Mass Schedule – Trinity 15 (September 13, 2015)
14, Exaltation of the Holy Cross
15, Feria
16, Ember Day – (St. Cyprian)
17, Feria
18, Ember Day
19, Ember Day (No Mass)
+ Our missions committee has planned a mission opportunity for any of our parishioners who would like to lend a hand to our mission in Blacksburg, VA. This is a hands on, one day project for beautifying the parish church of St. Philip’s. The workday is planned for November 7 and everyone on the missions committee is excited and looking forward to making a concrete contribution to good work of Fr. Wade Miller and his parishioners! I think this will be great. We want to build a strong relationship with Fr. Miller and the parish as well as bless them with some labor. Our tentative schedule for the day is:
9:15/9:30: Arrive at St. Philips
Break for lunch
5:30: Wrap up work
Grab some pizza and head back home
+ The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. During the reign of Constantine, first Roman Emperor to profess the Christian faith, his mother Helena went to Israel and there undertook to find the places especially significant to Christians. She was helped in this by the fact that in their destructions around 135, the Romans had built pagan shrines over many of these sites. Having located, close together, what she believed to be the sites of the Crucifixion and of the Burial (at locations that modern archaeologists think are likely correct), she then had built over them the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which was dedicated on 14 September 335. It has become a day for recognizing the Cross, in a festal atmosphere that would be inappropriate on Good Friday, as a symbol of triumph, as a sign of Christ’s victory over death, and a reminder of His promise, “And when I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32) Tertullian, in his De Corona (3:2), written around AD 211, says that Christians seldom do anything significant without making the sign of the cross. Certainly by his time the practice was well established. Justin Martyr in chapters 55 and 60 of his First Apology (Defense of the Christian Faith, addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius and therefore written between 148 and 155 Ad), refers to the cross as a standard Christian symbol, but not explicitly to tracing the sign of the cross as a devotional gesture. In the ruins of Pompeii (destroyed 79 Ad), there is a room with an altar-like structure against one wall, and over the altar the appearance of the plaster shows that a cross-shaped object had been nailed to the wall, and forcibly pulled loose, apparently shortly before the volcano buried the city. It is suggested that this house may have belonged to a Christian family, and that they took the cross and other objects of value to them when they fled the city. The Cross of Christ still stands as the measure of God’s great love for all of creation.
+ Wednesday Agape & Christian Education for all ages resumes this Wednesday, September 9. We will begin serving our common meal at 5:45 p.m. and education classes will begin at 6:30 p.m. We have three classes for children: ages 2-4 are taught by Sr. Lynda who will continue to focus on teaching the kids how to participate in a class, and hopes to instill a love for Scripture and the Church. Ages 5-8 are taught by Jackie Jamison who focuses on preparing for confirmation, on how the kids’ fit into the metanarrative of Scripture, and this year we’ll be studying who Jesus says he is. and ages 9 + are taught by Charlie Smith who will focus on doing Evening Prayer together and studying one of the passages from Evening Prayer in more depth. For the adults, Fr. Dan is teaching a short 6 week class Introducing the Old Testament. Classes are over by 7:15 p.m. Priscilla is cooking this week and Ann Spencer is cooking next week.
+ All Saints Men’s Group will met next on September 15, at 7:00 a.m. in undercroft.
+ The Holy Communion is celebrated this week Monday through Saturday at 12:15 p.m. There will be no Mass this Saturday, September 19.
+ All Saints parishioner may obtain a Mass card from the Church office. A Mass card is a greeting card given to someone to inform him or her that a deceased loved one or friend was remembered and prayed for at a weekly Mass. It is a specifically Christian way to express one’s love. Call Julie McDermott at the Church office (434-979-2842) and she will help you fill out the form. The celebrant will sign the card and we will mail it from the Church to the family of the loved one.