FROM GRETCHEN S PEN. HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE MARCH Palm Sunday, March 20 Holy Eucharist 8:00 & 10:30 A.M. 3 pm Movie. Gretchen

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1 The Episcopal Church of the Nativity Volume 2016, Issue 3 THE MESSENGER HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE MARCH Palm Sunday, March 20 Holy Eucharist 8:00 & 10:30 A.M. 3 pm Movie Monday Evening Prayer 7:00 P.M. Tuesday Evening Prayer 7:00 P.M. Wednesday, Tenebrae 7:00 P.M. Maundy Thursday, Commemoration of the First Eucharist and the Maundy 7:00 P.M. All night vigil Good Friday, Proper liturgy of Good Friday 7:00 P.M. Holy Saturday Easter Vigil 7:00 P.M. Easter Sunday, March 27 Holy Eucharist 8:00 & 10:30 A.M. FROM GRETCHEN S PEN For years I have associated March with mud. Growing up on a small farm that is on a gravel road is probably the reason for this. The spring thaw was happening by March so that the fields were muddy and the roads were pure mud. As the month would come to the end, flowers would be up. What a great metaphor for the church season this month the mud that covers us is our sin, the new life given is the Resurrection. We are deeply in Lent, experience Holy Week, and are granted the joy of Easter this month. We will experience the most extreme highs and lows of our faith. I think it actually helps that we live in a place with seasons, not one of those parts of the world that is constantly sunny and 72 degrees. We know that our life has both rain and sun, that we have mud and snow and glorious green grass. The seasons of our Church year reflect this as well. We kneel in Lent and start with the penitential order we know that we sin, we physically express this reality in our posture and our cry for forgiveness. Come Easter season we will stand for the service and not even have the confession to mark the reality of our redeemed nature. In Lent we don t say the forbidden A word and in Easter we shout out Alleluia with sounds of great gladness. I encourage you this month to fully live into the reality that is Lent, Holy Week and Easter. I encourage you to partake of the opportunities for worship and study that Nativity provides. Enter fully into the story. Walk with Jesus to Jerusalem. Hear him speak, see him heal, listen to him call out to you to follow his ways and live into his love. Imagine yourself to be part of the crowd and wonder how you would respond. This time of year is our holiest time, let us fully give ourselves to this time, to be with Jesus this month, for Jesus gave himself fully to be with us, lived, and died, and rose again, all for us. May he fill us with his love so we may be his love. Gretchen

2 Page 2 Volume 2016, Issue 3 N A T I V I T Y S OUTREACH: FOOD PANTRY Thank you to everyone who helps with our food pantry, from picking up food at the Food Bank or Winco, stocking shelves, staffing the pantry and bringing food, it is all needed help and much appreciated, especially by those who need the food. Due to Holy Week there will be no Food Pantry or Saturday Supper on March 26th. SATURDAY SUPPER Our Saturday suppers in February saw increased numbers of people, with over 80 folks at both meals. This past month Neal and Peggy led their team providing supper on the second Saturday, and Gretchen and the vestry served the fourth. Thanks so much to all who are helping in any way with our suppers! SNAKE RIVER CLINIC The next delivery of finger-food, for approximately 15 workers at the clinic, will be Tuesday, March 8th. Thanks to Joe and Merrily Lillard for signing up. SALVATION ARMY SOUP KITCHEN We will be helping to prepare, serve and clean up from the meal at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., on Wednesday, March 23. If you would like to join us in serving others, please call Pat Johnson at CHANCEL GUILD MEN AND WOMEN S GROUPS We had 14 ladies at Chancel Guild in February. Richard Moore started our meeting asking for our input for improving the kitchen, in the parish hall. We then moved on to ice cream and cookies, provided by our hosts Karen Parkman and Nancy Rosch. Nancy read about Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, the saint for February 1st,from Calendar of Saints. Then she shared a poem, entitled Christians and another quote, by Maya Angelou. Pat Johnson reported we took in $9.27 for Church Periodical Club and that our balance is $ We discussed those in need of cards, from our guild. Maxine Hubbell said we still have need and room for more rummage. It was reported that it was not feasible to start a scholar-

3 Page 3 Volume 2016, Issue Page 3 ship in honor of Myrl Larson, but Mary Lou Gregory was going to check and see if there was something the music program needed that we could donate in her honor. Pat Johnson reported that Gretchen wanted to know if we could dispose of the excess of cups and saucers in the large cupboard. The consensus was to put them in the rummage sale. We prayed and sang for our February birthday ladies, Pat Johnson and Susan Pearson. Our next meeting is March 7 th with Mary Lou Gregory and Fran Caradine as hosts. MEN S BREAKFAST Men s breakfast group meets the 2 nd Saturday of March, the 12th. All men are invited to participate, gathering at 9 am on Saturday. MOVIE NIGHT! On Palm Sunday (3/20) at 3pm we will show The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. During the World War II bombings of London, four English siblings are sent to a country house where they will be safe. One day Lucy (Georgie Henley) finds a wardrobe that transports her to a magical world called Narnia. After coming back, she soon returns to Narnia with her brothers, Peter (William Moseley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and her sister, Susan (Anna Popplewell). There they join the magical lion, Aslan (Liam Neeson), in the fight against the evil White Witch, Jadis (Tilda Swinton). This is a great story that is basically the Christ story, how God rescues us from our own actions and how this rescue involves death and resurrection. It is a great way to start Holy Week.

