The Church of the Messiah

Fr. Lon and Dru Pardee are each leading a Kairos Weekend right now and need the prayers support of their church family and friends.  Kairos is a three-day spriritual retreat along the lines of Cursillo or Tres Arroyos and custom tailored for those who are imprisoned.  Fr. Lon and Dru are both serving as rector and rectora of their weekends (although they do not use those titles).  Fr. Lon is leading his weekend at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, FL, while Dru is leading her weekend at Lowell Correctional Institution near Ocala.  Please keep both the Pardees in prayer this entire weekend.  They will both return Sunday afternoon.

The first Wednesday in Easter, April 23rd, Church of the Messiah will begin our Easter Bible Study Series on Fifty Days of Glory, the newly released book by the CEC’s own Canon Mark Pearson.  This book is incredibly insightful and will be sure to change the way you think about the days between Easter and the Ascension.  All of the priests who preach this Easter are sure to have read the relevant chapters because Canon Pearson has done such a thorough job of preparing this work.

As part of the regular Wednesday Night Service, each service begins with a time of Praise & Worship and concludes with a time of intercessory prayer.   During the same time that the adult congregation will be studying Fifty Days of Glory, Church of the Messiah’s Youth Group will be working their way through the Teen Edition of the Bible Study Not of Fan by Kyle Idleman.  Childcare is also provided for children fifth grade and younger.  The service will end by 8:30 so that everyone can be home in time to prepare for work and school the next day.  The next Fifty Days promise to be an amazing time at Church of the Messiah and we want you to be a part of it!

Today at noon we begin one the most eagerly anticipated services of the year.  Every year on Good Friday Service from noon until 3 o’clock, Church of the Messiah commemorates the three hours Our Lord Jesus Christ spent on His cross suffering for our sins.  This special service includes a reading of the Passion Gospel and Solemn Collects, special dance offerings, meditations by both lay and clerical speakers, veneration of the Cross, and Communion from the Reserved Sacrament.  This service is structured so that, if needs be, someone may come or go throughout the service based on their availability.  You can stay for the entire service of just come in for some prayer time on your lunch hour.  Childcare is provided throughout the entire service.  We look forward to seeing everyone there for this unique event in the Church Year!

Church of the Messiah and Prince of Peace, our sister parish on the west-side Jacksonville, have been asked by the organizers or the 40 Days for Life campaign to lead three consecutive Liturgies for the Pre-Born on Holy Saturday morning in front of A Woman’s Choice abortion clinic (click HERE for a map).  This is especially significant because Saturday is one of the days that this facility performs abortions and these are the hours that this clinic performs abortions.  We will praying for those women and children who will be entering this clinic and dying or having their lives changed forever.  The Liturgy for the Pre-Born is a modified form of the Litany at the Time of Death which is prayed on behalf of those children who will have no one to pray for them as their government, their society, and even their own parents betray and murder them.  Please join Fr. Looker starting at 8 o’clock, Fr. Bill Jordan at 8:45, and Fr. David Paysinger at 9:30 for this moving a prayer service.  Please consider coming for one vigil or staying for the entire time.  Parking is available at Prince of Peace Roman-Catholic Church (click HERE for a map).   On the day when Our Lord rested in His tomb and completed His atoning work on our behalf, it is a tragedy to think of children dying without so much as a single prayer offered up on their behalf.  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.

Tonight, beginning at 7 o’clock, we commemorate one of the holiest nights of the Church year, Maundy Thursday.  Every Sunday we celebrate that “the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”  In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (I Corinthians 11:23-25)  Maundy Thursday is the night on which we celebrate Our Lord’s Institution of the Holy Eucharist are remember the events of the Last Supper.  But tonight it not just a night to remember the Lord’s Supper, we recall all the events that went along with that momentous meal: Jesus washing the feet of the Disciples, Our Lord’s teachings that night, and Judas’ betrayal of Our Lord into the hands of sinful men.  It is a powerful service and one of the most moving worship times of the entire year.  We invite everyone to attend and to invite your friends to join you for this special once-a-year service.

This Wednesday Night, April 16, we will not have our usual Wednesday Night mid-week service.  Instead we will have services throughout the rest of the week!  Be sure to join us Thursday night at 7 o’clock for our Maundy Thursday Service and Friday from noon to 3 o’clock for our Good Friday Vigil.  Just Tuesday we finalized details with our sister parish on the west-side Prince of Peace to lead a series of Liturgies for the Pre-Born in front of the Planned Parenthood Facility on Powers Avenue on Holy Saturday morning as they open up and begin performing abortions.  We will have more information on that shortly!  On Easter Sunday we will have two services: our Sunrise Service begins at 6:15 on our property on St. John’s Bluff Rd. N. and our Easter Sunday Family Service will be in our regular location starting at 10 o’clock with all of the stops pulled out to celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord.  Invite your friends and we hope to be seeing a whole lot of you over Holy Week this year!

