Weekly Parish Email for Quinquagesima Sunday: 2 March 2025

The website is also a place to check our “Current operating status” – in other words, whether or not the church is open for services, in case of inclement weather (or unusual episodes like the sabotage of transformers a few years ago). If in doubt, check us out! Other options include Meet Our Clergy, Who We Are, Services and Office Hours, and How to find us.

All of these links can also be found by scrolling down the main page, as can also sections on “Find Your Place” – ministries of the parish, which you may wish to join – “Recent Media,” both video and audio, and “Recent Posts” on our nascent blog page. The goal is for this to become a “one-stop shop” for information about Christ Church Anglican.

If you have any questions or issues, please contact our media team at [email protected]. And if you wish to volunteer for our media team, please contact our IT/AV/Social media specialist, John Fesq, at [email protected].

Announcements for the Week of Sunday, March 2nd, 2024

If you are visiting us: Welcome to Christ Church Anglican, Southern Pines! Thank you for being with us. We are very pleased to have you join us for the service, and hope that your worship here is a blessing to you. Please sign the guest book on the table in the narthex, and provide appropriate contact information. Include your email address in order to be placed on our parish email list: you won’t be bombarded with mail, but it’s a good way to keep in touch. And may God bless you!

Ash Wednesday Services: There will be two services on Ash Wednesday – this Wednesday, March 5th, 2025: Our usual mid-week service of Holy Communion, at 10 o’clock a.m. on Wednesday, will begin with the Imposition of Ashes. And at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, there will be a brief service consisting of The Litany, or General Supplication; followed by A Penitential Office for Ash Wednesday (both found in the Book of Common Prayer 1928), and the Imposition of Ashes.

Although not found in the Prayer Book, the Imposition of Ashes is a traditional, tangible, and somber reminder of the penitential and preparatory character and ethos of the Lenten season, and sets the tone for whatever Lenten disciplines we have taken on. It also serves as a visible and salutary indication, to those with whom we may come into contact, that the season of Lent is once again upon us. Again, those services are:

10:00 a.m. – Holy Communion, with Imposition of Ashes
5:00 p.m. – Litany and Penitential Office, with Imposition of Ashes

Stations of the Cross – Fridays in Lent: As is our custom, we will be gathering for another traditional Lenten observance, that of the Stations of the Cross, at 5 o’clock Friday evenings. The practice of pilgrims to the Holy Land – following the Way of Sorrows from the house of Pilate to the Holy Sepulchre – was the origin of this devotion, which became widespread in the later Middle Ages, although it was not completely formalized until the eighteenth century. This is a popular and appropriate devotion during Lent and Holy Week.

5:00 p.m. Fridays – Stations of the Cross

Adult Christian Education for Lent and Easter: Beginning with the 2nd Sunday of Lent, March 16th – the 1st Sunday of Lent, March 9th, is the Bishop’s Visitation: see below – and continuing into Eastertide (excluding Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday), we will be holding a Christian education study based on Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, to be held in the Rector’s office on Sunday mornings beginning at 9 o’clock. From the Amazon.com blurb:

“Arguably the most established contemporary spiritual classic by our most profound living religious writer. This timeless classic has helped well over a million people discover a richer spiritual life infused with joy, peace and a deeper understanding of God. The book explores the ‘classic disciplines’ of the Christian faith: the inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study; the outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission and service and the corporate disciplines of confession, worship, guidance and celebration.”

Please make plans to join us for this journey into the classical disciplines of the Christian faith! The book is readily available online; here are some links from Christianbook:

The Celebration of Discipline, Special Anniversary Edition (Christianbook)

Celebration of Discipline, Special Anniversary Edition – eBook (Christianbook)

As well, here are some additional resources that may be helpful:

Celebration of Discipline Study Guide (Christianbook)

Celebrating the Disciplines: A Journal Workbook to Accompany A Celebration of Discipline (Christianbook)

Also available from Amazon.com, and other similar outlets.

Bishop’s Visitation: The Rt. Rev’d Paul C. Hewett, SSC, Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the Holy Cross, Anglican Catholic Church, will be conducting his annual Episcopal Visitation of Christ Church Anglican on Sunday, March 9th, the First Sunday in Lent. He will be preaching and celebrating at our 10:30 service, and attending our Fellowship Meal afterwards. This is an excellent opportunity to meet (if you have not had the pleasure previously) and talk to our Bishop! We will also be welcoming, Lord willing, several new members into our jurisdiction (the Diocese of the Holy Cross, Anglican Catholic Church) and parish on this day.

