Christ Church of Hamilton & Wenham
cordially invite you to attend
The Celebration of a New Ministry
at which
The Right Reverend M. Thomas Shaw,SSJE, Bishop of Massachusetts will institute The Reverend Patrick Terrell Gray as Rector of Christ Church
Sunday, the third day of June,
two thousand twelve
at six o'clock in the evening
Christ Church (Episcopal)
149 Asbury Street
South Hamilton, MA 01982
Your prayers and presence are requested
Reception following
- Maundy Thursday: 7:30 pm, Solemn Eucharist with foot washing and the stripping of the altar
- Good Friday: 7:30 pm, The Solemn Liturgy of the Passion, veneration of the cross, and communion of the pre-sanctified
- Saturday: 7:30 pm, The Great Vigil of Easter, Holy Baptism, and the First Eucharist of Easter
Pelikan, George Wingate, and Christen Yates are among the artists who are contributing to the Annual Parish Art Show. Come meet the artists at the receptions following the 9:00 and 11:00 services in the PCR. Here are a lot of items for your calendar for Sunday, January 29.
INSTRUCTED EUCHARIST: At all three morning services, we will have an instructed Eucharist, which consists of "narration" (instead of a sermon) of what and why we do what we do throughout the course of the service. Come and have your liturgical questions answered.
BISHOP GAYLE HARRIS VISITS THE PARISH: Bishop Harris will celebrate Eucharist, Rite II, in the Chapel at 4:00 p.m. This service will also be a kick off to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Parish.
PARISH DINNER & ANNUAL MEETING: We will have a beautiful all-parish candlelit pot luck dinner at 5:30 p.m. Sunday evening, January 29, preceding the Annual Meeting at 6:30p.m. This has been a really lovely occasion the past two years. You are welcome to attend both the dinner and the meeting (non-voting capacity) whether you are a member or not. Please bring something delicious to share with your fellow parishioners - main dish, salad, vegetable, or dessert.
There will be childcare in the Guild Room from 4:00 - 8:30 p.m. during the service, dinner (parents will be responsible for feeding their children) and the annual meeting. If you are available to help with set up, either after the 11:00 a.m. service or at 3:00 p.m. that day, please get in touch with Robin Davis, 978-468-2060.
(You could easily make a day of it at Christ Church - there is Bible and Breakfast at 9pm, along with a slate of refreshments after the 9am service, and ham at 12:15, following the 11am service.)
After Alpha, what next? "A Life Worth Living" is a 9-week Bible Study of Philippians, taught by Nicky Gumble on DVD, followed by small group discussion and prayer. We will be starting the course this Tuesday, January 17, meeting in the Preston Cutler Room. There will be two sessions, one at 3:00 PM in the afternoon, and the other at 7:00 PM in the evening. Please contact one of the facilitators if you are planning to come.
These groups, if not specifically focused on some other topic, are lectionary-based Bible studies, but all groups have aspects of fellowship and prayer. Want to learn more? Please contact the listed facilitator:
Parents (at Christ Church Rectory) - Weekly on Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. - Father Patrick
Women (in Essex) - Weekly on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. - Nancy Mering
Enon Village (in Wenham) - Weekly at 6 p.m. (Day TBD) - Bill Kerr
Men (at Christ Church) - Bi-Weekly on Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. - Paul Mason (This group meets next on January 21st)
Great Literature (Flannery O'Connor short stories) - Weekly on Mondays at 7 p.m. (starting on January 23rd with "A Good Man Is Hard to Find") - Carolyn Kerr
In process:
Book of Common Prayer Exploration - Bi-Weekly - Day and time TBD - David Bergquist
Young Adults - Weekly - Day and time TBD
** Change of Service Time **
Beginning on Sunday, January 8th, our third Sunday service will begin at 11:00 a.m. Having further tweeked the morning's schedule, this will still allow for the same amount of time for church school and adult education, which was the goal when we tried the 11:15 time.
Adult Education at 10:05 a.m. in the Parish Hall. This Sunday, Fr. Bob Friedrich will present "Ritual Notes" - A Walk through the Holy Eucharist, Explaining as We Go: Why does the priest do what she or he does?, and Why do we do what we do? The Rev. Dr. Robert Friedrich is an Assisting Priest at Christ Church, has been ordained 38 years, has served as a Rector and Chaplain around the country, and is currently a Hospice Chaplain in Massachusetts with Beacon Hospice.
On the Seven Whole Days website, there was an article related to Episcopal churches and dioceses to take up The Bible Challenge, reading the entire Bible in a single year. Are we game for the challenge? Go to the official website to find out more. (Photo: bradleyscott101, photobucket.com)
This Sunday, November 27th, please come to the Preston Cutler Room to choose an Angel from the Christmas Tree. This special ministry provides Christmas gifts to children of incarcerated parents on their behalf. It shows the work of Christ by forming connections between parent and child that can be lost in these circumstances and for some children, these gifts may be all they receive this Christmas. Please choose an angel for a gift selection and return the wrapped gift with the angel attached by December 11th. If you would like to help deliver the gifts to Beverly, Salem, Lynn and Haverhill, please call Lisa Bukkhegyi at 978-468-6621.
The Lego Club at Christ Church meets on Mondays, from 3:15-4:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall. This free club is open to children in pre-Kindergarten through Fifth Grade, with a parent or caregiver.
Photo: letterpress printing using Legos, from the Students of Design website.
A reporter participated in the last session of the "Lazarus at the Gate" group, which met on Sundays during Lent. His article recently appeared on the Religion News Service, and was immediately picked up by the Huffington Post. The article can be found at
St. Paul uses the metaphor of the human body to describe the Body of Christ...the Church...and its disparate yet knit together parts. Our Parish By-laws, recently approved at the annual parish meeting and subsequently by the Standing Committee of the Diocese, are integral to that metaphor as well. We, Christ Church of Hamilton & Wenham, are both part of the larger Body of Christ and is itself a unique Christian community. It is made up of disparate parts yet is called to function as one. Our By-laws contribute to that effort. They are sort of the sinews of our body. And since our By-laws had not been revised for several decades, and since we are very much a new community, it was time to revise and update them to reflect the growing and strengthening direction on which we are now embarked. Refer to them from time-to-time in that spirit should you, as a member of the Church, the Body of Christ, have questions about us, Christ Church of Hamilton and Wenham. (read the amended bylaws)
Be sure to check out the articles about Episcopal City Tutoring on the Episcopal News Service (Episcopal City Tutoring improves students' prospects through parish partnerships), and the online news journal, at Patch.com page (Episcopal City Tutoring Locally Helps Students in Dorchester). In case you missed them, articles also appeared earlier in the Salem News (Churches Hope to Learn from Each Other) and the Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle (Test Prep Course Serves a Greater Good).
Kali Reynolds and Eric Hillegas are updating this website with new information and photos, so watch this space.