From Maundy Thursday evening through Good Friday morning, we keep watch before the Blessed Sacrament at the Altar of Repose. This commemorates for us the disciples being asked to watch and pray with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemine the night before He was crucified. And Jesus said to Peter, “So you could not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Mt. 26: 40-41. So that we can make certain there are at least two people keeping watch for each hour of the Vigil, please print your name on the poster by the main door in the narthex. This way we can be certain that there is always someone before the Blessed Sacrament, and we can ensure people’s safety.

Stations of the Cross and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament will be offered each Sunday in Lent (February 21st, February 28th, March 7th, March 14th and March 21st) at 6 PM. Please join us to meditate and pray on the events leading up to and including Our Lord’s Crucifixion and stay with us as we adore and are blessed by Our Lord as He is present in the Sacrament of the Altar.

Thursday, December 24th (Christmas Eve):

• Sung Service of Holy Communion with Christmas Pageant – 5:30 PM
• Christmas Music – 10:30 PM
• Sung Service of Holy Communion, Solemn Procession and the Blessing of the Creche – 11:00 PM

Friday, December 25th (The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ):

• Said Service of Holy Communion – 9:00 AM

Saturday, December 26th (Feast of St. Stephen):

• Holy Communion – 12 Noon

Sunday, December 27th (Christmas I):

• Said Service of Holy Communion – 9:00 AM
• Sung Service of Holy Communion – 11:00 AM

Monday, December 28th (Feast of St. John the Evangelist):

• Holy Communion – 12 Noon

Tuesday, December 29th (Feast of the Holy Innocents):

• Holy Communion – 12 Noon

Wednesday, December 30th:

• Said Service of Holy Communion – 10:30 AM

Friday, January 1st (Feast of the Holy Name):

• Said Service of Holy Communion – 12 Noon

Sunday, January 3rd (Christmas II):

• Said Service of Holy Communion – 9:00 AM
• Sung Service of Holy Communion – 11:00 AM

Wednesday, January 6th (The Epiphany):

• Said Service of Holy Communion – 10:30 AM

We will celebrate Thanksgiving this year with our brothers and sisters along Six Forks Road. This year we are hosting the Community Thanksgiving Service on Tuesday, November 24th at 7 PM. The members of Hudson Memorial Presbyterian Church, Grace Lutheran Church, Trinity Baptist Church and St. Mark’s Methodist Church will join us. Please come and join the other members of these churches and their choirs as we thank God for all that He has given us. To continue the celebration and to have the opportunity to greet the members of our neighbor churches, we would like to invite people to the Parish Hall for a reception. If you are willing to help make something sweet for the reception, please print your name on the sheet in the Parish Hall.

At the requiem that we celebrate on All Souls’ Day, Monday, November 2nd at 12 noon, we will remember by name departed souls of our families, friends and loved ones at St. Timothy’s Altar. Please print the names of the loved ones you would like remembered at the Altar on the bulletin board outside the Parish Office. May they rest in peace.

We are keeping this feast day today instead of the actual day, September 29th, so we can celebrate together as a parish family. St. Michael and his angels, according to the account in The Revelation to John, fought against Satan and his army of angels. St. Michael won the battle, threw the devil out of heaven, and showed us that the goodness, love and power of God are always stronger than any evil. Pray that, like St. Michael and all his angels, we too will remain strong  to fight against sin, the world, the flesh and the devil and finally be forever with the angels worshiping God in heaven.

We are celebrating the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on Sunday  (September 13th) when the parish family comes together rather than tomorrow (actual date). The Church enjoins us to venerate and celebrate the sign of our salvation, the Holy Cross. The Cross for Christians is much more than a reminder of the saving work Our Lord accomplished on Good Friday; it is a continual inspiration. Meditating on and venerating the Cross brings us closer to Christ who died on the Cross to forgive us our sins and to overcome the sting of death. Death is not final for us because of the Cross. True life for us is beyond the Cross, and the only way to get beyond the Cross is to go through it. Because the redemptive work of Jesus continues forever by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be forgiven now as well as at the end of our earthly lives. Give thanks and praise today for the Holy Cross and the Savior who saved us by the Cross.

The Church from Our Lord. Down through the ages, prayers and adoration of St. Mary have been a source of help and strength in the life of the Church and have resulted in deepened love and devotion to Jesus for millions of faithful Christians. Who better to invoke than the one who was closest to Jesus through His birth, life, death and Resurrection than Mary? She is quite rightly honored by the Church as one who will intercede for us before the throne of Christ. Devotion given to Our Lady goes straight to Our Lord.

Lesser Feasts and Fasts describes devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary as follows:

What we can believe (about St. Mary) is that one who stood in so intimate a relationship with the incarnate Son of God on earth must, of all the human race, have the place of highest honor in the eternal life of God. A paraphrase of an ancient Greek hymn expresses this belief in very familiar words: “O higher that the cherubim, more glorious than the seraphim, lead their praises, alleluia.”

Mary of Magdala near Capernaum was one of several women who followed Jesus and ministered to Him in Galilee. The Gospel according to Luke records that Jesus “went on through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the Twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Mary Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out…” (Luke 8: 1-2). The Gospels tell us that Mary was healed by Jesus, followed Him and was one of those who stood near the cross at Calvary.

It is clear that Mary Magdalene’s life was redically changed by Jesus’ healing. Her ministry of service and steadfast companionship, even as a witness to the Crucifixion, has through the centuries been an example of the faithful ministry of women to Christ. All four Gospels name Mary as one of the women who went to the tomb to mourn and to care for Jesus’ body. Her weeping for the loss of her Lord strikes a common chord with the grief of all others over the death of loved ones.  Jesus’ tender response to her grief – meeting her in the garden, revealing himself to her by calling her name – makes her the first witness to the Risen Lord. She is given the command, “Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17). As the first messenger of the Resurrection, she tells the disciples, ” I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18).

In the tradition of the Eastern Church, Mary is regarded as the equal of an apostle, and she is held in veneration as the patron saint of the great cluster of monasteries on Mount Athos.

- from Lesser Feasts and Fasts, p. 266

Palm Sunday, April 5th:

• 9 AM: Said Service of Holy Communion
• 11 AM: Solemn Procession and Sung Service of Holy Communion
• 6 PM: Stations and Benediction

Wednesday, April 8th: 10:30 AM: Said Service of Holy Communion

Maundy Thursday, April 9th: 7:30 PM: Sung Service of Holy Communion, Stripping of the Altar and All-Night Vigil before the Blessed Sacrament

Good Friday, April 10th:

• 2:30 PM: Stations of the Cross
• 7:30 PM Good Friday Liturgy and Mass of the Pre-sanctified

Holy Saturday, April 11th: 7:30 PM: The Great Vigil of Easter, Holy Baptism and the First Mass of Easter

Easter Sunday, April 12th:

• 9 AM: Said Service of Holy Communion
• 11 AM: Solemn Procession and Sung Service of Holy Communion