Church cleanup day: We will be holding a cleanup day on April 12th (April 19th as backup) to clean the church building and grounds prior to Easter.  Please put this day on your calendar – we’d appreciate help from “all hands” if you’re available to assist!

Re-launch – Children’s Vegetable and Herb Garden: Some may recall that there had been an intention to create a children’s garden next to the church, last year, but that for a variety of reasons that never occurred. Junior Warden Amanda Goodwin LeVasseur presented the following proposal to the Vestry at our last meeting:

“Proposal for a Parish garden this year: The plan from last year was to have children, and those young at heart, to plant a modest vegetable and herb garden along the north exterior wall of the church. I have an assortment of seeds and would like to sprout them so children and others can plant them sometime in late March. This would require very little cost to the church. We have sprinklers and would just need to run them regularly so the plants could thrive. There would need to have adequate garden soil in the area selected and donations of timbers or stones to define the beds. This is already in the planning stages. I would also like to propose that we plant the flowers in the front bed at this same time.”

Note that the proposal is for “children and those young at heart”! That means that adults who are interested in getting their hands in the dirt are more than welcome to join in. If you are interested in being part of this project on any level or in any capacity, or just desire further information, please contact Amanda at our church contact page.

Holy Days for the Week of February 23rd

Monday, March 3rd: John & Charles Wesley, Renewers of the Church (1791)
Tuesday, March 4th (transferred from Sunday, March 2nd*): Chad of Lichfield, Bishop (672)
Friday, March 7th: Perpetua and her Companions, Martyrs (202)
Saturday, March 8th: Edward King, Bishop (1910)

(* Saints’ days which fall on Sundays are typically – unless specified otherwise in the Tables of Precedence – translated to the next open day in the week.)

Rector’s Ramblings: Quinquagesima & Shrovetide

This Sunday is “the Sunday called Quinquagesima,” according to the Prayer Book, also known as “the Sunday next before Lent.” Among its historical names, the English tradition has often called this day “Shrove Sunday,” marking the beginning of Shrovetide, which is both a time of celebration leading up to the austerity of the penitential season of Lent – the origin of our English word “Carnival,” which in the original Latin meant “farewell (valé) to meat (carne)” – and a time of preparation for that very season: “shrove” is the simple past tense of “shrive,” which means “to receive absolution for one’s sins.”

Shrovetide is the time when, in a more rigorous age of the Church than many of us practice these days, those things which were not permitted during Lent – including meats, eggs, dairy products, and even oils such as olive oil – were consumed (thus the “carnival” atmosphere) prior to its arrival: “Pancake Day” (from the English tradition) and “Doughnut Day” (from the German) are two vestigial survivals of those practices; and “Mardi Gras” itself means, of course, “Fat Tuesday” – although the religious significance of this is probably unknown to the vast majority of those celebrating the occasion!

Shrovetide is also the time when devout Christians have sought to be shriven (absolved) of their sins, in preparation for a holy Lent. In pre-Reformation days, and still in the Roman Catholic Church, that was exclusively achieved via what is known as private or “auricular” (“of the ear,” referring to the fact that confession is made verbally to a priest, who then pronounces absolution) confession. Corporate (as opposed to individual), public (as opposed to private), and general (e.g., non-specific) Confession has been part of the Anglican tradition since its beginning, so that practice was not originally part of our tradition; it only began to be practiced in an Anglican context with the advent of the Oxford Movement in the 19th century.

Even now, the general rule of thumb for Anglicans as regards private confession is, as I learned it years ago, “all may; some should; none must.” But as the second Exhortation in the Prayer Book (pp. 87-88, BCP 1928) puts it,

“And because it is requisite that no man should come to the holy Communion, but with a full trust in God’s mercy, and with a quiet conscience; therefore, if there be any of you, who by this means cannot quiet his own conscience herein, but requireth further comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some other Minister of God’s Word, and open his grief; that he may receive such godly counsel and advice, as may tend to the quieting of his conscience, and the removing of all scruple and doubtfulness.”