As we announced Palm Sunday, Our Easter Bible Study will be based on Fifty Days of Glory by Canon Mark Pearson.  In order to get the special rate, you need to contact Janice Paysinger at 904-721-4199 by Wednesday!  The cost of each book is $16.99.   Ordering as a group allows us to get a group rate and give 100% of the proceeds to Fr. Pearson (as opposed to ordering online–which you can do if you miss the deadline–where Fr. Pearson only gets 20-30%).  Be sure to call or e-mail Janice right away so you can get your book for next week.  The Fifty Days of Glory Bible study begins Wednesday April 23 and runs through May 19!

Holy Week begins this Sunday, April 13!  Don’t miss any of these amazing worship services!

Begin Holy Week with Palm Sunday!  Celebrate Our Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem with the waiving of palms before the crowd turns on Jesus and we hear the Passion Gospel.  Be sure to get to Church on time this Sunday as we process into the Sanctuary waiving our palms and palm crosses!

There are no services Wednesday night, April 16.

Thursday night, April 17, at 7 o’clock, we will observe Maundy Thurday.  This is the annual service where we commemorate Our Lord’s Institution of the Lord’s Supper, Washing the Feet of the Disciples, and ultimate Betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The powerful services continue on April 18 from noon until 3 o’clock with the observance of Our Lord’s hours on His Cross in our Good Friday Service.  This is always one of the most powerful services of the year and includes the Passion Gospel , meditations from both lay and clerical speakers, veneration of the Cross, and Communion from the Reserved Sacrament.

Our celebration of the Feast of the Resurrection begins at 6:15 with a Sunrise Service on our property on St. Johns Bluff Road (click HERE  for a map).  This moving service begins in darkness and candlelight and concludes with the light of the first day shining down on us as we celebrate the Risen Lord by partaking of His Body and Body at the very break of day.

At 10 o’clock our Easter celebration continues (and will for 50 more days!) with our Easter Sunday Family Service.  This will be a service to fully celebrate with Risen Lord and exalt in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We will have special events for our children and a great time is sure to be had by all!

Be sure to invite your friends and family to each of these special events in the coming week!  Church of the Messiah has created a Facebook event for each of these services.  You can go to the events by clicking on their names and invite your friends via Facebook or other Social Media!  Childcare is provided at all services.

At the conclusion of “The Devil’s Playbook” Bible study last night, Fr. Looker announced that Church of the Messiah’s next Bible study will be based on an exciting new book by Canon Mark Pearson.  Canon Pearson is a CEC priest from the Diocese of the Northeast who has preached at Church of the Messiah in the past.  Within the last few months Canon Mark Pearson released Fifty Days of Glory: from Easter Morning to the Eve of Pentecost, a thoroughly Biblical study of life of Christ after the Resurrection and before His Ascension.  We will be using his book as a basis for our studies on the Post-Resurrection life of Christ.  Our Bible study Fifty Days of Glory will run from April 23 through May 21.  Individuals wishing to order a copy of the book may purchase one through web-sites like Amazon.com, however, those interested in making a Church of the Messiah group purchase should contact Janice Paysinger at 721-4199.  Making a group does not purchase does not afford a cheaper purchase price, but it does allow 100% of the proceeds to go directly to Fr. Pearson (as opposed to 20-30% when purchasing from on-line vendors).  Bp. Simpson, who was one of the book’s early readers, wrote a glowing recommendation for the book and then purchased a copy for every priest, deacon, and seminarian in the Diocese of Florida.  This is an amazing book, and it will be an exciting and life-changing Bible study.  Make plans to join us starting April 23 for Fifty Days of Glory!

Church of the Messiah’s Lenten Bible study series will conclude this Wednesday, April 9th, at 7 o’clock.  Having spent the last four weeks reading and discussing The Screwtape Letters, we will wrap up our study by focusing on Letters XXV-XXXI.  Here’s a spoiler:  The patient actually dies in the last letter!  Join us Wednesday night and see if the patient makes it to Heaven or Wormwood has his way with him for the rest of Eternity.  We will also be addressing the topics of “unselfishness,” cowardice, what is “real,” and more.  Be sure to be there as we conclude what has already been a life-changing study.

As with all of our Wednesday night Bible studies, the service begins at 7 o’clock with a time of praise and worship.  We end with intercessory prayer and dismiss by 8:30 so that everyone has time to return home and prepare for work and school the next day.  Childcare is provided and Church of the Messiah’s Youth Group meets at this time as well.  We look forward to seeing you there!