Edgewood Congregational Church
United Church of Christ
1788 Broad Street, Cranston, Rhode Island 02905
401-461-1344
www.worshipatedgewood.org


LENTEN PROGRAMS

Lent comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word which means “to lengthen” and refers to spring when the days get longer and longer. Christianity took this spring season of almost seven weeks from Ash Wednesday and turned it into a time of preparation of the heart and mind for Easter joy. It was a time in the early church when new converts prepared for their baptism and becoming Christians at the Easter festival. Lent for these new Christians was marked by study, prayer and self-denial (fasting) more than for other Christians who only fasted during Holy Week. But by the fourth century, more and more Christians saw the time as a ‘refresher course’ for them also and many sponsors and mentors of the baptismal candidates joined them in the Lenten disciplines.

It was in the sixth century in Gaul, present day France, that the rite of Ash Wednesday originated and spread to England and Italy in the ninth century and then on to Germany and Spain. The oldest Lenten sermons that have survived stressed mutual forgiveness, recommitment to private prayer and public worship, self-discipline in personal luxury and comfort, and generosity to the poor. Abstinence from certain foods became a means both of self-control and remembering the needy. But through all the changes of the centuries, Lent’s purpose was, and still is, the sanctity of the people of God, a season of renewal, a “springtime of the soul” so that we might come to Easter glad and free. (The above history was found and used in Woodridge Church’s newsletter by their pastor, Rev. Charles Simonson.)

For a list of our services and special studies here at Edgewood Church this year, please see inside.



SERVICES OF WORSHIP

Ash Wednesday

February 17, 2010

We will offer two services in the Chapel –12:00 and 7:00 p.m. Communion will be served, and ashes will be available for those who wish to receive them.

Lenten Sundays--February 21 & 28, March 7, 14, & 21

These five Sundays will follow the lectionary while also introducing themes of forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation. Meditative songs from the Taizé retreat center will be incorporated. Communion will be celebrated on March 7. All these services begin at 10 a.m., followed by social time.

Healing Service--March 9

(A full schedule of all healing services taking place in March will be available.)

In concert with clergy in the greater Cranston area, we will offer a service of healing on Tuesday, March 9, at 7 p.m. The service will incorporate the reading of scripture, prayers, music, and anointing and the laying on of hands for those who wish it.

Palm Sunday--March 28

A special Palm Sunday service will include elements of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his passion. Palms will be distributed.

Maundy Thursday--April 1

A service of Tennebrae, from the Latin term for shadows, will be held at 7 p.m. with special music, scripture readings. and extinguishing of candles.

Easter Sunrise Service--April 4

With First Congregational Church, UCC, and St. Rita’s RC Church, we will hold a service at Oakland Beach at
7 a.m. with music, readings, and tableau of the disciples around a fire with a boat pulled up on the sand.

Easter Service--April 4

Our own Easter celebration of the resurrection will be held at 10 a.m. followed by an Easter egg hunt on the lawn.


SPECIAL STUDIES

What in God’s Name Are You Doing?

A four-week program to explore one’s gifts will be offered February 22,
March 1, 8 & 22 (no class on 15th)

Gifts Program

Based on the assumptions that every Christian pastor and lay person has Spirit-given gifts for ministry, that effective churches are gift-based, not duty-based, and that the laity are called to be active participants, not observers, this program will help participants reflect on their lives, their hopes and dreams and explore with each other where God is leading them. Each person will receive a workbook. Sessions will be offered Mondays from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

The sessions will be led by Reverend Betsy. Pleaselet her know if you plan to attend so she will have enough workbooks prepared.

Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible

A six-week book study will be offered on February 24 & March 3, 10, 17, 24, & 31

Author M. Daniel Carroll R. has written this book about the people caught up in the issue of immigration and transforms it from a debate to a dialogue. He writes from his own experience as a Guatemalan-American pastor and will cause us to examine our own family roots. We will meet Wednesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. and will read and discuss the text together. The sessions will be co-led by our Mission Deacon Stella Martin and Rev. Betsy Garland. Please let us know if you plan to attend so we can order the appropriate number of books.


The Reverend Betsy Aldrich Garland, Interim Minister
Brenda Farrell Muoio, Organist
Alan Birch, Worship Deacon
Wendy Sullivan, Administrative Assistant