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DEAR FRIENDS
Holy Week is fast upon us, an emotional roller coaster, if ever there were one. Our shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David” on Palm Sunday turn to “Crucify him!” on Good Friday, and then into “Christ is risen indeed!” on Easter—all in the course of one week. Your acolytes, servers, sacristans, ushers, clergy, musicians, Coffee Hour hosts, and many others are already hard at work in preparation to celebrate the solemnities and holy mysteries of this most sacred time. The Holy Week Schedule is immediately below this, and I trust you are making plans to be at St. Paul’s for all of it. As usual, the people and clergy of Christ Church Cobble Hill will be joining us for Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. Of course, this is the most solemn and sacred time liturgically and spiritually for Christians, but it is also the time of year when St. Paul’s welcomes the most visitor. And the best way to get visitors to return is for them to experience a meaningful and moving service in a church full of people (and a smile and word of welcome doesn’t hurt either!). The annual All-Parish Work Day is scheduled for Saturday, March 24 (see details below), and we need all hands for that. There are several important announcements below, and I invite your prayerful consideration of all of them.
See you on Sunday
Fr. Wallace
HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE
- Sunday, March 25, Palm Sunday—11:00 am, Solemn High Mass with Blessing of Palms and Procession
- Thursday, March 29, Maundy Thursday—7:30 pm, Solemn High Mass
- Friday, March 30, Good Friday
- 12:00 pm (noon), Mass of the Pre-Sanctified
- 5:30 pm, Stations of the Cross for Families with Children
- Saturday, March 31, Easter Vigil—7:30 pm, Solemn High Mass
(Everyone is invited to break the Lenten Fast with refreshments in the library after mass.)
- Sunday, April 1, Easter Day & Episcopal Visitation—11:00 am, Solemn High Mass
ALL-PARISH WORK DAY (with potluck luncheon)
9:30 am to 3:00 pm, Saturday, March 24
Help spruce up St. Paul’s for Holy Week and Easter at our annual All-Parish Work Day. We always have lots of visitors during Holy Week and Bishop Wolf is joining us on Easter Day, so we want St. Paul’s to look it’s best. The work starts at 9:30 am and runs to about 3:00 pm. If you only have an hour to spare, please come anyway, but do sign up. There will be a sign-up sheet in the Parish Hall on Sunday during Coffee Hour. Please let Madge Wilner know as soon as possible if you can help, mswillner@rcn.com. Many hands make for light work. We will do our potluck luncheon from 11:30 am-12:30 pm. If you are just coming for the morning, afternoon, or an hour or so, please join us in the Parish Hall. This annual event is another way for us to get to know each other better. Thanks for your service to St. Paul’s!
EASTER FLOWERS
Contributions and memorials for Easter flowers are now being accepted. You may use the flower envelopes, included in your Sunday bulletins or found on the table in the back of the Church, or you may donate through our website at http://stpaulscarrollst.org/donate/. If you choose the website option, please e-mail Rob Snyder at rbs597@aol.com or Fr. Wallace at rector@stpaulscarrollst.org with your memorial. Contributions are gratefully accepted at any time, but if you wish your memorial to appear in the bulletin, it must be received by Monday, March 26.
EASTER VIGIL REPAST
Saturday Evening, March 31, After Mass
Everyone is invited to break their Lenten Fast with refreshments in the Library following the conclusion of the Easter Vigil.
BISHOP WOLF TO VISIT ST. PAUL’S ON EASTER SUNDAY
Easter Day, Sunday April 1
St. Paul’s is honored that Bishop Gerayln Wolf will be joining us on Easter Day. This is not our official Episcopal Visitation, so Bishop Wolf will not meet with the vestry; however, she will celebrate mass and join us for Coffee Hour. We very exciting and honored to have her celebrate the Glory of the Resurrection with us.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS AT ST. PAUL’S
5:30 pm, Good Friday, March 30
St. Paul’s continues its tradition of walking the Stations of the Cross, especially designed for families with children, on Good Friday afternoon at 5:30 pm. Everyone is invited.
LENTEN FOOD DRIVE
The Sunday School invites you to bring donations for their annual Lenten food drive. Bins will be placed in the back of the church throughout Lent to receive your donations. As usual, the food will be donated to the food pantry at First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn Heights. The children will deliver the food and stock the shelves on Good Friday. Of particular need are the following foods: peanut butter, tuna fish, Vienna sausage, canned vegetables, apple sauce, pasta, rice and canned soup. Please make sure that the donations are unopened and have not expired. If you have any questions, please feel free to speak with Jean Del Colliano. As always, thank you for your generous donations!
