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Sunday, April 4, 2021
Easter Sunday
Scripture Lessons:
Acts 10:34-43 and Mark 16:1-8
The Rev. Dr. Dennis Calhoun's Sermon:
"You Go Ahead"
We will be holding a Sunrise worship service at 6am at Old Burial Hill and Easter Sunday worship service in the parking lot beginning at 10am.
This week's worship video will be posted by 8am this Sunday.
Please click here on Sunday morning to view the service.
Please click here for a copy of the bulletin.
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Holy Week Worship Schedule
Maundy Thursday (April 1)
Our Maundy Thursday Service will be on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/c/OldNorthChurchMarblehead) and Facebook (Friends of Old North Church) at 7pm today (and available for replay afterwards). We will share communion during the service; have some bread (or cracker, pita, cookie) to break, and some wine (or juice, seltzer, tea) to drink as we remember the Last Supper.
Easter Sunday (April 4)
Sunrise Service 6am, Old Burial Hill, Marblehead
Join us for a brief service, as we remember the women coming to Jesus' tomb early on the first day of the week, when it was still dark, and finding it empty. Masks will be worn and social distancing will be observed.
Easter Worship 10am, online
and Facebook (Friends of Old North Church) at 10am, and available for replay afterwards. We will share communion during the service; have some bread (or cracker, pita, cookie) to break, and some wine (or juice, seltzer, tea) to drink.
Easter Worship 10am, Parking Lot at 8 Stacey Street
We will gather for a drive-in service at the Old North Church parking lot, including live brass music, prayers, scripture readings, sermon, and communion. We will provide the communion elements to you in a handy and hygienic pre-packaged kit. You can drive in and tune your car radio to 89.3 to hear the service, and gather for fellowship (masked and distanced) afterwards.
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Special Music for Holy Week
Special music has been provided by several guest artists to enhance our Holy Week services.
Phoebe Carrai, baroque cellist, performed two movements from the unaccompanied cello suites by J. S. Bach (1685-1750), by candlelight in the Old North sanctuary. Phoebe performed on an instrument made by an anonymous Italian builder ca. 1690. Hearing these extraordinary pieces played on an instrument from Bach’s own time is profoundly moving. To learn more about this extraordinary musician please follow this link: https://www.phoebecarrai.com/bio
The Maundy Thursday service concludes with the singing of Were you There? by soloists Holly Cameron, soprano; Stephanie Scarcella, mezzo-soprano; Matthew Arnold, tenor, and Luke Scott, bass.
The Online Easter Service will feature a trombone quartet who recorded in the Old North sanctuary, socially distanced, and following strict Covid-19 guidelines. They provided prelude and postlude music, a meditation, and accompanied two Easter Hymns.
Another special musical offering for our Online service will be a professionally produced virtual choir of our youth choir singing, Every Valley Needs a Lily. There will also be a recording of a live performance of the Old North Festival Chorus and orchestra in 2011 singing, Handel’s, Hallelujah Chorus. The visuals for this recording will include many faces from the Old North Choir and Festival Chorus who joined in singing along to this soundtrack during a recent Zoom meeting!
Our guest trombone quartet will return on Easter Sunday to play “live” on the patio outside Stacey Street for our 10am Parking lot service. Prelude music will begin at 9:45. There will be a festive Easter hymn to start the service and a joyful postlude at the end. The ensemble includes Peter Charig, Michael Tybursky, Charles Morris, and Gabriel Rice. Peter and Gabe perform regularly at Old North for concerts and services.
Thanks to the generosity of so many individuals who contribute to the Music Patrons Fund here at Old North, all of the very special music this season has been made possible. We are deeply grateful.
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Old North Church Children’s Faith Formation Committee
Invites You to Participate in
The Second Annual Easter Egg Hunt with a Twist!
This hunt will satisfy the guidelines of Social Distancing and will not require any personal contact or item sharing.
This Easter Egg hunt is a visual scavenger hunt. Participants “hiding” the eggs have been asked to place their egg as visible from the street as possible. Light posts, fence posts, mailboxes are all good locations to look!
