Holy Week & Easter Pics

Here are some great shots of the acolytes leading Stations of the Cross on Wednesday of Holy Week thanks to Lynn Hall!

Drucye Robinson got some great photos of St. Nicholas on Easter Sunday!

Thanks, ladies, for capturing these moments!

Holy Week & Easter Services

Wednesday, April 20: Stations of the Cross at 6:30pm led by the Acolytes of St. Nicholas

Thursday, April 21: Maundy Thursday Holy Eucharist at 6:30pm with Footwashing and the Stripping of the Altar

Friday, April 22: Good Friday Eucharist from the Reserved Sacrament at 6:30pm

Sunday, April 24: Easter Sunday, 8:30am and 11:00am, followed by Easter Egg Hunt! Come early to get a seat!

Holy Week Lunches at PMFUMC

First United Methodist Church of Pine Mountain will be hosting lunches April 18-22 from 12noon until 12:50pm in the Family Life Center of the church. Sandwiches and drinks will be provided by area churches, including St. Nicholas on Wednesday. There will be a short sermon/devotion to remind us that for the church, this holy week is like no other. We invite you to join us each day of the week. No reservations necessary. Hosts for the week are FUMC of Pine Mountain, First Baptist Pine Mountain, St. Nicholas, and Hopewell UMC. For more information, call 706 663-2538.

Your Week at St. Nick 17 - 23 April 2011

Sunday, 17 April 2011 Palm Sunday - One Service

10:00am  Holy Eucharist

12:00 - 2:00pm  Choir Rehearsal

5:00-6:00pm  Jazz Vespers at St. Thomas, Columbus

Sunday - April 17	10:00am
Usher/Greeter	Scott Crowley andAnne Simpson
Adult Reader	Sue Halmrast
Altar Guild	Sawyer/Tomlin
LEM	Sue Halmrast
Flower Guild	Suzy Eidson
Acolyte	A. Avery, Dalton, Emily  D.
Acolyte-Jr. Acolyte	Marcus
Acolyte- Youth Reader	Sam
Lemonade /Cider	Donna Armstrong
Christian Education  9:45am	No Sunday School

 

Holy Week

Monday, 18 April

12:00pm  Holy Week Lunches at FUMC Pine Mtn.

6:30pm Holy Eucharist

Monday - April 18	6:30pm
Usher/Greeter	Tom Cheatham
Adult Reader	John Brent
Altar Guild	Brent/Dixon
LEM	Katherine Johnson

 

Tuesday, 19 April

12:00pm  Holy Week Lunches at FUMC Pine Mtn.

6:30pm Holy Eucharist

Tuesday - April 19	6:30pm
Usher/Greeter	Scott Crowley andAnne Simpson
Adult Reader	Michelle Moody
Altar Guild	Cheatham/Eidson
LEM	Nick Simpson

 

Wednesday, 20 April

12:00pm  Holy Week Lunches at FUMC Pine Mtn.

6:30pm Stations of the Cross

Wednesday - April 2 - Stations of the Cross	6:30pm
Usher/Greeter	Lynn & Kenny Hall
Adult Reader	Stations of the Cross
Altar Guild	Cox/Winsness
LEM	Stations of the Cross

 

Thursday, 21 April

12:00pm  Holy Week Lunches at FUMC Pine Mtn.

6:30pm  Maundy Thursday Service with foot washing

7:45pm Episcopal 101

Maundy Thursday -April 21	6:30pm
Usher/Greeter	Barbara and Bobo Morgan
Adult Reader	Sue Halmrast
Altar Guild	All Altar Guild
LEM	Sue Halmrast

 

Friday, 22 April

12:00pm  Holy Week Lunches at FUMC Pine Mtn.

6:30pm  Good Friday Service

Good Friday - April 22	6:30pm
Usher/Greeter	Graham Horne &Jan Pylant
Adult Reader	Peggy Martin
Altar Guild	Nordin/Hinnant
LEM	Peggy Martin

 

Saturday, 23 April

9:00 - 11:00am Choir Rehearsal

2:00pm  Flower Guild Set-up

 

Happy Birthday!

