Lenten Reflection Day 41 (April 3): UPHOLD (Isaiah 42:1-9).
ONG: The Wynans: Uphold Me: https://youtu.be/xkHfGzAcD6E
POEM: Rebecca Hazelton: Vow (excerpt): … When they looked at their options / it seemed there weren’t really that many / after all. They swore to uphold the bonds / and the principles …
QUOTE: Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl: People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things. You don’t necessarily even have to be afraid of punishment after death; purgatory, hell, and heaven are things that a lot of people can’t accept, but still a religion, it doesn’t matter which, keeps a person on the right path. It isn’t the fear of God but the upholding of one’s own honor and conscience. How noble and good everyone could be if, every evening before falling asleep, they were to recall to their minds the events of the while day and consider exactly what has been good and bad. Then, without realizing it you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve quite a lot in the course of time. Anyone can do this, it costs nothing and is certainly very helpful. Whoever doesn’t know it must learn and find by experience that: “A quiet conscience makes one strong!”
Lenten Reflection Day 40 (April 2): CHOSEN (Isaiah 42:1-9).
SONG: Rytikal: Chosen: https://youtu.be/thNWIM5Oe6w
POEM: Uche Nduka: Untitled [When Shall Your Wounds] (excerpt): … daily your kingdom squeaks / and leaps to the starlight / it wants all of you / you of all and the music … you are the one the music / has chosen and whom strings call / twilight moans behind you / all you are you are all
QUOTE: Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude: When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
HOLY WEEK: Palm Sunday, April 2 to Easter, Sunday, April 9
April 2-9: WAY of the CROSS
- VIA CRUCIS – Way of the Cross
Ongoing • JCC Sacntuary
- Self-guided.
- Crosses used in this personal pilgrimage, most hanging in the windows, come from around the world.
- Front doors open and unlocked 24/7. Come whenever your schedule permits. Several written guides are available, tracing the Via Crucis journey with specific concerns in mind: healing, environmental care, recovering from addiction, surviving trauma, discerning prayer. The guides also include ones written specifically for women, children, refugees, seniors, LGBTQ+ allies, and using perspective from St Teresa,
St Francis, Ignatians, and using Biblical versions offered by Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis.
- 24/7: Daily during Holy Week • JCC Sanctuary
Sun, Apr 2: PALM SUNDAY
- INTERFAITH WORSHIP
8am • JCC Sanctuary & Zoom- Join us for poetry, conversation, and prayer.
- Zoom link and password required.
- PALM SUNDAY WORSHIP with Communion
10:30am • JCC Sanctuary & Zoom- Zoom link and password required.
- Music: Sharon Novak
- HOSPITALITY @ JCC
11:30am • Parish Hall
- BYZANTINE ART, ICONOGRAPHY & ARCHITECTURE Tour with John Heropoulos, MDiv.
2pm • Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, Berlin, NH- Led by John Heropoulos, MDiv., retired Greek Orthodox priest.
Thurs, Apr 6: MAUNDY THURSDAY
- SOUP SUPPER & MAUNDY THURSDAY WORSHIP
6pm • Parish Hall of JCC
- Worship at table as communion meal
- Discussion over the meal
- Scripture: Last Supper & Prayers in Gesthemane
- Special song written & performed by Sharon Novak
- Soups prepared by Sue Carrigan & Wendy McVey
- Event hosted by the deacons
- Close with stripping of the altar
Fri, Apr 7: HOLY FRIDAY
- VIGIL on HOLY FRIDAY
Noon-3pm • JCC Sanctuary
- Scripture readings offered aloud in the sanctuary at noon, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm.
- Texts narrate final hours of Christ
- Traditional day to experience Stations of Cross (also offered in sanctuary during this time and throughout Holy Week).
- Virtual stations of the c ross will be posted to Facebook and the website.
- ECUMENICAL WORSHIP for HOLY FRIDAY
6pm • Christ Church Episcopal, North Conway, NH
- Tenebrae service
- Last even words of Christ
- Putting out candles
- Scirpture and song
- This service is offered by Clergy of the Eastern Mountain Slope in Mt Washington Valley.
Sun, Apr 9: EASTER SUNDAY
- SUNRISE EASTER SERVICE
6am • Presidential Drive Cul-de-Sac, Jackson, NH
- In-person only
- Scripture
- Singing
- EASTER WORSHIP with Flowering of Cross @ JCC
10:30am • Jackson Community Church
- Zoom link and password required.
- Featuring harp with Dominique Dodge and special music by Gia Osborne
- Flowering of Cross @ JCC
- HOSPITALITY @ JCC
11:30am • Parish Hall - COMMUNITY EGG HUNT
11am-2pm JCC and around village
Lenten Reflection Day 37 (Mar 30): WRITTEN (Psalm 40:5-10).
SONG: Written in the Stars by Tinie Tempah ft Eric Turner: https://youtu.be/YgFyi74DVjc
POEM:Beatriz Miralles de Imperial, translated by Layla Benitez-James: “I write until my face is erased” – I write until my face is erased / only who I am no longer / can tell me
SECOND POEM:Nabina Das: Anima Writes a Letter Home (excerpt): Dear mother and father and old and young people of my home. Dear pets and weeds and flowers and footfalls. I write to you in a script speckled with time. I write to the language of a poet and many who chanted after her. I quote those verses which are laments, songs, praises, and warnings
QUOTE: Toni Morrison: If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.
Lenten Reflection Day 36 (Mar 29): HERE I AM (Psalm 40:5-10).
SONG: Here I Am by Air Supply: https://youtu.be/B6rXBLRo_GU
POEM:Rumi: Here I Am (excerpt): … In the silence surrounding every call of ‘Allah’
Waits a thousand replies of ‘Here I am.’
QUOTE: Leo Tolstoy: Here I am alive, and it’s not my fault, so I have to try and get by as best I can without hurting anybody until death takes over.