We ask that “hunters” stay in their cars or remain on sidewalks if walking. Each Egg will be numbered. There will be no corresponding order of Egg numbers to addresses. You will find your Easter Egg Hunt list below. Participants in the hunt will record the egg number with the corresponding address. For example: 2 Thomas Circle, egg #4 This is a soft participation Egg hunt and is designed as a self guided activity. Bragging rights only for prizes. Egg ‘Hiders” should make their egg visibly available from 10:00 am to Sundown on Sunday April 4th.
This idea was inspired by one of our wonderful children, but it is not only for children. This Easter Egg hunt is for All. If you have questions about participating in searching please contact James Horgan via email Horgan49@gmail.com or by text 781-799-9146.
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WEEKLY Worship on the Church Parking Lot
As we continue to wait patiently for the time we can safely rejoin for in-person worship in the Old North Church sanctuary, we are happy to expand our parking lot service to a weekly offering.
We’ll gather each week at 10 am on the church parking lot for a service of worship. The service will be broadcast on the FM radio band, so worshipers can remain in the cars. As the weather warms, people are invited to bring lawn chairs and enjoy the sunshine!
We are also planning to begin our services at the Lighthouse earlier this Spring. Watch this space for details.
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Stewardship Season Update
By now you have received our annual stewardship appeal. Despite all the changes in church life due to the pandemic, the challenge of financing our mission and ministry remains. We hope you are able to continue your support of Old North Church as you have in the past, and we encourage you to return your pledge card to the church office, or pledge online at your earliest convenience. As of April 1, we have received 232 pledges for 2021, totaling $413,607.
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Donate Some Stimulus Money to ONC's Mission Partners
Do you want to share some of your stimulus check with neighbors in need during this season? A group of Old North Church members are hoping to do just that. If you have some extra to spare, we'd love for you to donate it to an organization that is doing good in the world (some of the ones our Outreach Ministry Board Supports are listed below--or you can choose your own!) We'd love for you to anonymously tell us how much you donated, so we can keep track of our impact as a church--and you can do that at bit.ly/oncdonate
Marblehead Food Pantry -- send a check to ONC and designate Food Pantry in memo line.
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April is Old North's Month to Stock the Food Pantry
COVID has changed our lives in so many ways, one of them being the way we support the Marblehead Food Pantry. With all the restrictions that were put in place in 2020 we launched a campaign of requesting $ donations instead of individual bags of produce. This proved to be highly successful thanks to your generous support. April, our month of stocking the Marblehead Food Pantry shelves, is here again and once more we are hopeful that we will be successful in feeding our neighbors who are facing hard times. Donations may be sent to Old North Church (with Marblehead Food Pantry written in the memo) at 8 Stacey Street, Marblehead MA 01945. A team of shoppers will then purchase goods on a weekly basis, fulfilling the very specific needs of the Pantry. For further information please contact Lynda Hare (Hares8carrots@hotmail.com).
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Outreach Ministry Board Update - RAW Art
Your Outreach Ministry Board encourages our church members to make direct donations to the organizations our committee funds biannually. That is especially true after a year of Covid, when so many of them are facing special needs as they adapt to a regular loss of income.
One of our organizations that depends on large public events to meet their fundraising goals is RAW Art Works in Lynn. RAW offers an exceptional program that provides free afterschool classes with art therapists for kids who often face difficult life situations. RAW provides them with the materials to inspire their creativity as well as a safe haven to meet with their
peers and teachers. Because it is still not possible to hold large public fundraisers, a special short term campaign is underway to help specific groups at RAW. I am currently supporting a group of middle school aged girls called Art 4 Girls. If you would like to help these kids whose lives are transformed by their RAW experience, please go to the link below and make a donation.
Thank you, Ginny von Rueden, Outreach Ministry Board
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It's Time for an Update!
The Community Life Ministry Board invites you to help us with an update to the Church Directory. The last one was issued in 2018 and we all know that much has changed since then. Several members of CLMB will be calling or emailing the 500+ friends and members of ONC between now and the end of April to verify and/or update telephone, address and email information. We plan to gather all of the updated information by May 1, print over the summer and distribute when we, hopefully, return in person in the fall. This project is a big undertaking especially because we want to complete this update in-house in order to save on printing expenses. Therefore, we're asking everyone to be as helpful as possible by taking our calls, returning voicemail requests, and responding to email requests when asked. If you have any questions or would like to give us your information before you're contacted, please call or email either:
Thanks in advance for all your cooperation.
