Mass Schedule for the Week of Epiphany I (January 8, 2012)
09, Monday – Feria (Vestry Meeting – 7:00 p.m.)
10, Tuesday – Feria (Men’s Bible Study in the Undercroft – 7:00 a.m.)
11, Wednesday – Feria (Wednesday Agape & Education 5:45 p.m.)
12, Thursday – Feria
13, Friday – Feria
The EPIPHANY is the oldest Christian feasts, other than Easter and Pentecost, and the focus is upon Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Divine and yet Human. We follow the Western calendar in which the feast falls on January 6 – 13 days after Christmas. Easter Orthodoxy follows the Julian Calendar that celebrates the Feast on January 19. (By the way, Ash Wednesday is February 22 this year and we will not have the Agape that Wednesday. However we will have the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on February 21 at 6:30!) The season of Epiphany will end with the pre-Lenten Sundays that begin with Septuagesima, which this year will fall on February 5. Epiphany has several guiding images taken from the life of our Lord Jesus Christ beginning with the Visit of the Magi and followed up with the loss and then discovery of our Lord in the Temple of Jerusalem when he was 12-years-old. Other dominant images through the season are the Baptism of Christ and the Wedding at Cana and our Lord’s healings.
The WEDNESDAY AGAPE AND EDUCATION resumes this week on January 11! Fr. Dan and his team will be serving up Hoppin’ John, a Southern dish of black-eyed peas, ham, spices and often cabbage and collard greens or mustard greens. A traditional New Year’s meal, Hoppin’ John dates back to Medieval Europe, especially in France and Spain. The peas are supposedly symbolic of coins and a coin is sometimes left under the bowl! You will have to come out and see just how far Fr. Dan intends to go with this Southern New Year’s tradition.
Fr. Lawrence Adams will begin his class this Wednesday on Worship, Doctrine and Life in the Anglican tradition. We have classes for all ages. Fr. Dan and his crew will begin serving the meal at 5:45 p.m. and then at 6:30 we all go to our classes. The evening of fellowship and education is officially over at 7:15, but feel free to hang out and visit with one another. All Epiphany blessings!