Starting Sunday, April 28th, Church of the Messiah invites you to join us as we celebrate the holiest week of the entire year! Holy Week commemorates the final week of Jesus Christ’s life on earth before His betrayal, death, and glorious Resurrection on Easter Sunday. We will be marking the incredible events with special, once-a-year church services that will help you grow closer to The Lord and experience Easter like never before!
Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. Our service begins at 10 o’clock on Sunday morning, April 28th. Palm Sunday commemorates the Triumphal Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem when the people of the city waved palm branches and cried out “Hosanna” as Jesus entered the city. Our services will begin outside the sanctuary where we will bless palm branches and then process into the sanctuary together in memory of Our Lord’ Triumphal Entry. We will also have a special reading of the Passion Gospel and other surprises to commemorate this historic day.
Holy Week continues on April 1st with our observance of Maundy Thursday. “Maundy” is derived from the Latin word “Mandatum” and refers to Our Lord’s command to “do this in remembrance of Me” when He instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper. The service will begin at 7 o’clock in the evening and contains two unique and powerfully stirring moments. The first is where the priests volunteer to wash the feet of those who choose to participate in memory of Our Lord washing the feet of the Apostles at the Last Supper. The second is the Stripping of the Altar as a sacramental sign and symbol of Christ’s betrayal and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. You will not want to miss this moving and powerful service.
We remember Our Lord’s Passion and Death on Good Friday, April 2nd. This service begins at noon and lasts until 3 o’clock in memory of the three hours Our Lord was on the Holy Cross. During these three hours, we hear the Passion Gospel, meditations from different speakers on the seven last words of Our Lord, moving worship presentations, and participate in the Veneration of the Cross. Many people say that the Good Friday service is their favorite service of the entire year! This year we are blessed to have the Patriarch of the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church, Archbishop Craig Bates, deliver one of our meditations.
We will be observing Holy Saturday this year by praying the Liturgy for the Pre-Born outside A Woman’s Choice (click HERE for a map), one of our local abortion clinics. The Liturgy for the Pre-Born is a set of prayers that combine prayers to end abortion throughout the world with the traditional Last Rites prayed when someone is near the moment of death. On a day that we remember Christ laying in the tomb, we will be praying for those innocent children who will be killed in this holy season. We will be praying for them, for the repentance and conversion of all involved in their deaths, and for an end to abortion in American and throughout the world. This is the only service of Holy Week that will not be held at Church of the Messiah. The Liturgy will begin at 8 o’clock on Saturday morning, April 3rd.
Finally, on April 4th, we celebrate Easter Sunday at 10 o’clock with the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord! All of Holy Week has been building to this celebration and we pull out all the stops as we rejoice in Jesus’ victory over death and the grave. We invite you to join us as we have special presentations for our youth and children, fabulous worship time, and incredible fellowship at the Table of the Lord. After the service, all of the children are invited to participate in an Easter Egg Hunt as well!
All of our services will be held in the sanctuary of Fort Caroline Presbyterian Church (click HERE for a map) where we have ample room for social distancing. For more information on our pandemic precautions, visit our COVID-19 Precautions Page. All of our services will be live streamed on Church of the Messiah’s Facebook page for those who are unable to attend in person. We invite everyone to join with us as we relive these powerful moments in the final week of Christ’s life before His death and Glorious Resurrection.
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely
more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from
generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus
for ever and ever. Amen.Ephesians 3:20,21
Last March, I was in San Clemente, California, with the Primates Council members and their wives. We had a great gathering, and the Lord spoke to us in so many ways. At the time, we were hearing about this “Coronavirus” that apparently was in China and Europe and perhaps spreading to the United States. Little did we know at the time what that “danger” and “spreading” was all about. When we returned home, suddenly, there was talk about a “lockdown” and the shutting down of entire countries in Europe, and we in the United States were soon to follow. That shutdown happened. We were told the shutdown would be 15 days to flatten the curve so that hospitals could handle the overwhelming numbers of people admitted.
