What a Holy Week! Wow. It is truly a privilege and an honor to follow Jesus with you. In the spirit of documentation, organization, and celebration, here are a few key links, praises, and photos from our week together. Whether you joined us or not: May these memories bless you.
Photos from this most sacred week!
You might have noticed a new song that premiered at our Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday services, “The Victorious Christ”, written by Derek Boemler and Travis Ham. This came partially as a result of working out the practical implications of Fleming Rutledge’s The Crucifixion, a text the staff has been reading and discussing for much of this ministry year.. We’ll be singing this song together throughout the season of Easter and beyond. Please feel free to download and share!
This year, Restoration’s Good Friday offering will be split between two organizations working with refugees.
Restoration was visited by Fr. James, a Karen priest, who recently moved to Minnesota from a refugee camp in Thailand.
The season of Epiphany is drawing to a close, and Lent is just around the corner. Lent, the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, is a spiritual pilgrimage; it is a great fast before the great feast; it is a giving up and a putting on; it is prayerful and slow; it is ancient and new. I encourage you to enter into Lent with intentionality and anticipation.
We are running out of space on Sunday mornings. The sanctuary overflow seating is full, and we regularly close some of the children’s classrooms. So on March 2nd, we will be shifting to three services at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00. View this message to learn ways that you can help with this shift.
The Great Easter Vigil is coming soon (Saturday, Apr 19) and is our biggest service of the year. It is a 2.5-hour full immersion into the Gospel of Jesus. Anglicans like to say that we are a “three streams” movement: fully sacramental, full of the Scriptures, and full of the Spirit —and the Great Easter Vigil is when all three streams are on full blast. You should come. Invite your friends.
Our diocese and the Book of Common Prayer provide a special liturgy for situations in which a deacon leads a communion service.