Yard Sale

The annual yard sale will be held Saturday, July 8th , 9:00am until 3:00pm rain or shine. Donations be dropped off at the Parish Hall Monday – Friday, 8:30pm – 1:30pm or on Sundays before or after services now through July 3rd. No donations will be accepted after July 3rd.

We are looking for CLEAN household goods, yard tools, furniture, cd’s, toys, and knick-knacks. PLEASE, NO ELECTRONICS OR BOOKS!!!

This is a significant event, and we need many volunteers to cover shifts and help with the set up and break down. Please contact the parish office at 1-508-824-9595. You can also e-mail us at stthomasepiscopalchurch@comcast.net to volunteer.

May Breakfast

Come join us for our Annual Betty Angell May Breakfast on Sunday, May 14, 2023.  There will be a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, baked beans, muffins, orange juice and coffee.  Seating to our breakfast will begin immediately following our 10:00 a.m. Service! A free will offering is graciously accepted!

All are welcome!

Lobster Roll Day

We are gearing up for our annual Lobster Roll Day, an event anticipated by the entire City of Taunton, and our largest fundraiser for the year!

Please consider ordering one of our delicious Lobster Roll’s because when you order you are helping the ministries at St. Thomas which enables us to help even more people in our community.

Description: Your lobster roll order comes with cole slaw, potato chips, and an Art’s Bakery Molasses Clove Cookie! The price is $17.50 per roll.

Where: St. Thomas Church, 111 High Street, Taunton MA 02780
When: Friday, June 2, 2023
Times: Morning (9:00am – 1:00pm) or Evening (4:00pm – 6:00pm)
*Free delivery in the Taunton area when 6 or more rolls are ordered!

Enthusiastic St. Thomas volunteers donate their time, treasure, and talents to spread hope and concrete acts of love to those less fortunate than us. We’ve been serving the greater Taunton community for more than 200 years. We also have missions within the United States and South America, including Navaho Land, Jamaica, Haiti, and Belize.

If you have any additional questions or if you would like to place an order feel free to call the parish office 1-508-824-9595 or email us at stthomasepiscopalchurch@comcast.net. All orders must be placed no later than May 28th.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Good Friday Service

Many Christians observe Good Friday as part of the Holy Week. This significant event commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. Although deemed as a sorrowful day, it reminds us of God’s unconditional love. God gave us His one and only son for our salvation, enabling us to live eternally with Him. On Good Friday at three o’clock, Jesus, by his blood, fully paid for our sins on the cross. This is the sole reason churches have a high value and observe great importance in remembering this day. Traditionally, no regular church service is celebrated during this day. Good Friday service is very much different from other normal or festive services. Various churches around the world observe this solemnly and with high respect.

Good Friday worship invites Christians to reflect on the suffering Christ went through for our sake by sacrificing his life for our sins. Reflecting on how much Christ suffered to pay for our sins deepens the joy and gratitude we feel for the gift of new life with Christ that we celebrate on Easter Sunday.

The Good Friday liturgy consists of: the Liturgy of the Word, the Proclamation of the Passion of Christ, the Sermon, the Solemn Prayers, the Veneration of the Cross, and the Holy Communion. The Liturgy of the Word consists of the clergy and assisting ministers entering in complete silence, without any singing. They then silently make a full prostration.

The Night Watch Vigil

The Nightwatch

Taking His apostles with Him, Jesus asked them to sit, pray and watch with Him, and to offer support as His difficult hour approached: My soul is very sorrowful, said Jesus, even to death; remain here and watch. After the Altar and Church are stripped on Maundy Thursday, the Sacrament is brought in procession to an area separate from the main Sanctuary, and laid to rest there in a peaceful setting, symbolic of the Gethsemane Garden. This peaceful, restful setting is called the Altar of Repose.

It has been the historical and traditional practice of the People of God to keep watch from the end of the Maundy Thursday Service, commemorating the Last Supper, through the night, to the beginning of the Good Friday Liturgy, the point in history when the soldiers came to take Christ away to be crucified. We will observe this ancient tradition by offering you the opportunity to keep watch, in hour intervals, through the quiet time of the night, from Maundy Thursday evening, through the hours of Good Friday, until Noon, when our Solemn Liturgy begins. This will be a time when you can come and pray, meditate, watch, or do whatever you wish in quiet adoration of the Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

My soul is very sorrowful, said Jesus, even to death; remain here, and watch.

Maundy Thursday Worship Service

What a Maundy Service is: 
On this night Christians commemorate the supper Jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion, when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet (John 13:1 –17) and instituted the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:26 –29; Mark 14:22 –25; Luke 22:13 –20; 1 Corinthians 11:23 –25).

Six actions traditional on this night are included in the following service. They are (1) confession and pardon, (2) proclamation of the Word, (3) footwashing, (4) the Lord’s Supper, (5) stripping of the church, and (6) Tenebrae. Of these, (1), (2), and (4) are essential; (3), (5), and (6) are optional and are thus marked with brackets. They require careful preparation when introduced to a congregation.

Footwashing is a powerful symbolic response to the Word, dramatizing the servanthood of Jesus, both on the night before his death and in his continuing presence in our midst. The alternative title for this day, Maundy Thursday, recalls the new commandment (mandatum novum in Latin) in John 13:34 . The service may appropriately be called Maundy Thursday when footwashing occurs in imitation of Jesus’ actions and as a response to his new commandment to love one another. Careful advance planning and advance notice to the people are essential. It may be suggested that participants come without socks or hose and that persons are welcome to observe rather than participate. Representatives of the people or those volunteering to participate may come forward to the place(s) where chairs, a basin and pitcher of water, and towels have been placed. Mutual footwashing among pastor(s) and laypersons should be clearly visible, yet not overly dramatic. Love and care for one another may be expressed in the gestures. During the footwashing the congregation or choir may sing, or the footwashing may be done in silence.

The ancient practice of stripping the Lord’s table and sanctuary following communion is a vivid and dramatic way of showing the desolation and abandonment of the long night in Gethsemane and what followed. Designated persons pick up the cloths on the Lord’s table and the pulpit and other hangings, banners, candlesticks, and decorations and quietly carry them from the sanctuary. This may be done in silence, or Psalm 22 (UMH 752) may be used. The church then remains bare until the Easter Vigil, when the process is reversed.