We also heard about “essential services” and “non-essential services.” Grocery stores were essential, and guidelines were given for those who needed to shop. Elderly people even had special times to shop. Of course, healthcare workers, police officers, emergency personnel, sanitation workers, pharmacists, and others were considered essential, and indeed they were.
Then there were the lists of non-essentials that ranged from “gyms” to restaurants and bars. Most small retail shops or barbershops and hair salons were non-essential. Churches were considered non-essential, and still, in many states, churches face restrictions on the number of people who can occupy their buildings. For sacramental churches, like the CEC, that meant there were no Eucharists, no baptisms, no weddings, no funerals, no last rites at the hospitals (clergy were even forbidden to visit dying parishioners), or any other sacramental rite available to the people of God. Thank the Lord for the internet, as the churches could go virtual and minister to the people. The Church established an online presence. But, while churches were considered non-essential abortion, clinics were deemed essential. While medical procedures and other medical services were put on hold as non-essential, abortion was a procedure that was deemed to be essential.
The pandemic put life and death before us. As the numbers of hospitalized patients and those dying from COVID increased, we faced a new pandemic of “fear.” On the positive side, we became deeply concerned about the vulnerable among us in nursing homes, long-term living facilities, assisted living centers, and senior living facilities. Thousands died in these facilities, and the medical community told us outright that the elderly were most at risk and most likely not to survive the virus. The elderly who lived at home were advised to avoid contact with their children and grandchildren. Contact with an asymptomatic child could result in being infected and death. Those who are isolated from the community’s daily life were now even more isolated to be protected from this virus of death.
It is good that soon a vaccine will be available. Healthcare workers and these seniors in facilities will be the first to receive the vaccine, followed by senior citizens who have underlying health issues. Soon those with other diseases will receive treatment. And perhaps our hearts will be changed in our appreciation for the elderly among us. Hopefully, the Church will be awakened to the concerns of our elderly.
Throughout it all, abortion clinics, however, remained open. Abortion clinics were an “essential service.” While society rightfully cared for the elderly, they ignored the preborn — innocent little children who rely totally on others for their protection and life. These babies were still disposable. While politicians ran for office on the handling or mishandling of the Coronavirus, there was little concern or even awareness that some of the candidates ran on a platform that advocated the right to abort a baby up to the moment of birth, and, even in some cases, to allow a baby to die after birth.
The Church is always called to be present during human suffering with the message of life. Our faith is based on a God who suffered among us. It is right and a good thing that many churches ministered to those suffering from COVID. It is also right and good that the Church advocates for the poor, the widow, the fatherless, the single mothers, the disenfranchised, the homeless, the hungry, those in prison, immigrants, and those seeking freedom from tyranny. These are pro-life concerns. The Church needs to proclaim life into these situations, or as some say, we have a ministry of life from the womb to the tomb.
During the pandemic, we continue to have concern for everyone who is at risk, who has the disease, and especially those who mourn the death of a loved one because of the disease. We mourn the loss of almost 300,000 who have died from COVID and pray the new vaccine will end this horror. We continue to preach life and not give in to a fear of death.
Yet, we must also continue to cry out with a loud voice for the preborn babies’ right to life. As of this year, almost 40,000,000 abortions were performed worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. That is 125,000 babies a day. In the United States, roughly 3,000 preborn babies die every day at the hands of abortionists. We are told that 22% of all pregnancies in American end in abortion. There are more babies aborted in parts of New York City than brought to a full-term pregnancy and birth. We cannot get quality of life if we continue to destroy life. Death cannot be a solution to injustice or oppression. That is not good news.
A great deal of progress has been made over the past few years in bringing about change and saving babies’ lives. Abortion clinics continue to close, and some states could soon become “abortion free” states. The courts are now more “friendly” to pro-life cases and rule in favor of the right to life and the protection of the preborn. We could face some setbacks in the next few years, but we will continue to fight to be a voice for the voiceless. (Thank you to all who continue to pray at the abortion mills regularly. Persevere and do not give up.)
