Schedule of Religous Events Celebrated at Epiphany

Blessing of the Animals:  October 7, 2007

Each year on the Saturday or Sunday closest to St. Francis of Assisi Day, we invite the community to bring their pets to be blessed on the front lawn.  A short service is held during which Father Bill and Mother Jennifer bless each animal individually.

Thanksgiving Service:  November 21, 2007

On the eve of Thanksgiving Day we have a special service of thanksgiving at 7:00 p.m. Afterward we enjoy fellowship with pie and coffee.

Season of Advent: 

The first season of the church's liturgical year, beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ending with the first Eucharist of Christmas.

First Sunday of Advent: December 2, 2007

The beginning of the new Liturgical year.  This is the day you begin a special calendar to mark the passing of days in the Advent season.  An Advent wreath, a circle of evergreen foliage with four candle holders, is also begun.  A candle is lighted on the First Sunday of Advent and another each week until all four candles are lighted on 4 Advent.  Advent wreaths can be a focus for family devotions during the season.

Christmas Eve - December 24, 2007

Children's Service 5:30pm; Carols and Lessons 10:30pm; First Eucharist of Christmas 11:00pm

Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ:  Christmas Day  December 25, 2007 - 10:00am

The Feast of the Incarnation

 Bishop's Visit and Confirmation:  January 6, 2008

Bishop Parsley or the Bishop Suffragan pays an annual visit to Epiphany, usually the first week in January, to confirm by a laying on of hands the new confirmands. A luncheon is held after the 10:30 am service to welcome and visit with the Bishop.

Ash Wednesday:  February 6, 2008

Day of atonement, fasting, and penitence that marks the beginning Lent.  Epiphany has Ash Wednesday services at noon and 7pm.  The priests use ashes to make the sign of the cross on the foreheads of worshipers. The ashes are made from burning the palm crosses worn on the previous Palm Sunday.

HOLY WEEK:  March 16, 2008 - March 22, 2008

The most significant week of the church year, beginning on Palm Sunday with a procession and blessing of palms, and ending on Easter Day.  "The Book of Common Prayer" provides special services for most of these days and special readings for all of them.

Palm Sunday:  March 16

The last Sunday in Lent, also known as the Sunday of the Passion, and the beginning of Holy Week.  The day commemorates Jesus' triumphal procession into Jerusalem and is marked by a blessing of palms and a procession of the whole congregation into the church, followed by a reading of the passion gospel and a Eucharist.

 Maundy Thursday:  March 20 

We celebrate Jesus' institution of the Eucharist and the washing of the disciples' feet. This is the only Eucharist celebrated between Wednesday in Holy Week and the Great Vigil of Easter.  The foot washing is an option and one need not participate.  The service ends with the stripping of the altar in preparation of Good Friday.  This is a moving and powerful service and should not be missed.

Good Friday:  March 21  service at noon and 7pm. 

We remember the last days of Christ and this, the day Christ died on the cross. No Eucharist is celebrated and the liturgy takes place in a bare church where the altar has been stripped and the crosses veiled.  Communion is observed using the reserved sacrament from Maundy Thursday.

The Living Stations of the Cross is held on the walking trail on Sunset, across from the church, at 5:30pm.  Each station is a reenactment of the day Christ died on the cross.  Each station has a reader while an actor portrays the event.

Great Vigil of Easter.  March 22

The lighting of the paschal candle celebrates the light of Christ into the world. Service continues with scripture readings from the Old and New Testament recalling the history of salvation. People come to be baptized into Christ's Body of the church. The first Eucharist of Easter is celebrated.

Sunday of the Resurrection or Easter Day.  March 23

 The central and most ancient feast of the church year, celebrating Christ's resurrection from the dead.  Parishioners are invited to bring bells to ring in the good news of the resurrection and the children bring flowers to decorate a special cross.

Day of Pentecost. May 11, 2008 (also Mother's Day)

Formerly called Whitsunday, a movable feast day that occurs fifty days after Easter and marks the end of the Easter Season.  It is the day on which we celebrate and remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the apostles (Acts 2:1). It is also a traditional day for baptisms.  The color of the day is red, the color of the Holy Spirit, and parishioners are invited to wear red to church.

(For Mother's Day each year, parishioners are invited to submit a dedication for the altar flowers to a loved one that will appear the church bulletin on that day.)

Trinity Sunday:  May 18, 2008

The first Sunday after Pentecost and the only day in the church year that commemorates a doctrine - the Trinity - rather than a person.