Community

The early weeks of May find us in the season of Eastertide, when we hear anew the teaching of doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with the God made known in Jesus.

On May 13th, the youth of the congregation will lead us, as we see and hear how God continues to do amazing things — from the mouths of our middle and senior high school students. The youth are working with CE Director Bryce Wiebe and Youth Group Advisors, Sharon and Anthony Damelio, to write and lead the liturgy for the morning.

On May 20th, we will take time during our worship service to congratulate the graduates of our congregation. This will also be the last Sunday before Co-Pastors Bill Goettler and Maria LaSala leave for their summer sabbatical.

On Pentecost, May 27th, The Rev. Dr. Nora Tubbs Tisdale, Clement-Muehl Professor of Homiletics at Yale Divinity School, will be the guest preacher. Nora will have just returned from her Spring sabbatical and months spent in South Africa. She plans to share stories of how the winds of the Spirit are at work in that country.

The Pentecost Special Offering will be received that morning. This special offering will go to support programs that work with children at risk here in New Haven and around the country.

The Stations of the Cross, or Way of the Cross, is a traditional Christian devotional practice involving a series of stations, usually fourteen, that represent the Passion of Jesus Christ, from his condemnation to his body being laid in the tomb. Each station is typically depicted by a work of art, which are often permanently installed in some Roman Catholic churches. During Lent, usually on Good Friday, congregations will walk the Stations of the Cross together with an accompanying litany of prayers and responses.

Given our Presbyterian heritage of rejecting icons, we historically have not had these stations installed in our sanctuaries or walked the Stations during Lent. This year, youth group advisers Sharon and Anthony wanted to involve the youth in the devotional life of this worshiping community at this holy time. Artistic renderings of a the station were designed by youth group members.

This Good Friday, the youth will help lead the litany of prayers as we walk the Stations of the Cross. We will meet at 6:45 p.m. in the Sanctuary to walk the path with Jesus from trial to tomb. We hope you will join the youth and many other members of the congregation in this
powerful Lenten devotional practice, uniting ourselves in prayer and action with Christians around the globe.

The Tenebrae service will follow at 7:30 p.m.

On Palm Sunday, April 1, the congregation will gather for a Palm Procession at 10:30 a.m. in the Miller Gathering Hall. Traditional palms and eco-palms will be available for all who wish to move from the Miller Hall into the
sanctuary with arms raised, singing our Hosannas. We will process around the front of the church buildings, forming an archway for friends to travel under, until all are in the sanctuary ready to hear the Call to Worship.
The Sacrament of Holy Communion will be celebrated.

Holy Week Worship continues with a Maundy Thursday service on April 5th at 7:30 p.m., in the Miller Gathering Hall. Sitting around tables, we will hear again the story of Jesus’ final supper with his disciples, preparing our

hearts and minds as we receive bread and cup together.

The Good Friday Tenebrae service will take place in the sanctuary on Friday, April 6th, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Come and hear the Passion narrative of Jesus’ final hours in the quiet of the sanctuary. Mattie Long will conclude
the service with her rendition of Were You There. The Youth Group will lead a Stations of the Cross beginning at 6:45 p.m. Please see the separate article in this Inkling describing this prayer service. All are welcome!

Easter Morning comes early on the summit of East Rock Park. Join friends from First Presbyterian Church, First and Summerfield United Methodist Church, Hamden Plains United Methodist Church, and neighbors of the East
Rock community, in welcoming the glad news of Christ’s resurrection. The service begins at 6:30 a.m.

Easter Breakfast begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Miller Gathering Hall where tasty treats will be prepared. Strata, pastries, and juice, coffee, and tea are on the menu. What a perfect way to begin the morning’s celebration.

Worship begins at 10:45 a.m. Co-Pastor Bill Goettler will be the preacher for the morning. The service of Easter rejoicing concludes with Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” from Messiah.

An Easter Egg Hunt for children will follow the Easter morning worship service. There will be separate areas for toddlers, and for younger elementary school aged children. Plastic eggs and goodies are needed. Please bring them to the church on Sunday, April 1.

Let us rejoice in the good news of Easter joy!

During the Season of Lent we invite you into a time of centering prayer. We hope you will find a time to be silent and attune your ears to God, meditating on words from our Christian tradition.

This week we invite you to meditate on the simple yet profound words of The Rev. Katie Cannon, the first African-American woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church USA, and a professor at Union-Richmond Theological Seminary:

“Well, I pray. And prayer replaces fear and worry.”

Joining in with the Lenten theme of prayer, our choir will be singing anthems each week that are themselves prayers.

We began on February 26 with a contemporary arrangement of the well-known Prayer of Saint Francis. This week, on March 4, we sing a motet, Lord, Let My Complaint Come Before Thee by the early seventeenth-century English composer Adrian Batten.

The anthem for March 11 is the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God, Have Mercy Upon Us) and Dona nobis pacem (Grant Us Peace) from Mozart’s Missa Brevis in F Major.

On March 18 we will sing Prayer to Jesus by the Victorian British composer George Oldroyd.

On March 25  My Soul Is Exceeding Sorrowful by the Canadian composer Eleanor Daley.