A lot still needs to be done on all different levels if we are to win and find a day when abortion will not only be illegal, but unthinkable. We must continue to work towards the day when the truth that God loves the unborn child, and that God loves the mother who has tragically presented herself for abortion, is understood. Our churches should be centers of life and healing for all the little children, for families in crisis, for single mothers, the fatherless, and the widows.
Churches should be a voice for the poor and a place where mercy and justice meet at the cross. We must work towards the day when death is not considered a solution; rather, choices of life for both mother and baby are more obvious and more available.
This is going to take a change of heart. The Pro-life movement is a Gospel movement. We need to support our clergy in preaching and teaching the Gospel of life from womb to tomb. We need to raise a generation that continues in the fight until the right to life is a reality for all. We need to raise a generation that has the heart of God. This is what CEC for Life is all about. Though the end of abortion is a primary concern of CEC for Life, it does not mean the leadership of CEC for Life is not concerned about all life. The battle cry is “All Life is Sacred.”
The Charismatic Episcopal Church was birthed in the Pro-Life movement and the “cultural wars” of the past few decades. As a people, God spoke to us and drew us into the life of the ancient and historic Church. We saw and continue to see that through liturgy and sacraments, along with preaching the Good News and the transformation of the heart, and empowerment by the Holy Spirit (the Lord and giver of Life), we join in a cultural war that has been raging since the beginning of time.
The cross of Christ is a cultural war, and victory was won on that cross in the wounds of Christ Jesus and the shedding of His blood. We found out that, as we participate in His life, and particularly His death, we find that ultimate gift of life, the resurrection and defeat of death. This truth is lived out every day in our people, but particularly in the praise and thanksgiving of the Eucharist Feast.
On January 17th, the third Sunday of the Christmas season, the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church celebrates a feast in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord and Giver of Life. During the Eucharist, an offering is to be taken where we ask every participant and member of the ICCEC to give generously to the pro-life work of our communion. We also ask every clergy, along with every parish, to partner with CEC for Life by submitting their membership request for the year.
I can only ask you to give generously, which most of you do.
What more will we do? We will persevere with the Gospel, knowing that in due season we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. We will continue to pray at abortion clinics. We will continue to work with other Pro-Life groups. We will continue to raise up a generation around the world who are Gospel activists. We will continue to equip the Church with the message of life.
Please once again join us. Be a part of a godly solution and a warrior for life.
This week more than a dozen members of Church of the Messiah will be heading up to Washington, D.C., to join with CEC for Life and participate in the 47th Annual March for Life. If you cannot make the trek to the frozen north, you can still participate in a series of events planned right here at Church of the Messiah.
On Thursday night, beginning at 7:00, we will have a night of pro-life intercession and prayer at Church of the Messiah.
On Friday morning, starting at 9 o’clock, we will participate in a silent prayer vigil at All Women’s Health Center at 1545 Huffingham Road (click HERE for a map. Please park in the church parking lot or alongside the road.)
On Saturday morning, starting at 9 o’clock, we will be leading the Liturgy for the Pre-Born in front of All Women’s Health Center. If you have never attended one of these liturgies, this will be a perfect opportunity to do so.
In light of these scheduled event and our many youth who are traveling to Washington this week to participate in the March for Life, we are cancelling both Youth Group and our Adult Bible Study on Wednesday night, January 22nd. This events will resume as normal on Wednesday, January 29th.
The Gospel of John chapter 10 and verse 10 reports Jesus telling His disciples that He came that we might have life and have life abundantly. It is through the sacraments and the Scriptures that we find the essence and fullness of human life, now and for all eternity. John further records in John 14:6 that life is not a “concept” or merely something “spiritual” but is the person of Jesus. The person of Jesus shows that, in the eyes of God, all human life is not only good and sacred but is the focus of His love in Jesus and therefore worthy of redemption.
