Don’t forget to purchase Easter Lillies to decorate the Church on Easter Sunday. We will set the lillies up on Easter Day and, immediately following the service, you can take them home and enjoy them for weeks to come. Lillies are $18 and may be given in honor of a departed loved one on in thanksgiving for something the Lord has done in your life. Proceeds go to the youth group to off-set the cost of youth events. Contact Lizz Looker for further information.
Category: Uncategorized
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April E-Newsletter and Prayer Calendar Now Availiable On-Line
I have been out of town for a week so not much has happened on the web-page. Now I am back home and the page is back in business. Here is all the news that’s fit to print and the Prayer Calendar for the month as well!
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Answer the Call: All Life Is Sacred
On Tuesday, March 8, the legislative Senate in the Philippines began deliberation on a new Reproductive Health Bill. The bill would greatly expand accessibility of abortions in the Philippines. In response, Archbishop Loren Hines, Primate of the philippines, issued a call for unity throughout the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church. He has called on everyone to:- Pray for the pro-life movement in the Philippines;
- Wear their “All Life Is Sacred” T-shirts or any all black T-shirt throughout Lent;
- Change their Facebook (or other social media) Profile Picture to the image used in this posting.
You may read the full call on CEC Home by following this link.
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Single Moms’, New Bible Studies, and the First Sunday of Lent!
This is another busy weekend at Church of the Messiah. Starting at 10am on Saturday we have the Single Moms’ Bible Study at the home of Lizz Looker. On Sunday morning we will be beginning our Lenten Bible Study series on the Passion of Christ. Fr. Lon Pardee has prepared an intensive study of the last few hours before Our Lord’s death on the Cross. Be sure to join us for that at 9:15 in the Student Union building. Then at 10:30 we will observe the first Sunday of Lent. Many of our men our in DeLand at the men’s Tres Arroyos so be sure to join us Sunday Morning and keep them in your prayers!
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Don’t Forget: Tonight Is Our Ash Wednesday Service
Join us for Ash Wednesday as we observe the beginning of the penitential season of Lent. The service will include a litany of penitence, the imposition of ashes (made from last year’s palms from Palm Sunday), and the Holy Eucharist. The service begins at 7pm in the Sam R. Marks chapel.
We’ll see you there!
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The Patriach’s Lenten Message
Archbishop Craig Bates, the Patriarch of the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church published this pastoral letter this week.
In a few days, the Bishops and Priests of the Charismatic Episcopal Church will call us to a Holy Lent. They will exhort us to self-examination, prayer, confession, fasting, and the study of and meditation upon Holy Scripture. This is not only a season in preparation for our celebration of the Great Paschal Mystery but also a time in and of itself where we become more intensely aware of the awesome grace and mercy of God. We enter into the season aware not only of our sin but also the loving kindness of God.
The journey of Lent is a time to further press in to the love of God. This journey always begins with the recognition of our own mortality – from dust we come and to dust we shall return. This recognition draws us to remember that the God of all creation took on this mortal flesh. And, through obedience and suffering conquered sin, the world and the devil – those forces that war against us in our journey towards His love. And, He is restoring in us the human dignity that was always intended by the Creator.
Around us are constant reminders of man’s inhumanity. We enter the season with reports of a possible genocide in Libya. But this is just one example of the reality of hatred and evil. We think of the number of abortions that were committed last year. There are civil wars that are being waged in so many countries with the accompanying murders and rapes. We are aware of the increasing sex trade industry particularly as that industry impacts minors. We are aware of the vast poverty around the world that brings with it hunger, disease, and crime. And, so often poverty is a result not of lack of resources but greed, corruption, and the un-just distribution of resources.
We are called, as the season of Epiphany taught us, to be “salt and light” in this sinful and fractured world. We were also reminded that the call upon our lives is a life of vulnerability through rejecting violence, embracing love even of our enemies, of absolute truthfulness, and by finding our security not in worldly pursuit and pleasures but in the faithfulness of God – the rock on which we can build our foundation.
Lent then calls us to examine our foundation. We can build our foundation on money, prestige, self-indulgence, or even preaching, healing or wonder-working in Christ’s name. These are not a foundation for life let alone the Kingdom of God. Our foundation must be built on the faithfulness of the Father’s love given to us daily.
The disciplines of Lent are not to toughen us up spiritually. Prayer, Mediation on Scripture, and fasting draw us from the “stuff” of mortality and remind us of our immortality in Christ. They call us for a season to re-examine ourselves and determine if our perspective on life is one of eternity. We may fool others, but God cannot be deceived. He sees the heart as it truly is – with its motives, intentions, desires, and choices.
And, so I call each of us in the CEC to a Holy Lent. Because of the leading of the Holy Spirit we will all come to its conclusion ready to live out the Paschal Mystery in a deeper realization of His love.
Under His mercy,
+Craig, Patriarch
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It Is Time to Start Planning for This Year’s SEP Convocation!
This year’s Southeastern Province Convocation for both clergy and laity is being held June 15-17. The convocation will be held at the Ramada Plaza Beach Resort in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Details of the convocation are forthcoming. However, this is a perfect time to go ahead and reserve your room for the event.
According to Archdeacon Brent Keith of the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, a block of 70 rooms have been reserved for the convocation. Prices per night is as follows:
Beachfront Two Doubles: $159.00
Poolside Two Doubles: $151.00
Courtyard Two Doubles: $135.00
Parking Lot Two Doubles: $127.00These rates are also available for three nights before or after the convocation making it possible to turn this event into a wonderful vacation for the family. You may book the event using the following information below. Be sure to tell them you will be attending to Southeast Province Convocation to be sure to get the reduced room rates.
Ramada Plaza Beach Resort
1500 Miracle Strip Parkway SE
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548
Toll Free 800-472-1790
Hotel Operator 850-243-9161 x 7561
Fax 850-244-5763 -
March E-News Is Available On-Line
The March edition of Church of the Messiah’s monthly newsletter is available here.
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Don’t Forget: This Sunday Is Our Instructed Eucharist!
This Sunday, March 6, for the first time ever on a Sunday morning, we will explain why we do all the things that we do on a Sunday morning service. We will skip the sermon and in stead the service will pause at various points in the service while one of our priests takes a moments and explains the in’s and out’s and up’s and down’s of what is going on.
This is a fantastic opportunity to bring friends to Church, especially if they have come before and had questions that you could not answer. There will be a special annotated bulletin with additional explanations, room to take notes, and even a glossary.
Contact the Church office for further information.