St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church
An Episcopal Church in Raleigh, North Carolina
The devotions of The Stations of the Cross and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament will be added to the services of the Church each Sunday in Lent at 6 PM. Please join us to meditate and pray on the events leading up to and including Our Lord’s Crucifixion and remain with us as we adore and are blessed by Our Lord as He is present in the Sacrament of the Altar. This devotion will be offered each Sunday (March 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th, and April 5th).
The solemn season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 25th. To make a right beginning of Lent, we should all attend one of the Ash Wednesday Services:
All three services will have the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion.
This feast is also called The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It commemorates for us the time in the life of Jesus when Joseph and Mary, in accordance with Jewish law, “present” Jesus in the Temple and offer the appropriate thank-offering for their first-born male child. When Jesus is “presented” and placed in the arms of Simeon, He is recognized as the Saviour.
Paul, or Saul as he was known until he became a Christian, was a Roman citizen born at Tarsus, in present-day Turkey. A few years after the death of Jesus, Saul came in contact with the new Christian movement and became one of the most fanatical of those who were determined to stamp out the “dangerous heresy”. Saul witnessed the stoning of Stephen. He was on the way to Damascus to lead the further persecution of the Christians when his dramatic conversion took place. From that day, Paul devoted his life totally to Christ and especially to the conversion of the Gentiles. The Acts of the Apostles describes the courage and determination with which he planted Christian congregations over a large area of the land bordering the eastern Mediterranean. Paul is believed to have been martyred at Rome in the year 64 under Nero.
The First Sunday after Epiphany is also called “The Baptism of Our Lord”. The name “Epiphany” is derived from a Greek word meaning “manifestation” or “appearing”. Anglican Prayer Books interpret the word with an alternative title, “The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles”. The last phrase is a reference to the story of the Wise Men from the East. A Christian observance on January 6th is found as early as the end of the second century in Egypt. The feast combined commemorations of the Visit of the Magi who were led by the Star of Bethlehem, the Baptism of Jesus in the waters of the River Jordan, and Jesus’ first recorded miracle, the changing of water into wine at the marriage of Cana in Galille – all thought of as manifestations of the Incarnate Lord (Lesser Feasts and Fasts, p. 106).
Wednesday, December 24:
Thursday, December 25: 9 AM Said Service of Holy Communion
Friday, December 26: 12 Noon Holy Communion for the Feast of St. Stephen
Saturday, December 27: 12 Noon Holy Communion for the Feast of St. John the Evangelist
Sunday, December 28:
Monday, December 29: 12 Noon Holy Communion for the Feast of the Holy Innocents
Wednesday, December 31: 10:30 AM Said Service of Holy Communion
Sunday, January 4:
Tuesday, January 6: 12 Noon Holy Communion for the Feast of the Epiphany
This year we will celebrate Thanksgiving with a service at Hudson Memorial Presbyterian Church on Six Forks Road on Tuesday, November 25th at 7 PM, and The Reverend Michael Frye from Grace Lutheran Church will be preaching. We will join Grace Lutheran Church, Trinity Baptist Church, St. Mark’s Methodist Church and Hudson Memorial Presbyterian Church. Please come and join other members of these churches and their choirs as we thank God for all that He has given us.
At the requiem that wwe celebrate on All Souls’ Day, Monday, November 3rd 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.
Holy Cross Day is celebrated on September 14th because, on this day in 335, a basilica in honor of the Holy Cross and a shrine of the Emperor Constantine was dedicated after it completion. The complex of buildings, just outside of Jerusalem, was built on what was believed to be the site of Mount Calvary where Our Lord was crucified. We give glory and honor to the Holy Cross because it is on that Cross that He brought salvation to the world.
The Church from her very early days, even from New Testament times, has given honor, praise and devotion to the Mother of Our Lord. Down through the ages, prayers and adoration of Saint 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 Our Lady goes straight to Our Lord. We are fortunate to have one of the superiors of The Society of Mary, a devotional society in the Anglican Communion, as our preacher today, our own Father Martin.