Every Christmas season the whole world and especially the Church are reminded that the God and King of the entire universe has become human in the womb of a virgin. Not human for a time, but for all time. He never abandons His humanity but takes humanity, through His death and resurrection, upon His Kingdom throne and sits in His humanity over all creation. This Christ Jesus, whom we worship because of His humanity and divinity, is God with us to never leave us.
The Church is called to proclaim that Jesus is Lord. He is the truth. Our task is not to debate the world about this truth but to proclaim this truth. Our convincing the world of this truth is far more profound than just discourse with our society and culture about truth; it is the presentation of Christ in us in the world. We are to live out the truth that is revealed to us by living that revelation in the culture and society in which we dwell.
I am absolutely opposed to abortion. I believe abortion is never necessary. I believe abortion is the taking of human life and, in some cases, not only killing but murder. I am abhorred by any abortion but particularly by late-term abortion and by those who are now comfortable even with infanticide. I am appalled by those who march forward with advocating abortion for any reason whatsoever, including genetic selection, gender selection, and racial selection.
Because I am opposed to abortion in this manner, I am often challenged with the charge that “being pro-life is more than being anti-abortion.” Of course to be pro-life is to be more than anti-abortion. And, the church, particularly the ancient and historic church, has always been in the forefront of proclaiming the dignity of human life. The church is called to bring life, not only for the salvation of our souls, but in the food for the hungry, water for the thirsty, and shelter for the homeless. The church has always embraced a welcome to strangers and refugees. The church has always visited those in prison and declared release to those who are in bondage to sin, the world, and the devil.
Drug addiction, alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, greed, materialism, consumerism, poverty, domestic violence, and the sex trade industry are breeding grounds for the killing of the unborn. The church must bring the Gospel of life and the light of that Gospel into those areas of darkness. The Gospel is the way to address these horrors.
At this moment in our history, we are confronted in the United States with around 3,000 abortions a day or 1,095,000 a year. Around the world there are more than 100,000 abortions a day or 36,500,000 a year. More abortions committed in one day than in all of World War II.
Abortion is not a legal issue or a political issue, though we need to address the issue in the courts and in the legislature. Abortion is a moral issue and an issue of the soul. Mother Teresa reminds us that a country that allows the killing of its infants in the womb has lost its soul. Have the nations of the world who have permitted and legalized this murder of children lost their soul, particularly the United States?
Because this is a moral issue our primary weapons are not carnal but spiritual to the tearing down of this stronghold of death. Prayer must be at the front of the Pro-Life movement. Through prayer that is sustained, not for days, but for day after day, we are going to see spiritual victories won in the physical realm. We are going to see the Gospel lived out in the flesh of transformed lives living out the Pro-Life discipline of discipleship. Abortion will end because we will see it for the evil that it is and always will be.
For this reason, at the core of the mission of CEC for Life is prayer. We know we belong in front of abortion mills, as well as places where abortion mills are being constructed, to stand and pray. We do the
Liturgy for the Preborn at the Time of Death because this is what the Church is called to do. We are called to pray.
Secondly, we educate the church on the issue of abortion. We keep the church informed of victories that are happening around the world. We educate people on how they can work in their own church and in their communities to end abortion. And, particularly, we educate young adults for the future of this ministry. They are the generation that will end abortion.
The CEC is not a church that is Pro-Life; it is a Pro-Life church. From the beginning we have been given signs and symbols to make visible the Pro-Life message, and not only on Sunday morning. We are a communion of people birthed in the jails of Los Angeles and around the country, making visible the Gospel of Life. We are a Church that knows we are to identify with the preborn, the woman in crisis, those in need of healing from abortion, and with those who seek freedom from the abortion industry.
On January 19th, the third Sunday of the Christmas season, the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church celebrates a feast in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord and Giver of Life. During the Eucharist, an offering is to be taken where we ask every participant and member of the ICCEC to give generously to the Pro-Life work of our communion. We also ask every clergy, along with every parish, to partner with CEC for Life by submitting their membership request for the year.