CONFESSION
It is traditional for Christians to make their Confessions during Lent, a spiritually fulfilling Lenten practice that draws you closer to God. If you have made your Confession before, simply schedule a time with Fr. Wallace. For those who have never made their Confession, or have not done so for many years, some instruction is required in order to prepare properly. Please see Fr. Wallace.
FIRST PRAYER DAY IS “TRANSFORMATIVE”
Our first Prayer Day, part of the Prayer Covenant with Bishop Provenzano, was this last Saturday afternoon. The session was structured as a workshop-practicum, and Lilo Carr-Rivera guided the six-member group through three different methods of prayer. It proved to be a moving and rewarding experience for everyone involved, one participant describing it as “transformative.” If you would like to learn more or have any questions, feel free to speak to any member of Saturday’s group, all of whom are very willing to talk about their experience: Fr. Wallace, Rufus Hallmark, Sandy Miller, Nick Mancino, Ben Ellis, and Marlene Donnelly. The next Prayer Day is Saturday, April 28. Please consider attending. You will not regret it.
EPISCOPAL MINISTRIES OF LONG ISLAND ANNUAL APPEAL
The Annual Appeal of Episcopal Ministries of Long Island began this past Sunday, March 4. Episcopal Charities provides the funding needed to establish, nurture, and fund parish-based ministries and strategic community partnerships which affirm the dignity of all people. With your gift to Episcopal Ministries, you join others who are living out the Gospel—feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger and caring for our neighbors as if for Christ. Information packets and donation/pledge envelopes are available in the back of the church. You may read more about the EMLI project and donate on line at: www.episcopalminitries.org.
COMMUNITY ACTION NEEDED
Support Landmarking 236 and 238 President Street
This March, 236 President Street will be sold to a developer who plans to demolish the building and replace it with a six-story luxury condominium which will rise over 70 feet, taller than another building on the block. The back of the current building looks across a small garden into the north windows of our Parish Hall. Your wardens have been meeting with residents, the developer, engineers, and lawyers in order to protect the interests and property of St. Paul’s Church during the proposed demolition and rebuilding process. Now, however, there is a last-ditch community effort to landmark the buildings because of their historical importance and to protect the Carroll Gardens neighborhood. There are flyers in the back of the church with information about the history of these two buildings and how you can participate in supporting this initiative.
DIRETORY CORRECTORY
We strive to make the annual St. Paul’s Directory as accurate as possible, but inevitably there are typos and/or peoples’ information changes. We will periodically make corrections via the Eblast. Please mark your Directory with the following corrections, and, as always, if you spot errors or your information changes, please contact the church office.
Seth Edwards—917-885-5059
Tina Tsiang-Shorr—440 East 79th Street Apt 5A NYC, NY 10075
NOTES FROM THE CHOIR LOFT
Our entrance hymn this Sunday, "What wondrous love is this" (#439), is an American folk hymn from the 1835 collection Southern Harmony. It is emblematic of the style of "shape note" hymns, such as those sung by Sacred Harp singers, the Brooklyn chapter of which uses our library for their “sings” every second Sunday afternoon each month. Notice the foot-tapping, four-square rhythm and the plain modal harmony.
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s motet "Verleih und Frieden,” our anthem this Sunday, takes its text from Martin Luther's translation of the Latin chant "Dona nobis pacem." Mendelssohn had been studying Bach's music intensely and had conducted the famous revival of Bach's St. Matthew Passion two years earlier. As Bach did in his cantatas, Mendelssohn gave this motet a beautiful instrumental ritornello accompaniment. Then we hear the texted melody in unison before the choir splits into separate parts. In his review the composer and music critic Robert Schumann praised this piece as worthy of world-wide renown.
THIS COMING SUNDAY AT ST. PAUL’S
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
- Solemn High Mass: 11:00 AM
- Sunday's Appointed Readings and Sermon
- The Old Testament—Jeremiah 31:31-34
- Psalm 119:9-16
- The Epistle—Hebrews 5:5-10
- The Gospel—John 12:20-33
- Sermon—Fr. Garenton
- Music
- Entrance Hymn: “What wondrous love is this,” Wondrous Love, #439
- Anthem: Veleih und Frieden—Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
- Communion Hymn: “Jesus, Lover of my soul,” Aberystwyth, #699
- Dismissal Hymn: “When Christ was lifted from the earth,” St. Botolph, #603
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