The Church of the Redeemer, an Episcopal church and parish in Sarasota, FL, will offer half-hour Mid-Day Lenten Organ Recitals each Wednesday throughout Lent, featuring guest organists and musicians from throughout the Sarasota and Manatee areas.

The recitals begin Wednesday, February 29 and continue weekly through April 4. Recitals begin shortly after noon at 12:10, end at 12:40 p.m., and are free and open to the public.

Lenten Organ Recitals Schedule:

29 February — Michael Stuart
7 March — Greg Chestnut
14 March — Linda Petersen
21 March — Cynthia Roberts-Greene
28 March — Matthew Woods
4 April — Nancy Siebecker

Well, here we go again! Ash Wednesday is this week and we begin the season of Lent, that great season of penance. We start with “You are dust and to dust you shall return” and things go downhill from there. Then we have to give up chocolate or wine or desserts or something else, we really, really like! We struggle through that for six whole weeks until finally, finally we get to Easter! Whew, we can say the Alleluias again, we can eat what we want again, we can be happy again at least until we come around again to the next Ash Wednesday.
Have you ever wondered to yourself, why am I doing this? What is the point? Yeah, I know this is what I am supposed to do as an Episcopalian and it probably makes me somehow a better person. But really, why do we put ourselves through this torture for six weeks? And what good does it really do? I mean honestly, did you become a lot better person after you went through your Lenten penance last year. So why do we bother? Continue reading ‘Sermon – Sunday 26 February, 2012/The Rev. Lance Wallace’ »

Sixth Sunday after The Epiphany

On Shrove Tuesday, February 21, Chris Wood, Youth Minister for the Church of the Redeemer, a traditional Episcopal Sarasota parish, will burn the palm branches and crosses collected from last year’s Palm Sunday worship in order to create the ashes to be used during this year’s Ash Wednesday worship.

Also on this day, clergy at the Church of the Redeemer will hear confessions from 5:30 to 630 p.m. Shrove Tuesday is a traditional time for confession; the name Shrove comes from the old English word “shriven” which means to be pardoned from one’s sins.

Persons in need of assistance from a priest in preparing for a first confession should call the Parish Office at 955.4263.

Ash Wednesday, February 22, is the first day of Lent, and Redeemer will celebrate The Eucharist with the Imposition of Ashes at 7 and 10 a.m., 12:10 p.m., and 6 p.m.

Ashes are signs of mortality and penitence; the priests mark the foreheads of the congregation with the ashes in the form of a cross, the sign of redemption and in remembrance of baptism.

Ash Wednesday is a strict fast day; pregnant women and those with special dietary needs due to age or health are exempt from fasting.

Redeemer is located at 222 S. Palm Ave., in downtown Sarasota. For more information, call 941.955.4263./end

The Sarasota-Manatee Bach Festival Presents: “Hearing Bach’s Music Bach’s Way” 7:30 p.m.

The Sarasota-Manatee Bach Festival continues its fourth annual program celebrating baroque music featuring music by Telemann, Bach, and others, played on authentic instruments from the period. The performers will introduce their instruments during pre-concert lectures before each performance, beginning at 6:45 p.m.

The performers selected for these concerts are specialists on Baroque instruments, or on modern copies of authentic, historic instruments. They include David Wilson and Valerie Arsenault, Baroque violins; Colin St-Martin, Baroque flute; and Kim Jones, Baroque cello. Ann Stephenson-Moe and Julane Rodgers will share harpsichord duties.

“We’re calling these concerts ‘Hearing Bach’s Music Bach’s way,’” says Bach Festival co-director, Richard Benedum, “because we wanted to present the unique sounds of 18th-century music played on instruments from the period, and with performance techniques that Bach and his contemporaries would recognize. Instruments, of course, have evolved over time, and continue to evolve, but this concert will open a new window to Sarasota and Bradenton audiences. We also hope to perform future concerts with period instruments, and ultimately have this area become the state’s center for Baroque performance practice.”

Tickets are $15 for adults; $7 for students. Click on the PayPal icon to purchase tickets online, or call the Parish Office at 941.955.4263. Subject to availability, tickets will also be sold at the door the day of the performance.

Ticket Type

Adults $15.00 USD Students $7.00 USD

The Manatee concert of the Festival will take place on February 25, 7:30 p.m., at Christ Church, 4030 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.

Church of the Redeemer in downtown Sarasota invites the community to Evensong on Sunday, 19 February at 5:15 p.m.

The Anthem will be Missa in Simplicitate de Jean Langlais, with baritone Daniel Cartlidge.

Service is Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C – C. V. Stanford.

All are welcome. For more information, call 941.955.4263.

Have you been keeping track of the Republican candidates for the Presidential race? Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican or Independent, it’s been hard to miss, and everyone’s curious about how it’s going to turn out. Our own Florida Primary gave Mitt Romney the lead, and if he should end up as the Republican candidate, and then if he ends up winning the election, we would have the first Mormon President. These are interesting times!

When the primaries are all over, and all of the bad things the candidates have been saying about one another are brought to a close, it will be fascinating to see what they will do to repair the damage. I’m sure there will be some amusing backtracking!

President Lyndon Johnson told the story once of an old judge he used to know in Texas. He had been on the bench for thirty years. One day the chairman of the Judiciary Committee called and said , “Judge, I’ve got bad news for you. There was a bill introduced today that would eliminate your job.” The judge said, “I’m sorry to hear that, and shocked. Who is behind it?” Continue reading ‘Sermon – Sunday 5 February, 2012/The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson’ »

Some years ago I had the frightening and sobering experience of being in an automobile accident.

While on vacation, driving in the town I grew up in, Derby, Connecticut, I was negotiating an intersection of two multilane roads.

I entered the intersection on a green light, but because of turning traffic, got caught in the middle of the intersection when the light changed.

Everyone stopped at the light saw my predicament and did not move. But there was one lane on the far end of the intersection that was open, and a fellow in a pickup truck blasted through the intersection and met me broadside. No one was hurt, thank God, though we did take an ambulance ride to the hospital to be sure.
It was at the hospital that a policeman handed me a ticket and charged me with the accident. I was stunned.

He was absolutely deaf to my argument that I was already in the intersection when the light changed. “I’m sorry sir the law is clear”.

The guy that hit me was speeding, and was pumped up on pain killers. He ran a power saw across his hand that morning and was on his way to the hospital a second time to see the doctor when he hit us. “I’m sorry sir the law is clear”.

I did not take this well. Continue reading ‘Sermon – Sunday 29 January, 2012/The Rev. Richard Marsden’ »

In celebration of the Feast of Absalom Jones and African-American History Month, the Rev. Canon Jesse Anderson, Jr. will be the guest preacher at the Church of the Redeemer, 222 S. Palm Ave., downtown Sarasota, on Sunday, February 12, at all morning worship – 7:30, 9, and 11 a.m.

Born a slave in Delaware in 1746, Absalom Jones bought his own freedom in 1784 and eventually, in 1802, became the first African-American ordained as a priest in The Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Canon Anderson formerly served as the Rector at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, the Mother Church for Episcopalians of African Ancestry, founded in 1792, and whose founding Rector was Absalom Jones. The Rev. Canon Anderson was also Rector for parishes in Hartford and Washington, D.C., and now resides in Sarasota.

Additional parking is available during Sunday worship at the M&I Bank Garage building on McAnsh Ct. For more information, call 941.955.4263.

Sermon preached by The Rev. Richard Marsden
Fourth Sunday after The Epiphany