I know you will want to participate with me in this holy work. I know you will want to give sacrificially and generously. Go to our website and see all that is happening because of your generosity and the blessing of God.
Holy Week is the most incredible time of the year for churches throughout the world and Church of the Messiah is no exception. We are so excited to share with you all that we have planned as we relive the events of Christ’s betrayal, death, and, ultimately, His Resurrection! We want you to join us for all of these remarkable services.
Palm Sunday: Holy Week begins with the fanfare and celebration of Our Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. We celebrate this momentous event in Jesus’ life by gathering in the church’s courtyard, blessing the palms, and processing into the church together. During this service there is also a special dramatic reading of the Passion Gospel. The service begins in the church courtyard at 10 o’clock
Maundy Thursday: Join with us as we commemorate Jesus celebrating the Last Supper with His Disciples on the night He was betrayed. This deeply moving service includes the once-a-year foot washing service as well as the solemn stripping of the altar in remembrance of Christ’s betrayal. Prior to the service we will have our regular mid-week soup supper from 6-6:45. The Maundy Thursday service itself begins at 7 o’clock.
Good Friday: Without a doubt, one of the highlights of the church year is Church of the Messiah’s annual Good Friday service. From noon til three o’clock we reflect on the Passion of our Lord taking inspiration from seven different meditations each coupled with solemn prayers and contemplative songs and dance offerings. The service also includes the reading of the Passion Gospel and the Veneration of the Holy Cross. While the service is three-hours long, it is structured in such a way as to accommodate those who are only able to attend a portion of the service. Come for the whole service, come for thirty minutes. For whatever amount you can attend, you will be blessed.
Holy Saturday: While Our Lord may have rested from His labors, the abortion industry does not rest from its and Saturday is one of its busiest days. We will take a prayerful stand for those who are condemned to die that day and pray the Liturgy for the Pre-Born outside A Woman’s Choice clinic. We encourage everyone to join us on this very solemn occasion.
Easter Sunday: Celebrate with us the most glorious and triumphant of Feasts, the Feast which makes all other feasts possible, the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord! Death has been defeated and the grave has been overthrown! This year we are especially blessed to welcome Archbishop Craig W. Bates, the Patriarch of the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church back to Church of the Messiah to preach and celebrate Easter Sunday. Also that morning, be sure to bring spring flower for the annual “flowering of the cross.” Help beautify our Easter cross by bring your own flowers to help decorate. The service itself begins at 10 o’clock and, as always, we pull out all the stops for the most glorious day of the year. Immediately following the service we will have an Easter egg hunt in the courtyard outside the church.
Everyone is welcome to attend all of our services and childcare is provided at all events. To help facilitate inviting others to join us, we have created Facebook events for each of these services. To find these events, simply go to Church of the Messiah’s Facebook page and click on the “events” tab or click on the each event’s bold name.
This Saturday, April 28th, starting at 9 o’clock, the clergy and people of Church of the Messiah will gather outside of A Woman’s Choice, one of Jacksonville’s few abortion clinics and one which often performs abortions on Saturday mornings. We will be praying for an end to abortion and especially for those who are about to die in that very clinic that weekend.
Please join with us as we pray for the pre-born children throughout Jacksonville and the world, but especially those a A Woman’s Choice, (Click HERE for a map) who will be murdered by the holocaust of abortion and have no one to pray for them. Let us pray for those who are about to die and for and end to abortion in America and in the world.
The best place to park is in the parking lot near the Payless ShoeSource (click HERE for a map) and walk to short distance to where we will be praying. Be sure to park, however, away from the stores, because we do not want to be a nuisance to the vendors.
Fr. Terry Gensemer, the International Director for CEC For Life, will visit Church of the Messiah this Sunday, April, 28th. Fr. Gensemer will preach and con-celebrate the Holy Eucharist at Church of the Messiah’s regular service beginning at 10 o’clock.