Another exhortation phrases the matter thus:

“And if, in your preparation, you need help and counsel, then go and open your grief to a discreet and understanding priest, and confess your sins, that you may receive the benefit of absolution, and spiritual counsel and advice; to the removal of scruple and doubt, the assurance of pardon, and the strengthening of your faith.”

Should anyone have need of such counsel, advice, and formal absolution, I am available to meet that need. Please contact me privately to make an appointment.

And as I have stated on a number of occasions previously, now is the time to decide what, if any, Lenten disciplines you may choose to follow! Many people think that the “Friday fast” is exclusive to our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters; but the Prayer Book has long been clear on that point:

“Other days of fasting, on which the Church requires such a measure of abstinence as is more especially suited to extraordinary acts and exercises of devotion,” including “All the Fridays in the year, except Christmas Day, and the Epiphany, or any Friday which may intervene between these Feasts” (p. li, The Book of Common Prayer 1928).

It does not, however, provide specific direction on what “such a measure of abstinence as is more especially suited to extraordinary acts and exercises of devotion” actually translates out to, in practice! One of a number of areas in which the BCP seems to leave the specifics to one’s discretion.

The traditional (mostly symbolic) Friday fast that I have seen used most often – and that enjoined, as I understand it, upon our Roman Catholic friends – consists of one regular meal, plus up to two smaller ones both of which together do not add up to a single normal meal… so it’s not exceptionally onerous. That seems to be pretty close to what it was in pre-Reformation times, in England (the smaller meals are known as “collations”), for folks who were not monastic – who would in most cases have been stricter – or children, the aged, the infirm, and those engaged in significant manual labor, who would have been exempt. Times of stricter penance would (at least in theory) have been observed more rigorously, of course.

The Friday fast is basically a memorial of the Crucifixion, and serves to focus one’s mind upon it. This is why the fast is from meat in specific (meat —> carne —> Incarnation); skipping sugar, alcohol, or the internet but continuing to eat meat is kind of missing the point! (But note my comments regarding those who, for reasons of health, age, or circumstances in life are unable to safely fast or practice abstinence from flesh food…) Ditto those who say that since seafood is so much more expensive than other kinds of meat nowadays, we should eat, say, hot dogs instead. Again, rather misses the point.

(Note that those who seek a stricter observance may choose to fast entirely until sunset on Fridays, although for those who need either physical energy or mental acuity, who have other health issues, or as mentioned above, children or the aged, this might not be practical. Remember that in the Middle Ages, fast days were also generally days on which non-essential work did not occur! Also remember that this is a memorial, not a marathon: we are incapable of “earning” our salvation, which is through Christ alone, and conspicuous efforts to take on disciplines may be an example of spiritual pride as much as, maybe more than, they are of humility.)

“Abstinence” is generally understood as refraining from eating meat, e.g., anything that is not seafood (fish or shellfish); it can also include vegetarian (or vegan, if that floats your boat) options. Again, the idea of consuming no flesh meat (e.g., anything that obviously bleeds) is as a memorial of our Lord’s Incarnation and Passion; while not having anything too rich is a form of culinary penance: lobster thermidor might not be a violation of the letter of the fast, since it’s not “meat,” but would most likely be considered a violation of its spirit!

Those who, for reasons of health, age, or circumstances in life are unable to safely fast or practice abstinence from flesh foods are encouraged to impose some sort of personal penitence or act of charity or piety. One might choose to abstain from alcohol or tobacco (if one regularly imbibes or partakes); sugar, candy, or other sweets; or perhaps even (gasp!) social media…

And of course, one might add on disciplines, as well, or instead: if one is not regularly using the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer (either in their full forms, beginning on p. 3 of the BCP 1928 for MP and 21 for EP, or at least the abbreviated forms provided “to be used in Families,” beginning on p. 587), Lent would be an excellent time to take up the practice! Likewise daily Scriptural readings (covered if using the full forms of Morning and Evening Prayer), devotional or other spiritual readings (our Adult Christian Education book-study would qualify!), or acts of charity or mercy (volunteering to help at a food pantry or other charitable organization being only one of many possibilities).

Please be assured of my prayers, that we all may enjoy a holy and spiritually nourishing and renewing season of Lent. May God bless you!

Faithfully,

Fr. Tom Harbold