April

4/3       Donna Armstrong

4/3       Lynn Hall

4/6       Sharon Cheatham

4/6       Caroline Dixon

4/10     Bert Tomlin

4/12     Marcus Dixon

4/12     David Sanchez

4/16     Bill Bradley

4/17     Mike Sawyer

4/21     Kristy Hubbard

4/25     Kin Brown

4/26     Brittany Vargas

4/27     Barbara Morgan

4/27     Steve Turley

 

Happy Anniversary!

April

4/25     Ben & Virginia Brooks

4/26     Steve & Sheila Turley

Palm Sunday & Holy Week at St. Nicholas

Join us on Sunday morning, April 17, for ONE SERVICE at 10:00am as we kick off our Holy Week with the Celebration of Holy Eucharist and the Blessing of the Palms for Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday, is the day that we celebrate Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and like those who ushered Jesus in on that very day, so too do we wave our palm leaves and sing our “Hosannas” to celebrate our Lord and King.

“Hosanna” (pronounced “ho-SAHN-a,” not “hose-anna”) in the Hebrew language means “O save now!” and we invite Christ to come and do that for us again as he has done so many times before. However, Palm Sunday is not without it’s mystery. While we are jubilant in our praises during the Liturgy of the Palms, after our procession, we enter into the church to hear once again the Passion of our Lord.

There is a tension between celebrating Jesus in one moment, and then shouting “Crucify him!” in the next breath. Thus is our human condition as we start Holy Week. Before we arrive at the beauty of Easter, we must walk once again with Jesus to the cross. We invite you to experience that tension and engage that holy mystery. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

Monday, April 18: Holy Eucharist at 6:30pm with acoustic music by Fr. Jeff.

Tuesday, April 19: Holy Eucharist at 6:30pm with acoustic music by Fr. Jeff.

Wednesday, April 20: Stations of the Cross at 6:30pm led by the Acolytes of St. Nicholas

Thursday, April 21: Maundy Thursday Holy Eucharist at 6:30pm with Footwashing and the Stripping of the Altar

Friday, April 22: Good Friday Eucharist from the Reserved Sacrament at 6:30pm

Holy Week Podcasts

You can now listen to the sermons preached during Holy Week. Click on the podcast box on the right side of the screen to hear what you might have missed, or what you want to hear again!

Sunday’s podcast is the Gospel Narrative from Luke as retold by members of St. Nicholas.

Monday’s podcast is by the Rev. John Saunders, deacon from St. Mary Magdalene in Louisville, GA.

Tuesday’s podcast is by Fr. Jeff.

Maundy Thursday’s podcast is by Fr. Jeff.

Good Friday’s podcast is by Fr. Jeff.

You can also subscribe to our podcasts through iTunes. Click on the links above to each podcast’s page, scroll down on the right side of the page, and click “Subscribe to iTunes” to automatically add the podcasts to your iTunes library. Then, you can sync it with your iPod for listening on-the-go!

It’s the Holiest of Weeks…

Holy Week is almost upon us!

Our Lenten journey is almost finished, but before we get there, we are invited to the climax of Lent. Many Christians forget that before we celebrate the Resurrection on Easter, we are called to walk to journey to the Cross with Jesus during this week. In fact, we could not celebrate the Resurrection without the events of Holy Week.

At St. Nicholas we have services every night during Holy Week to give us the opportunity to set aside this week as something different, something sacred. Read more

Sponge, Vinegar, and Other Bits of Holy Week Goodness

First, I just wanted to take a second and thank our Altar Guild, our Ushers, our LEMs, our acolytes, our musician, our Bulletin crew, our nursery worker, and anyone else who made Holy Week so meaningful. This was St. Nicholas’ first time doing Monday-Friday services and everyone jumped in to help make it happen. 

As a new rector, there were a lot of things I was learning, as well, and everyone was very accommodating to my thoughts and ideas…and even my mistakes.

After Wednesday’s, the head of our Altar Guild, Liz, asked me when setting up for Maundy Thursday where I wanted the “sponge and vinegar.” I had NO idea what she was talking about. 

Turns out, there is a long-standing Christian tradition of washing the altar after the Stripping of the Altar. Churches wash it in various ways, with water, with holy water, with wine and water, or with vinegar and water. I haven’t found any one way to do it, and all are acceptable. The funny thing was that I had never once heard of such a tradition. My church growing up was fairly high-church and so was my field education site in seminary. Granted, I went to Virginia Theological Seminary, which has a low-church tradition, so it’s not too strange that I never learned about it.

