episcopal Week at Suttle Lake Camp
July 22nd-27th, 2019
Children and youth in grades 1-12 are invited to Episcopal Week at Suttle Lake Camp in Sisters, Oregon July 22-27. Click here for more information and registration.
Diocesan Youth Mission Trip
August 3-10, 2019
Youth in grades 8-12 are invited on the Diocesan Youth Mission trip to Fort Defiance, Arizona and the Navajo Nation August 3rd-10th. Click here for more information and application.
St. Bede Episcopal Church ©