Lent

Ash Wednesday at Trinity 2022

Ash Wednesday
Wednesday, March 2, 12:00pm

All are welcome!

We encourage everyone to mark the start of Lent by coming along to a traditional penitential Eucharist (with hymns), including the ancient practice of “ashing”. We are delighted to welcome Bishop Ted Gulick as our guest preacher.

The service will be followed by a Soup & Cornbread lunch at Cox Hall

Ash Wednesday Services

When:
Wednesday February 17
Time:
6am Online Service (available for replay)
1pm Courtyard Service

We will be doing a virtual Ash Wednesday service that will go live at 6am (so that you can listen anytime on Ash Wednesday). This will be posted to our Facebook page, our website, and also to our YouTube channel. If you are on our email list, you'll get a reminder sent straight to your inbox.

***UPDATE*** We are now cleared to have in-person worship again! This means we'll be having a full service in our courtyard for Ash Wednesday which will begin at 12pm (noon). If you are able, we hope to see you there. The Bishop is very clear on the criteria to allow this gathering. Please dress casually and warm, we will have heaters spread throughout. Everyone MUST wear a mask, NO EXCEPTIONS.

Our Bishop has asked that we not impose ashes this year but has said that you are free to impose ashes on yourself. With that said I will have ashes from last year’s palms blessed and ready for you to pick up next Wednesday February 10. They will be in a box just in front of the church office.

As we get ready for Lent, let’s begin to prepare our hearts and minds for the season of "giving up". My prayer for you all is that you would find time to be still, quiet, and mindful as you invoke this prayer: Free me, Lord Jesus, from anything that obstructs my way to you. Clear away the clutter of petty grudges. Remove smudges of resentment and bitterness. Cleanse me of thoughts filled with anger, envy, or self-pity… Create space in my life for more kindness and less spitefulness, greater generosity, few self-centered needs, stronger compassion and weakened judgment of others… Enlarge my heart with a spirit of gratitude this Lent, so that I recognize the simple gifts that lay in abundance all around me…

- Rev. Jonathan Adams

EcoPalms for Palm Sunday

This Palm Sunday, April 14, 2019, you will receive a different type of palm. The church has invested in a product called “EcoPalm”. Unlike the strip palms you normally receive, this year’s palm will be a frond as shown in the picture. Purchasing this product provides several benefits

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Promote Social Justice

  • Harvesting palms is an important source of income but gatherers receive a low price

  • Gatherers will receive a higher price for their “fair trade” palms improving their income.

Promote Environmental Stewardship

  • Palms protect valuable natural forests because they provide income to forest communities.

  • Palms will be “sustainably” harvested and managed protecting the palms and the forests they need for shade.

Why a "Fair Trade" Palm?

  • To improve income and living conditions for  the communities gathering the palm.

  • To protect the palms and  the important forests from which they are gathered through sustainable harvest programs.

Did You Know?

  • Approximately 308 million palm fronds were consumed in the United States in 1998.

  • Palm purchases for Palm Sunday may be worth up to 4.5 million dollars/year.

  • A congregation of 1,100 to 1,500 members will order approximately 700 palm fronds for Palm Sunday services.

  • Palm gathering actually protects valuable natural forests.

  • At least half of the farmers in the Central Peten of Guatemala earn additional income from harvesting fronds and, more than a quarter of household heads support themselves exclusively by collecting fronds.

  • Each palm plant produces 2 to 5 harvestable leaves over a 2 to 4 month period.

Join us on Palm Sunday and know that your palm frond has been sustainably harvested and provided important income to the farmers.

Ash Wednesday

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Wednesday, March 6, 2019 marks the beginning of Lent, a season of reflection and introspection in preparation for Holy Week and Easter.

Lent begins with the celebration of Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday we will have 2 services, one at noon and one at 7:00 PM. We encourage everyone to participate.

The services will include both the Holy Eucharist and the imposition of ashes. During the imposition of ashes, the interim rector will take ashes (from the burning of the previous year’s Palm Sunday palms) and will make the mark of the cross on each congregant’s forehead. The imposition of ashes is a reminder of our mortality, and our total reliance on God.

“For dust you are, and to dust you shall return” - Genesis 3:19

Shrove Tuesday & Sacramental Burnings

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Tuesday, March 5
5:30-7:30pm

Come one, come all, for our annual Shrove Tuesday celebration. The men of the church will be cooking us a pancake dinner. The dinner will run from 5:30-7:30 PM. This is a free dinner. All are welcome! (Decorations and set-up by the Parish Life Committee)

Sacramental Burnings
In conjunction with the Pancake Supper, we will perform the sacramental burnings in the courtyard circle. Parishioners are invited to bring their palms to be part of the palm burning activity. The Altar Guild has identified some very worn purificators that will also be decommissioned, burned and buried. If you would like to witness these ceremonies, please be in the courtyard at 6 pm.

Lenten Study Series

Have you ever wished to deepen your relationship with God? To experience a warm friendship with God? Maybe even fall in love with God – again – or for the very first time? 

Starting on Wednesday, February 21, our rector, Rob Banse, will lead us in a five-week Lenten journey through prayer and reflection on The Gospel According to John. A light dinner of soup and salad will be served starting at 6:30 pm with the teaching session going from 7-8 pm. People may stay for the Service of Compline following the teaching session. 

Classes will be held February 21 and 28, and March 14, 21 and 28. Please note, there will be no session on March 7. 

This Lenten study is from the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) and is spon-sored by Virginia Theological Seminary. 

Sunday Morning Lenten Studies

Becoming Like Jesus: Practicing the Christian Disciplines

Sunday Mornings
9:30-10:15am
March 5th - April 2nd

Have you ever tried taking on a discipline, during Lent or at another time of year, and found it difficult to continue? The wonderful news is that Jesus is our perfect example of practicing the spiritual disciplines, and we can look to his example to help guide our own. In a world where spirituality is often so lacking, how can we help deepen our own connection to God, to our neighbor, and to all creation?

Jesus says in the Gospel of John that He is the living water and that those who drink of the living water will never again be thirsty. As Christians, we need to dig that well and keep that water replenished again and again. This Lenten season is the perfect time to be refreshed!

Come explore, learn, and practice the Christian disciplines of prayer, fasting, study, and worship, as we seek to deepen our own spiritual wells. We will be meeting on Sunday mornings from 9:30-10:15, from March 5th-April 2nd. Join at any time; drop-ins are always welcome!

 

Wednesday Evening Lenten Study

On Wednesday evenings throughout Lent, beginning March 8, we will offer a Wednesday Evening Lenten Study program. The program will begin with a free catered meal at 6:30 PM, followed by the program at 7:00 PM called "The 5 Marks of Mission".  Topics will include:

  • To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
  • To teach, baptize and nurture new believers 
  • To respond to human need by loving service 
  • To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation
  • To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

Ash Wednesday

March 1, 2017
12pm and 7pm

Wednesday, March 1, 2017 marks the beginning of Lent, a season of reflection and introspection in preparation for Holy Week and Easter. 

Lent begins with the celebration of Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday we will have 2 services, one at 12pm and one at 7:00 PM. We encourage everyone to participate. 

The services will include both the Holy Eucharist and the imposition of ashes. During the imposition of ashes, the rectors will take ashes (from the burning of the previous year’s Palm Sunday palms) and will make the mark of the cross on each congregant’s forehead. The imposition of ashes is a reminder of our mortality, and our total reliance on God. 

“For dust you are, and to dust you shall return” - Genesis 3:19