In addition to leading CEC For Life and sitting on the Patriarch’s Council, Fr. Gensemer is a Board Member of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, a Pastoral Care Associate for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, and the Pastoral Director for the Society of Centurions, an organization which hosts healing retreats for those who have left the abortion industry. Fr. Gensemer’s tireless work for the Pro-Life cause has taken him to five different continents and countless churches across the world. On this trip, Fr. Gensemer will be joined by his wife Patti.
Fr. Terry will be fresh from a national meeting of pro-life leaders in Titusville, FL, and promises that he will have a powerful word for Church of the Messiah. Be sure to mark your calendars and plan on joining us this Sunday, April 28th, as our time with Fr. Terry is sure to be anointed by The Lord!
This year’s 40 Days for Life campaign begins on Wednesday morning, but the Kick Off Rally to start the campaign off in prayer is this Tuesday night! The Rally will start at the Women’s Help Center (click HERE for a map) at 6:45 pm. Prior to the the Rally, there will be a Holy Hour at five o’clock and Holy Mass at six o’clock. Both of those services will be at Prince of Peace Roman-Catholic Church. (Click HERE for a map) Prince of Peace has also offered up there parking for the Rally that evening. Fr. Scott Looker has been asked to pray during the Rally that God’s blessing be upon the work of all the volunteers this year. Please join us this Tuesday night to hear more about 40 Days for Life and to get involved with this incredible powerful movement in Jacksonville and abroad.
As Fr. Shiell discussed in his sermon on Sunday, The March For Life will be January 27th, 2017, in Washington, D.C., and we should all begin preparing to head to our nation’s capital now in order to be ready when the big day arrives. But we do not have to wait until January to start choosing Life right here in Jacksonville today! There are plenty of opportunities in the upcoming weeks to show your support for local Pro-Life ministries. Below is information on some of these upcoming events.
Jericho March on September 24th—Saturday morning beginning at nine o’clock, Christians from throughout Jacksonville will begin walking around the property surrounding Jacksonville’s Planned Parenthood. They will march around the property a full seven time and pray for the facility to close and for abortion to come to an end in Jacksonville and throughout America. For more information contact Rob Barnaby at (904) 504-1412.
40 Days For Life Kick Off Rally Events on Tuesday, September 27th—An evening of special events begin the annual 40 Days for Life campaign. Prince of Peace Roman-Catholic Church will observe and celebrate a Holy Hour and Mass from five o’clock until 6:30. Following the Mass, there will be a Kick Off Rally at the Women’s Help Center (a Pro-Life center located in between two abortion clinics) from 6:45 to 7:30. The Kick Off Rally will include an overview of the 40 Days For Life campaign, an invitation to join in, an opportunity to tour the Women’s Help Center, as well as light refreshments. Church of the Messiah’s Fr. Scott Looker has been invited to lead one of the opening prayers at this year’s rally.
40 Days for Life Annual Campaign, September 28th—November 6th—Since 2004, Pro-Life activists in over 25 different countries have taken a peaceful and prayerful stand against a culture of death.
40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life campaign with a vision to access God’s power through prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil to end abortion. The mission of the campaign is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of prayer, fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God’s favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion.
This year, the 40 Days for Life campaign will be gathering in the public right-of-way outside A Woman’s Choice of Jacksonville from 7 am to 7 pm. To get involved or stay up to date on upcoming events in the 40 Days For Life campaign, visits Jacksonville’s 40 Days For Life web-site.
This Sunday, June 26th, Church of the Messiah’s Women’s Ministry will be hosting a Baby Shower honoring Emergency Pregnancy Services, from 1:30 to 2:30, at Secret Garden Cafe. Please RSVP to Lizz Looker by Friday, June 24th. EPS is especially in need of diaper bags, size 4 and 5 diapers, baby wipes, baby wash, diaper cream, and baby clothes sizes newborn through 2T. Please come out to support this wonderful ministry which has been giving women in Jacksonville a Pro-Life alternative to abortion for over 35 years!
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