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Why is the Easter season 50 days long?

Easter for Christians is not just one day, but rather a 50-day period. The season of Easter, or Eastertide, begins at sunset on the eve of Easter and ends on Pentecost, the day we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church (see Acts 2).

Easter is also more than just an extended celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. In the early church, Lent was a season for new converts to learn about the faith and prepare for baptism on Easter Sunday. The initial purpose of the 50-day Easter season was to continue the faith formation of new Christians.

Today, this extended season gives us time to rejoice and experience what it means when we say Christ is risen. It’s the season when we remember our baptisms and how through this sacrament we are, according to the liturgy, “incorporated into Christ’s mighty acts of salvation.” As “Easter people,” we also celebrate and ponder the birth of the Church and gifts of the Spirit (Pentecost), and how we are to live as faithful disciples of Christ.

From http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/why-is-the-easter-season-fifty-days-long

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Posted by MaryO on February 14, 2024 in Books of The Bible, Easter, Holidays, Posts of Interest, The Holy Bible, Videos

Tags: Acts 2, Christ, Easter season, Easter Sunday, Pentecost, video

Today is World Communion Sunday ~ October 1, 2023

01 Oct

World Communion Sunday offers us an opportunity to experience Holy Communion in the context of the global community of faith.

The first Sunday of October has become a time when Christians in every culture break bread and pour the cup to remember and affirm Christ as the Head of the Church.

On that day, we remember that we are part of the whole body of believers.

Christians celebrate the communion liturgy in as many ways as there are congregations. World Communion Sunday can be both a profound worship experience and a time for learning more about our wider community of faith.

Because Pastor Bruce is away, we will celebrate at Pender next Sunday.

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Posted by MaryO on October 1, 2023 in Chuck Knows Church, Get Involved!, Holidays, Pender UMC, Posts of Interest, Videos, World Communion Sunday

Tags: Christ, Christian, Chuck Knows Church, church, Communion, faith, Holy Communion, liturgy, One Table, Pastor Bruce, Pastor Bruce Johnson, Religion and Spirituality, video, World Communion Sunday, worship

All about Liturgical Colors

28 Jun

Purple, representing both royalty and penitence, is traditionally used during Advent and Lent.
Blue symbolizes hope and may also be used during Advent.
White and gold are used at Christmas and Easter to symbolize joy and festivities.
Red symbolizes the color of fire to represent the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and times when the work of the Holy Spirit is emphasized. During Holy Week it represents the blood of Christ. Red is also used for ordinations, church anniversaries and civil observances such as Memorial Day and Thanksgiving.
Green represents growth and is used during Ordinary Time (the season after Epiphany and the season after Pentecost.)

Let’s start with a word about liturgical colors. You can see listed here that the official color of the long season of Ordinary Time is green. This makes sense for lots of reasons: Ordinary Time is about growing in our faith, about accepting the gifts that we’ve been given, and producing the fruit not just as individual Christians but as the body of Christ. Green is the color of growth and of fruitfulness. There are other reasons why the season claims the color green. Perhaps you and your team can come up with some more and use them to inform the congregation who may never have given thought to why the green paraments are used throughout this season.

We started here, however, because there are those who get bored with a single color in this long season that runs from Pentecost through Reign of Christ/Christ the King Sunday at the end of November. There are so many colors, so much beauty in worship art and God’s creation, why use only one color for this long season? Isn’t this the season after Pentecost? Why can’t we use red for at least a part of the season?

The season of Ordinary Time (or the Sundays after Pentecost—there is no “Pentecost Season”) calls for creativity and artistry. Even if you are using green as a foundational color, there is no reason why you can’t bring in a host of other colors over the season. Green represents life, and life is colorful. So, use more colors; use both/and; use a whole palette of colors to bring to life the worship in Ordinary Time. Think ahead for changing series or themes and find ways to enhance the liturgy with visual expressions of color, not just in paraments, but in banners, worship centers, projected or posted images, and colors. There are ways to move beyond the plain green altar or pulpit fall. Call on artists of all sorts to enhance the space.

Adapted from https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/living-the-spirit-life/second-sunday-after-pentecost-year-c-lectionary-planning-notes

Chuck Knows Church — Episode 1 – LITURGICAL COLORS. Ever walk into your Sunday morning worship service and realize the colors have changed around the sanctuary? That’s why Chuck is talking about Liturgical Colors on his FIRST SHOW!

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Posted by MaryO on June 28, 2023 in Advent, Christmas, Chuck Knows Church, Easter, Holidays, Memorial Day, Pender UMC, Pentecost, Posts of Interest, Thanksgiving, Videos

Tags: Advent, blood, Blue, Christ, Chuck Knows Church, Epiphany, faith, gifts, Gold, Green, Growth, hope, joy, Lent, Liturgical Colors, Ordinary Time, Penitence, Pentecost, purple, Red, Royalty, sanctuary, White

Christmas Music, Part 22 – We Three Kings

22 Dec

“We Three Kings”, also known as “We Three Kings of Orient Are” or “The Quest of the Magi”, is a Christmas carol written by the Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr., who wrote both the lyrics and the music.

We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain
Following yonder star

O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy Perfect Light

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign

O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to Thy perfect light

Frankincense to offer have I
Incense owns a Deity nigh
Prayer and praising, all men raising
Worship Him, God most high

O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to Thy perfect light

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes of life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in the stone-cold tomb

O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to Thy perfect light

Glorious now behold Him arise
King and God and Sacrifice
Alleluia, Alleluia
Earth to heav’n replies

O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to Thy perfect light

From Mannheim Steamroller, Chip Davis gives this song an “Arabian Nights” feel. A classic song that tells the story of the Gentiles who were quicker to recognize the significance of Christ’s birth than were His own people. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

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Posted by MaryO on December 22, 2022 in Christmas, Christmas Music, Holidays, Ministries, Music Ministry, Pender UMC, Posts of Interest, Videos

Tags: birth, carol, Chip Davis, Christ, Christmas, Christmas Music, Gentiles, Jr., Mannheim Steamroller, Reverend John Henry Hopkins, The Quest of the Magi, We Three Kings Of Orient Are

The Upper Room

08 Nov

Get your copy or The Upper Room at Pender UMC each month in regular or large print versions.

The Upper Room magazine’s mission is to provide a model of practical Christianity, accessible in varied formats, to help people feel invited and welcomed into God’s presence to:

listen to scripture as God’s personal message, linking their stories to God’s story;
commune with God in prayer;
see their daily choices and small acts of obedience as part of God’s work;
realize our connection through Christ as a universal family of believers;
encounter the living Christ and be transformed into Christ’s likeness.

From Chuck Knows Church. The Upper Room. It’s the place where Jesus had his last meal with his disciples, but it’s also the world’s most widely read daily devotional guide. Chuck explains the significance of this “little book”.