Makes me think about my friend Sam’s experience after serving a church for a few years before someone mentioned, “Back when we used to strip the altar on Maundy Thursday before you came.” Sometimes these details slip past us clergy types!

Of course, this tradition is about preparing the altar for the sacrifice and is also symbolic of preparing the body of Christ (the sacrifice itself). It was incredibly moving to do that.

Like anything, Holy Week was a learning curve for all of us. I appreciate all of you who came to many of the services. We had good attendance at all of them. 

Perhaps the highlight for me was Wednesday as we did Stations of the Cross. I asked the acolytes to help out by reading the Scripture portions of the liturgy. You can never be to sure if you’re “forcing” youth to participate, but not this group. We had 7 acolytes show up and all of them were willing to read. I picked 4 to read and the other 3 carried the cross and torches. They all did an outstanding job and it made the service that much more meaningful. I think we might have a new tradition at St. Nicholas. The Martins videotaped the service, I wonder if we could get it on the internet to share with everyone?

Also, if you missed the services this week, be sure to check out the podcast sermons, especially Monday’s from the Rev. Hal Weidman from St. John’s, West Point, and David Johnson’s reading of “Mrs. Pilate Remembers” from Good Friday. David gave two reflections, but the sound quality in the first one was poor. Sorry David!

As I write this, there’s a storm outside which makes me think about that awful day that Jesus died. However, like a storm, we know that this feeling Good Friday brings is not going to last forever. While we sit and wait in this dark hour, let us keep hope for a new tomorrow!

What’s So Great About Holy Week?

This time of year, we hear a lot about Easter. In fact, stores have been commercializing on Easter for a few months now with their pastel-colored bunnies and chocolate eggs. But just like the tension between Advent & Christmas, so too is it a challenge to balance our faith and tradition and our cultural understanding of what actually leads up to Easter.

You cannot have Easter without Holy Week. It’s like having dessert before supper, opening your birthday presents before your birthday, or watching the end of the movie before seeing the beginning. Easter is all about the Resurrection, but can one truly understand the Resurrection without experiencing the death that leads to such Resurrection?

It’s just like us to skip over the messy parts. We tend to not want to hear bad news if there is good news right around the corner. We don’t like to hear about Christ on the cross, bloody and beaten, suffering for our sake at our hand. Christianity tends to be most popular when it’s viewed with rose-colored glasses. 

But part of our call at Christians is to walk that road with Jesus, to experience, even briefly, the stories and images of those final hours with Jesus. During Holy Week, we are called to “stay awake” with Christ in those last moments and live with the sacrifice, the darkness, and the silence.

Why? Because we all experience pain, suffering, and sadness. In Holy Week, we see that Jesus shares all of the hell we experience. We can look on and see how horrible and yet how meaningful Jesus’ actions truly are. It’s the one time of the year which we in the traditional denominations focus on these moments intentionally, and thus, God calls us each to share in that experience.

For the first time at St. Nicholas, we will be having services throughout Holy Week, Monday through Friday to give you all the opportunity to experience be beauty and silence of Holy Week. Each service will be at 6:30pm. Here’s a look at each service:

Holy Monday, April 6, 6:30pm: The Rev. Hal Weidman, rector of St. John’s, West Point, will be preaching and celebrating at this service of Holy Eucharist. Fr. Jeff will be playing musical selections from the Taize Community.

Holy Tuesday, April 7, 6:30pm: Fr. Jeff will preach and celebrate and will also play musical selections from the Taize Community for this service of Holy Eucharist.

Holy Wednesday, Stations of the Cross, April 8, 6:30pm: We will hear the final moments of Jesus as we process from station to station during the liturgy of the Way of the Cross. 

Maundy Thursday, April 9, 6:30pm: We will experience the true meaning of servanthood through the act of footwashing, and we will see the beauty of the Stripping of the Altar after this service of Holy Eucharist.

Good Friday, April 10, 6:30pm: It is always darkest before dawn. We will celebrate Eucharist from the Reserve Sacrament as well as hearing reflections from David Johnson, parishioner of St. Nicholas and writer.

Come for one, come for all. We pray that you will be moved by these liturgies and they will eventually highlight your Easter.