From the category archives:

Liturgy

Gathered in One Spirit and Mission

May 28, 2010

Last Sunday was an extraordinary celebration of faith and common mission at Holy Comforter. It doesn’t get much better on Pentecost than having a former Bishop of Jerusalem as your celebrant and preacher.  Bishop Samir Kafity graced us with inspiring and confident words as we renewed our baptismal promises to engage God’s mission in the [...]

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Spirited Christianity

May 22, 2010

Tomorrow we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the third great feast of the church year after Christmas and Easter for which the Church of the Holy Comforter is named. It reenacts the story of a small group of disciples who were still confused and adrift after the death and resurrection of their Lord. All they [...]

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It’s Pentecost

May 22, 2010

Working Preacher.org sponsored by Luther Seminary offers this Video with insightful commentary that a certain preacher may include in his sermon this Sunday.

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Hi-lar-i-ter!

April 3, 2010

From Hymn 211 in the Hymnal 1982. The whole bright world rejoices now, Hilariter, hilariter! The birds do sing on every bough, Alleluia, alleluia! Then shout beneath the racing skies, Hilariter, hilariter! To him who rose that we might rise, Alleluia, alleluia! And all you living things make praise, Hilariter, hilariter! He guideth you on [...]

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Invitation to Holy Week

March 25, 2010

There is no more important or life-changing week in the liturgical year than the one we embark on this coming Sunday.  It is a week of extraordinary importance for Christians around the world. I recently came across a quote from one of the addresses in Archbishop Rowan Williams’s book, A Ray of Darkness.  In his [...]

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Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

December 14, 2009

At our Advent Lessons and Carols last evening both the adult and children’s choir sang Elizabeth Poston’s carol, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree – a carol we’ve not heard at Holy Comforter in some time (thank you to Michael Painter for choosing it).  Poston credits the poem to a New Englander named  Joshua Smith (1784).  [...]

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Keeping Advent Online

November 29, 2009

Here are a number of good online Advent Resources to explore: The Church of England has its own online Advent calendar The Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s 2009 version begins with a brilliantly-colored nativity scene that is actually a child’s puzzle by a Sri Lankan cooperative working with SERRV International. The Diocese of Maryland’s 2009 calendar features daily mediations [...]

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Rowan Williams Reflects on Easter

April 7, 2009

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, reflects on the celebration of Easter: “At Easter we celebrate just not the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, as if that were an interesting fact that happened many centuries ago.  We celebrate the fact that in words from the Bible, because he is alive, we are [...]

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The Great Week

April 3, 2009

Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday,  is a strange day.  At Holy Comforter, we process through a long Narthex to the symbolic Jerusalem of the Sanctuary as our children wave palms for passing pilgrims hailing Jesus as their true and rightful king. Just as quickly, we are confronted with Mark’s Passion Narrative, a Narrative that Borg and Crossan [...]

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As We Are

March 22, 2009

Every Sunday, the liturgy of the Episcopal Church begins with “The Collect for Purity,” – which means a prayer that “collects together” certain themes for reflection by the gathered community: Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by [...]

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