This Week at St Timothy's | February 28, 2017

THE BEGINNING OF LENT

Shrove Tuesday and Charlie Lovett Book Launch

SHROVE TUESDAY PANCAKES followed by
CHARLIE LOVETT’S NEW BOOK LAUNCH
Tuesday, February 28
5:30-6:45pm: Pancake Supper in Drake Hall - Dinner Music by the Holt Trio
6:45-7pm: Book signing in Narthex
7pm: Book Launch in Nave

New York Times Bestselling author and St. Tim's member Charlie Lovett will share his new novel The Lost Book of the Grail at a launch event co-hosted with Bookmarks. Set in an English Cathedral, the Lost Book of the Grail is Lovett's third novel and features a missing medieval manuscript, a mystery involving the Holy Grail, and two protagonists that couldn't be more different—an old fashioned Englishman who loves books and a young American who has come to the cathedral to digitize the collection of ancient manuscripts. Publisher's Weekly called the book "thoroughly entertaining." Kirkus Reviews said it has " . . . a distinct Masterpiece Theatre Flavor."

Charlie's publisher, Viking Books, wrote: "Imbued with reverence and mythical storytelling, The Lost Book of the Grail is a mystery of the kind that’s wildly popular in the entertainment world—think Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and National Treasure, not to mention Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code —yet deeply ruminates on timeless themes like faith, perceived truth, and how the past has informed the present day. Here Lovett provides a wholly entertaining story that will not only make you smile and laugh, but also think—prompting readers to reconsider the important roles that spirituality, family, and, yes, reading, play in their lives."

The evening will feature a presentation by Charlie, choral music by the St. Timothy's Choristers, and a display of actual medieval manuscripts from the rare book collection at Wake Forest. Books will be for sale and a signing will follow the presentation. The event is free and open to the public, so bring your friends.

ASH WEDNESDAY

The Holy Season of Lent is upon us. During these forty days before Easter, we are called by the Church to examine ourselves, discipline our will, and confess our sins. Lent is austere and demanding, which is why I think so many of us are drawn to it without fully understanding why. In the competitive world in which we live, the bar is constantly lowered to grab our attention and for our convenience. While on some level, we are grateful for this, deep down in the places where we process the meaning of the things, I think we long for something more. We long for something to challenge and make us more.

When we fall and seek his forgiveness, God's mercy is limitless. Yet He does not lower the bar. The season of Lent is where we experience both the grace and the grit of spiritual transformation. The Church invites us the observance of a Holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance, prayer, fasting, self-denial, and reading and meditating on God’s holy Word (BCP, 265). To make a right beginning, we are given Ash Wednesday to remind us of our mortality, sin, the need for repentance, and the forgiveness that flows from God’s mercy.

I ask you not to give in to the lowering of the bar (which is the seduction of the Devil), but rise up by first going down to our knees in prayer and humility. Let us rise up by submitting to the disciplines of Lent. Let us rise up by going down to the darkness with Our Lord. ~ Fr Steve Rice

Download a copy of "Keeping a Holy Lent at St Timothy's".

Since we are called to self-denial and fasting, especially on Ash Wednesday, there will not be a parish dinner before the mass.

Liturgies for Ash Wednesday

8:00am | Morning Prayer, Side Chapel

8:15am | Low Mass with Imposition of Ashes (no music), Side Chapel

12:00pm | Low Mass with Imposition of Ashes (music), Church

4:45pm | Evening Prayer, Side Chapel

5:00pm | Rosary and Shrine Prayers

6:30pm | Sung Mass with Imposition of Ashes, Church (nursery provided)

Shrine Lamp Sponsorships for March

All of our shrine lamps are open for sponsorship. They are $25 for a month's sponsorship. We've also added an additional lamp next to St Michael in the Law Enforcement Chapel. We've (hopefully) found an easier way to sponsor a lamp or lamps. Click here and you can choose which lamp and which month. Then go back to the poll and click the link in the description for the payment page. If it's all a bit confusing, email Chris Ervin or Fr Steve.