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Advent and Christmas at Trinity
| People tell us that
Christmas at Trinity Lime Rock is an experience to be treasured. It is a
time when our whole community comes together and celebrates -- each in our own
way -- the Birth of our Lord. |
In sequence, here's how the preparations for Christmas play out in a typical
year:
- In Advent, our young people begin preparations for their
traditional
Christmas
Pageant. More about that later!
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- In Advent, the altar flowers are
replaced by greens for this season (the flowers return on
Christmas). The Advent Wreath appears next to the chancel, with
an additional candle lit each Sunday in Advent. The altar is clothed in
purple, and the choir dons purple scapulars for the season.
The wreaths go up on the outside doors, with purple ribbons. The acolytes switch to their traditional black cassock and white
cottas instead of the more colorful robes they've been wearing.
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- The first Saturday in December, our ECW (and most of the
other committees of the church present our annual
Christmas Bazaar.
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- Likewise, in early Advent (and even before that!), our Choir begins preparations for the
special
music that has been a highlight of the Christmas season at Trinity for
many years. Because Advent is a contemplative season, we dispense with
the Gospel Hallelujah during the Gospel Procession during this
season.
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- This year, in 2011, we colored outside the lines a little bit and brought Lime Rock its
first (in anyone's living memory)
community Christmas tree,
right on Trinity's lawn, where we lit a 40 foot fir.
The woodwind quintet from Housatonic Valley Regional High School
provided music (along with our own Trinity choir, augmented by
volunteers from Crescendo), and
Lime Rock Park provided a tent and a great PA system. Root
Tree Service decorated the tree for us -- a big job!
We did this on Saturday, December 10, at 5 PM, and, while no one
even tried to count everyone who attended, we ran out of hot
chocolate before the tree was even lit! We hope everyone
enjoyed it -- the comments we heard were very favorable -- and
we're hoping to make this a Lime Rock tradition!
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- Around the same time, our Outreach team begins to plan for ways that we can
make Christmas happier for people in our own community than they might otherwise
be able to have. Because of hard economic times, we have concentrated this
year on feeding the hungry via our affiliation with
OWLs Kitchen.
But we're also collecting presents for folks at Noble Horizons
who may have no family of their own to remember them, and a
large number of Christmas gifts for needy kids in North Canaan.
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- The fourth Sunday of Advent, our young people present their
Christmas
Pageant. While there's an entire section of this website devoted to
Christmas Pageants at Trinity -- and it's a very popular section -- we
should say a bit more about it here.
Trinity's Christmas Pageant began back in the dark days of World War II, in
1942, when the priest who was then in charge of Trinity decided that a Christmas Pageant
might be a tonic for this little parish church, then struggling during very difficult
times. He was correct, and the young people's Christmas Pageant has been a
tradition ever since.
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- Following the Christmas Pageant -- unless they're busy
greening the church -- our choir
often goes out caroling. In 2007
and 2008 we sang for the residents of Wangum Village in North Canaan, and for the
residents of the Alzheimer's Unit of Geer.
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2011 Schedule of Christmas
Services at Trinity Lime Rock
On Christmas Eve, we have
special music at all services.
You are invited to join us on December 24 for a special service,
including Holy Eucharist (Rite II) for
families and young people
at 3 PM.
There will be a choral concert, at 7
PM, of Christmas
music from Poland by our choir and vocal ensemble,
followed, at 7:30, by a Festival Holy Eucharist (Rite II).
(You can read Pastor Heidi's
Christmas Eve sermon here.)
On Christmas Day, we will have our
customary said Holy Eucharist according to Rite I at 8 AM, and a peaceful Holy Eucharist with vocal soloists at 10:30 AM.
(The purple ribbons on the doors of the church
will have turned red, the
poinsettias and other traditional Christmas flowers will have appeared --
and everyone can enjoy the Christmas music on the new carillon!).
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- The Sunday following Christmas Day,
we will omit the 8 AM service, but at our 10:30 AM service, in place
of our usual Holy Eucharist, we will have a service of Lessons and Carols.
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Here is a page about our
Christmas Pageant
2011.
Here are some
links to Christmas-related pages on this website:
to see our main Christmas Bazaar page
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