Author Archives: ststephensmckeesport

Holy Week services 2017

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Maundy Thursday services will be held at 6:30 p.m. with an agape meal, followed by the liturgy and the stripping of the altar.

It is part of the Triduum, or three holy days before Easter. It comes from the Latin mandatum novum, “new commandment,” from Jn 13:34. The ceremony of washing feet was also referred to as “the Maundy.” Maundy Thursday celebrations also commemorate the institution of the eucharist by Jesus “on the night he was betrayed.” Source

Good Friday liturgy will be at 12 noon.

The Friday before Easter Day, on which the church commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus. It is a day of fasting and special acts of discipline and self-denial. The liturgy of the day includes John’s account of the Passion gospel, a solemn form of intercession known as the solemn collects (dating from ancient Rome), and optional devotions before the cross (commonly known as the veneration of the cross). Source

Easter Sunday celebrations will be at 8 and 10 a.m.

The feast of Christ’s resurrection. According to Bede, the word derives from the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess Eostre. Christians in England applied the word to the principal festival of the church year, both day and season. Easter Day is the annual feast of the resurrection, the pascha or Christian Passover, and the eighth day of cosmic creation. Faith in Jesus’ resurrection on the Sunday or third day following his crucifixion is at the heart of Christian belief. Source

Please join us downstairs in the undercroft following the 10 a.m. Easter Sunday service for tea and cookies!

God is ready for resurrection — are you?

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Excerpted from Father Dave’s sermon on Feb. 26, 2017, the last Sunday of Epiphany:

At the end of Black History Month, I was watching a program which traced some of the evolution — to date — of the lie and sin which is racism, and the very slow healing of that sin.

One aspect of that sin of which I am aware, but have become more deeply aware, is the ironic presence of that sin within the Church.

I’ve always been fascinated by our history. We brought men and women from Africa almost as if we were herding cattle. Yet the black persons we treated so cruelly found within the faith we proclaimed a liberating faith of their own, and celebrated it — often in secret — with a joy and strength that, at times, embarrasses me.

Perhaps that’s why Christianity came to bring faith and healing to those we treated as less than God’s children. We preached it, they lived it! Continue reading →

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry visits Pittsburgh, McKeesport during revival tour

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Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Dorsey McConnell, far left; the Rev. Lorena Ringle; Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Stephanie Spellers, canon to the presiding bishop for evangelism, reconciliation and creation, helped close out the revival with Eucharist at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in McKeesport. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

By the Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg
Episcopal News Service

The old church tradition of the revival received new life in the Diocese of Pittsburgh Feb. 3-5 with a distinctly Episcopal feel.

The emphasis was on both sparking individuals’ faith lives and a commitment to show the love of Jesus beyond the four walls of their churches. Anchoring Episcopal revivals in the needs of the world was a constant theme of the weekend.

“Episcopal Church, we need you to follow Jesus. We need you to be the countercultural people of God who would love one another, who would care when others could care less, who would give, not take,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said during his Feb. 5 sermon at Calvary Episcopal Church in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Continue reading →