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(printed on bulletin insert on Judica, April 6, 2025) The final stage in our symbolic journey toward Easter is Passiontide. Passiontide (the time of the Passion) begins with Judica, the fifth Sunday in Lent. The crucifixes are covered at the conclusion of the Holy Gospel and the Gloria Patri disappears for a while. A common question may be, “Why do we drape and veil the crucifixes as we get closer to Good Friday, as our attention upon the last hours and the sufferings of Our Lord increases?” We do this because we do not deserve to look upon them. We are not worthy of theRead More →

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(printed on bulletin insert on February 9, 2025) adapted from: Rev. Stefan Michael Gramenz, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Christ the King, Pawling, NY Next Sunday, we will begin the season of Septuagesima, sometimes also called “Gesimatide” or “Pre-Lent,” a period of three Sundays that leads up to Ash Wednesday. Septuagesima is related to the Latin word for “Seventy,” and is roughly seventy days before Easter. The following Sunday is Sexagesima, about sixty days before Easter, and then follows Quinquagesima, about fifty days before Easter. This brief season of the Church’s year looks back to the Biblical account of the Israelites’ seventy-year captivity in exile inRead More →

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(printed on bulletin insert on January 26, 2025) Next week, we will observe The Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Presentation of Our Lord, also known as Candlemas. Whenever you read –mas on the end of a word in a church setting, it’s likely a shortened form of the word Mass, such as in Christ Mass being Christmas. So technically, next Sunday could be referred to as The Candle Mass of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Presentation of Our Lord. First, the most important aspect of this particular feast day, this Candle Mass, is that itRead More →

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(printed on bulletin insert on December 15, 2024) The name “Ember Days” has nothing to do with how we commonly use the word ember in modern-day English, meaning hot-burning coals or remnants of a fire. The origin of the Church’s use of the word for these days comes from Old English Ymbrendaeg, which translated simply means recurring days. For the Church, these are quarterly sets of “Ember” days that are set aside every year with a focus on the Christian disciplines of prayer and fasting for the sake of godly preparation. Ember Days happen four times per year on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after:Read More →

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(printed on bulletin insert on November 24, 2024) As the final Sundays bring another Church Year to its end and Advent again leads in a new one, a number of opportunities re-present themselves to you for the deepening of your faith and your daily devotional life. We know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17) This means that not only is faith created by the Holy Spirit using the Word to awaken dead hearts, but that by the Word He sustains and grows the faith that He gives. Daily devotion to the Scriptures is an essential joy inRead More →