St Mary Anne's Church

Rooted in the past, reaching for the future

  • Episcopal Cafe
  • Home
  • Episcopal Diocese of Easton
  • Garden Market 2016
  • Who We Are
    • About Us
      • Our Beliefs
    • Location
    • Building & Grounds
      • Churchyard & Memorial Garden Regulations
      • The Thompson Memorial Crocus Lawn
    • Parish Administration
      • Clergy
      • Parish Committees
      • Staff
      • Vestry
    • St. Mary Anne’s History
      • Who was St. Mary Anne?
  • Sunday Scriptures
  • St. Mary Anne’s Garden Market
  • The Anglican Communion
  • The Episcopal Church
  • Worship
    • Service Times
    • Liturgy & Sacraments
      • Baptisms
      • Funerals
      • Weddings
    • Worship Ministries
    • Prayer
      • Forward Day by Day Devotional
      • Lectionary Page
      • The Daily Office
  • Music
    • Worship Music
    • St. Mary Anne’s String Studio
  • Events & Fellowship
    • News
    • Calendar
    • Annual Events
      • Christmas Cookie Walk
      • Family Train Day
      • Wreaths Across America
    • Fellowship
      • Coffee Hour
      • 2:42 Men’s Group
      • North Elk Coffee House
      • The ECW
      • The St. Mary Anne’s Gardeners & The Green Team
  • Annual Garden Market
    • About our Event
      • Vendor Information
        • No Invasive Plants
      • Garden Market Sponsorship
        • Sponsorship Levels for the Garden Market
  • Formation
    • Child Formation
    • Youth Formation
      • St. Mary Anne’s Dream Big Scholarship
    • Adult Formation
  • Outreach
    • Food Pantry
    • Help & Mission
      • Pastoral Care
      • St. Mary Anne’s Quilters
    • Recovery Ministry
    • Senior Ministry
  • Give
    • Stewardship
    • Donate

2020 Parishioner Advent Reflection Day 2

November 30, 2020 by St Mary Anne Admin

Each October and November, I get in the mood to do “fall cleaning”. As a kid, I helped my mom wash walls and windows, and ready our home for harsh Connecticut winters. We packed away summer bedspreads and curtains and replaced them with heavier bedding and window coverings. After a few days of housework, we stood back to admire our spruced-up home with the familiar warm comforts of the previous winter.
Many years later, I continue some of the same habits and find contentment in “being prepared” for the next season. I suspect our Altar Guild members find a similar comfort when they prepare and switch our seasonal church hangings to decorate the altar. The weather outside our church windows does not influence the hangings—rather the church liturgical cycle divides the year into a series of seasons. Each one has its own mood, theological emphases, prayers and scripture readings, and seasonal colors.
We are now in Advent—a four-week church season in which to prepare for the “coming” of Christ with devotion and joyful expectation. The Altar Guild switched the hangings from green to blue. The Flower Committee decorated the Advent Wreath; and for the next four weeks, we light its candles to special prayers. All these church traditions remind us of the One who taught hope, peace, faith and love.
Each year, I prepare for the “coming” of Christ with comforting cultural traditions at home. I deck the halls with boughs of holly, bake, shop and wrap, and find some temporary joy in the process. I admit, though, any lasting joyful expectation of hope and peace derives from a different type of preparation—a year-round effort to understand the scriptural reassurances that Christ will come again in Glory.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Luke 21:27
Karen Schaeffer

Filed Under: Advent Reflections

2020 Parishioner Advent Reflection Day 1

November 30, 2020 by St Mary Anne Admin

COME LORD JESUS by Bob Doyle
(A SHORT HISTORY OF ADVENT)

It is ironic that the early Church struggled with establishing the season of Advent. Once the Church settled on a calendar, Lent was kind of a no-brainer. The Crucifixion and Resurrection tell a story that makes perfect sense for a period of penance and redemptive acts in, what Christians believe to be, the given path to salvation. Forty days shows up everywhere in the Old Testament so Lent was inevitable in preparation for Easter. But what about Christmas?

The Incarnation had its own message that needed time to be understood and accepted. The early Church Fathers understood this but first they had to clarify what exactly that message was. Again fixing on one calendar played a role. In the 4th and 5th centuries 40 days were set aside in the Church calendar to prepare for the Epiphany. This had become the time for new initiates to prepare for baptism. It wasn’t until the 6th century that the Roman Church established Advent not as a preparation for Christ’s birth but rather as a time to prepare for his second coming or the End of Days. It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that the Church began using the Advent Season to celebrate Christ’s birth. But this newer sense of the Lord’s Advent did not supplant preparation for the Second Coming.

So what is the true purpose of Advent? First it is about learning how to wait not only for Christmas Day but for Christ’s second coming. Then it is the mystery of the Incarnation and what this means for humankind’s ultimate salvation. It is about the Redemption that God has gifted us with the arrival of His Son. And finally it is preparation for the Gift of the Incarnation itself.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory of a father’s only son full of Grace and truth. John 1:14

 

Filed Under: Advent Reflections

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6

Contact Us

Office

410.287.5522
office@stmaryanne.org
315 South Main St.
North East, MD 21901
Hours: 9am – 12pm M-F

Food Pantry

410.287.2230
outreach@stmaryanne.org
Hours: 9:30am – 12pm M-W-Sat

Service Times

Sunday 8:00AM: Rite I Service with Holy Eucharist

Sunday 10:00AM: Rite II Service with Holy Eucharist

Follow Us

Facebookyoutube
Our Video Gallery

Recent News

  • ECW 2025 Covered Dish Picnic
  • May Coffee House Performers, Lisa & Lori Brigantino
  • Introducing our new Quilt Raffle!
  • Easter Egg Hunt
  • Holy Week & Easter Schedule
  • April Coffee House Date Change
  • Easter Flower Offering
  • Wednesday Women
  • North East Hunger Appeal
  • North Elk Coffee House April Performer-Brody Bond

Copyright © 2025 · Enterprise Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in