4 Page 4 Volume 2016, Issue Page 34 HOLY WEEK: 7:00 PM EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK, AT THE CHURCH, WALK WITH CHRIST THROUGH THE CROSS INTO EASTER This month we enter into the holiest time of the year for a follower of Christ Holy Week. We are invited to enter fully into our Lord s passion and resurrection, walking in his footsteps during Holy Week, eating with Jesus in the upper room on Maundy Thursday, experiencing the incredible depths of despair on Good Friday. It is impossible to truly understand Easter without Good Friday. We will never completely comprehend Good Friday without living the events of Holy Week. If we live fully and completely into Holy Week, it is impossible to remain unchanged. I have vivid memories from my youth and childhood of the services of Holy Week, but it was not until I was an adult that I ever experienced Tenebrae, or the Great Vigil of Easter. And after that first time, I knew that I could never again go through Holy Week without participating in those services. Tenebrae and the Great Vigil are two of the most powerful and profound worship services. During Holy Week, the church calls on all of its members to be with Christ and to walk fully with him during this most sacred and holy time. There will be services every day and I encourage all of you to live as fully as possible into Holy Week. If you do not currently attend all week, consider, at a minimum, adding one additional service to your observance of the week. If you have never experienced Tenebrae, come on Wednesday evening and discover what it is. If you have never been to an Easter Vigil service, worship on Saturday evening and learn why it is considered one of the most glorious services of the Church. Be present for the Liturgy of Good Friday, and experience the sorrow of that day. For this one week, put off the worries of the world, and fully commit to following Christ. If you do this, you will be changed.

5 Page 5 Volume 2016, Issue 3 B I RT H DA Y S IN MARC H Barb Campbell 2 nd Mavis Ohms 25 th Nora Abbott 2 nd Keegan Schmidt 6 th Joe Lillard 6 th Leslie Smith 10th THE ALTAR GUILD Please note that we are now asking for a $7 donation for candles and $30 for flowers to help cover our costs. Thanks Our thanks to those who have donated sanctuary candles: March 6 - Open March 13 - Open March 20 - Open March 27 - Given by Joe and Merrily Lillard in memory of Samuel Walker and given by Pat Johnson in memory of Lee Johnson. EASTER LILLIES Please cut out and return to the office or put in offering plate. Enclosed is a donation of $ to help beautify our church during Eastertide. This is given to the glory of God and in (please circle) thanksgiving for / memory of: Given by:

6 Page 6 Volume 2016, Issue 3 WEEKLY SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Sunday: Eucharist - 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Bible Study/choir practice - 9:00 a.m. Study Hour - 12:00 p.m. Monday - Friday: Noon Day Prayer - 12:15 p.m. Tuesday: Book Study - 9:00 a.m. Supper study 5:30/6 pm Food pantry open 8:45-noon. MARCH 2016 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 No supper study tonight 2 Vestry Chancel Guild Lenten soup and study Men s bfast 9am Sat.Supper- 4 5:30pm, Food pantry Open 13 Compline - 7pm Lenten soup and study Palm Sunday Movie 3 pm 21 Evening Prayer 22 Evening Prayer 23 Salvation Army Tenebrae 24 Maundy Thursday 25 Good Friday 26 Easter Vigil 27 Easter Sunday April 1

7 Page 7 Volume 2016, Issue 3 SERVICE SCHEDULE FOR MARCH DATE March 6 Lent 4 March 13 Lent 5 March 20 Palm Sunday March 27 Easter 8:00 AM 8:00 AM 8:00 AM 8:00 AM Ushers Don and Maxine Hubbell Jerry Pierce John Willows Neal and Peggy Flowers LEM Jerry Pierce Jess Stone Pete Ruppel John Willows Lector Frances Hedrick Margaret Cole Joe Lillard Jerry Pierce POP Peggy Flowers Maxine Hubbell Anne Rhoads Frances Hedrick 10:30 AM 10:30 AM 10:30 AM 10:30 AM Greeters Keegan and Liam Schmidt Rosemary Daubert Phyl Lacy and Marcu Johnson Nancy and Ray Rosch Ushers Rosemary Daubert Caryl Mackey and Ray Rosch Bill and Debi Fitzgerald Marsha Creason Phyl Lacy LEM Caryl Mackey Phyl Lacy Marsha Creason Mary Lou Gruber Lectors Rosemary Daubert Alicia Case Fran Caradine Madison Winn Toni Pierce Harold Crook Pat Johnson Ray Rosch POP Fran Caradine Mary Lou Gregory Nancy Rosch Rosemary Daubert Altar Guild Pat Johnson Roberta Coats Marilyn Harris Marcu Johnson Caryl Mackey Rosemary Daubert Karen Turner Merrily Lillard Karen Parkman Susan Pearson Debbie Riedle Maxine Hubbell Johnette Moore Fran Caradine Coffee hour Harold Crook Hilary and John Laughrey Richard Moore Shelby and Karen Turner

8 Page 8 Volume 2016, Issue 3 EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY th Street Lewiston, Idaho Office: office@nativitylewiston.com Rectory CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY Wardens/Vestry FIND US ON THE WEB! Rector Rev d. Gretchen Rehberg Vestry Dick McMillen, Sr. Warden Joe Lillard, Jr. Warden Pat Johnson, Treasurer Rosemary Daubert, Clerk Mary Lou Gruber Richard Moore Rose Mortensen John Willows Madison-Rose Winn us on Facebook! Episcopal Church of the Nativity Don t Forget! Change your clocks to spring ahead before bed March 12 or you will late for church on Sunday the 13!