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Old North Book Discussion Group
Wednesday, April 14th, 8:30-10:00 am
The next meeting of the Old North Reading and Discussion Group on Preserving our Democracy and Environment will be on Wednesday, April 14th, from 8:30 to 10:00 AM via Zoom. This is the latest of a series of meetings on preservation of our democracy and environment that have been hosted for all by the ONC Men’s Group. The discussions are supported by background reading assignments. You are invited to participate regardless of the amount of reading you have done or whether you have attended a previous meeting. At this meeting we will continue discussing the paper by Shoshana Zuboff, “The Coup We are Not Talking About”, NY Times, 29 January 2021, and Prof. Zuboff’s book, The age of Surveillance Capitalism, 4 Oct 2018. Frank Kashner has volunteered to lead the discussion of this important material.
To join the Zoom meeting on Apr 14, click on the URL
For telephone audio, dial 1 929 205 6099 (New York).
Meeting ID: 828 0900 7043; Passcode: 333465.
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Nominating 2021
Recall that ONC’s formal organization structure consists of Officers, a Leadership Board, and four active Ministry Boards (Christian Formation, Community Life, Outreach, and Prudential). The Leadership Board and Ministry Boards each have 8 lay members from our congregation, all endorsed by congregational vote. All officer positions are filled for the coming church program year (2021-2022). However, we have a few openings on the Leadership Board; and, we will likely have a few openings on the ministry boards. If you are interested in serving on any board or have questions about other service opportunities, please contact Dave Hostetter, Nominating Committee, by email (daveh.racer@gmail.com) or phone (781-631-3216).
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Anti-Racism Accountability Group
A group of Old North Church folks are committing to get together regularly to hold ourselves accountable to doing anti-racism work in our own lives. This will be a time for sharing and accountability about how we are participating in the work Jesus calls us to do in unraveling white supremacy--whether that's confronting racist language in our families and friends, supporting Black organizers in the local area, immersing ourselves in learning from people of color, or many other things. We're still figuring this out, and we'd love for you to be on the journey with us.
Join us via this Zoom Link:
Meeting ID: 886 2749 7066
We meet the first and third Monday of each month at 7pm. Our upcoming meetings are April 5 and April 19.
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Ways to Connect With Us During the Week
So that we might stay connected, we've set up several times throughout the week to gather on Zoom. You can join from a computer, iphone, or ipad using the links below, or you can call +1 929 205 6099 and enter the meeting ID (listed with each event).
Lectio Divina (Tuesdays 9am)
A time of contemplative prayer, with scripture and poetry, led by Dennis.
Breakfast Group (Fridays 8am)
A time to gather with one another, with your breakfast and coffee.
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Church Building Access and Office Hours
We are limiting access to the church and office buildings to critical business needs only. Our office is closed for normal business but some of our staff are in periodically to ensure that critical operations are maintained. Please reach out to us via email at office@onchurch.org if you have any questions. Thank you for staying home and staying safe!
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Do You Need Assistance? Here are some Resources.
We are sharing a list of resources which Gordon Lothrop thoughtfully shared with us from the Marblehead Masonic Lodge.
List of Resources
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Swampscott Council on Aging: click here
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Marblehead Council on Aging: click here
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Marblehead Community Support Forum: click here
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Nahant Council on Aging: click here
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Anchor Food Pantry Swampscott: click here
- The Nahant Veteran’s Food Bank operates the first Wednesday of the month for veterans living in Nahant.
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Marblehead Food Pantry, 80 Atlantic Ave. (781)631-5335: click here
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Town of Marblehead: click here
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Town of Swampscott: click here
- Churches
- Synagogues
- Schools
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Contact Us: 781-631-1244
Church Address: 35 Washington St., Marblehead, MA 01945
Mailing Address: 8 Stacey St. Marblehead, MA 01945
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