The Episcopal Church of the Advocate
where tradition, liturgy and reason meet compassion, justice and transformation
More than a program or curriculum, it is an intentional commitment to a set of practices. It’s a commitment to follow Jesus: Turn, Learn, Pray, Worship, Bless, Go, Rest.
During A Teachable Moment between the 9 AM and 11 AM liturgies this fall, all are welcome to engage in The Way of Love. Each week we will explore one of the themes offered by our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.
See the introduction and Bishop Curry’s invitation here.
Are you interested in learning more about the history, theology, liturgy, and structure of the Episcopal Church? If so, join us Sunday afternoons, September 8 – October 13, for “Episcopal 101,” a conversation-based introduction to the church. In each conversation we will be asking, “What difference does this make for us?”
Each week’s topic will be posted beforehand (see basic plan below). Any and all are welcome to join in any or all sessions.
Note: for these preparing for confirmation or reception in the Episcopal Church at the Bishop’s Visitation on Sunday, October 20, participation is expected.
Classes will generally be held1:15 – 2:30 PM at the Advocate.
If you are interested in being a part of the conversation, be in touch with the Vicar (Vicar@TheAdvocateChurch.org).
Episcopal 101, general plan:
1) Jesus, Scripture and the early Church
2) The Church in England and The Anglican Communion
3) Anglican spirituality and The Book of Common Prayer
4) Anglican Moral Theology
5) The Episcopal Church USA and how the Advocate fits in.
This fall, Hannah Boning and Jimmy McKinnell will be facilitating a group through Eating Together Faithfully, a framework for conversation from Life Around the Table. There will be eight conversations around eight meals discussing what it means to eat with God’s intentions for all creation in mind. How does the way we eat together reflect who we think God is? What does it mean for food to be healthy and just? Participants should expect good food, good discussions, and some outside reading and preparation each week.
We hope to begin the first week of October. Contact Hannah (boningh@gmail.com) or Jimmy (jimmymckinnell@gmail.com) if you are interested or have questions!
Sing and stomp along as the Advocate Acoustics lead us in a Blue Grass Mass this Sunday.
Blue Grass music is indigenous to the southeastern united states. It’s popularity in our region is reflected in numbers festivals held each year, from MerleFest to the Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers Convention. So twice a year or so The Advocate brings this musical style to our worship.
Songs to include:
This Train is Bound for Glory
Uncloudy Day
Farther Along
Wings of a Dove
I’ll Fly Away
Sunday, June 16, at 5 PM.
Come on your own, or bring a friend!
Wednesday, May 29 Ascension Eve
5:15 PM Contemplative Prayer
6 PM Holy Eucharist with Hymns for the Ascension of our Lord
7 PM House Dinner.
Sunday, June 2
9 AM Holy Eucharist with hymns and the Easter Troparian
10 AM Ascension lantern launch and Pee Wee Homes tour
11 AM Holy Eucharist with Hymns, Songs and the Easter Troparian
12:30 PM Lunch
Sunday, June 9 The Day of Pentecost
9 AM Holy Eucharist with hymns and the Easter Troparian
10 AM Beating of the Bounds
11 AM Eucharist with Hymns, Songs, the Easter Troparian
12:30 PM Festival Lunch
Here at The Church of the Advocate, instead of having a single feast day, we embrace a 10-day feast season — It starts with the Feast of the Ascension,
when Jesus ascends to God and, as recorded in First John,
there he serves there as our Advocate.
This year we will celebrate that ascension with an Ascension Eve Eucharist this Wednesday at 6 PM.
It is this Advocate Jesus, that we remember in our Advocate cross.
But there’s more. We then have a Sunday after the Ascension, which, this year, is next Sunday, June 2. And we will celebrate with a “beating of the bounds”. See more about that here.
Then comes the Day of Pentecost when we remember how the Holy Spirit descended and moved and breathed among those gathered in Jerusalem.
And moves and breathes among us still. This we will celebrate with a time of fellowship and a heavenward launching of lanterns and a festival potluck.
In all of this we remember the power and the presence of God among us as church, as people, created and beloved.
The Prequel: Saturday, April 6
9 AM – Noon Site Stewardship morning: Come help get our ground ready for the Pee Wee Homes residents and for Holy Week and Easter. Many hands make light work!
Palm Sunday, April 14
+ Procession with Palms and Holy Eucharist. Gather at the Advocate Pond at 10:00 AM for the blessing of the palms, and flowers or branches brought from home. Procession followed by Holy Eucharist in the Chapel.
Monday of Holy Week, April 15
+ Tenebrae at 7 PM. We move into Holy Week with this service of growing darkness, readings and song. Music led by a visiting schola from Raleigh.
Tuesday of Holy Week, April 16
+ Holy Eucharist at 5:30 PM
Wednesday of Holy Week, April 17
+ Holy Eucharist at 5:30 PM
Maundy Thursday, April 18
+ Dinner fellowship (food provided), Foot-washing and Table Eucharist. Bishop Sam Rodman will offer the homily. In the Fleming Lodge at Camp New Hope. 6:30 PM. (Camp New Hope is on NC86, 3 miles north of the I40 – NC86 interchange)
Good Friday, April 19
+ The Way of the Cross/ Via Dolorosa. In Spanish and English. Beginning at 12 noon. Acompáñenos en peregrinaje desde la Alcaldia de Carrboro hasta el Cementerio Viejo (Beginning at Carrboro Town Hall, winding through Carrboro, and ending at the Old Cemetery. Through downtown Carrboro. Meet at Carrboro Town Hall. (no dogs, please). Note: Due to weather condition we will walk the Way of the Cross in the Advocate Chapel this year.
+ The Good Friday Liturgy, with hymns, prayers, and the Passion from the Gospel of John. 6 PM in the Advocate Chapel.
+ The Wake. 7 PM – 9 PM. Gather with other friends of Jesus for a simple supper and to reminisce about his life and the experiences you have shared with him. Come on the hour or on the half hour and stay for any, or all, of the Wake.
Holy Saturday, April 20
+The Holy Saturday Liturgy at 10AM in the Advocate Chapel. Gather in the Chapel for this brief liturgy of readings, reflection and prayers.
10:30 AM Rehearsal and preparations for The Great Vigil.
Saturday Night, April 20
+ The Great Vigil of Easter with Renewal of Baptismal Vows. This is our first liturgy of Easter, when we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord in the darkness of night. (As you are able, please bring a bell, horn or whistle to accompany the Paschal Shout). In the Advocate Chapel. Starting at 8 PM.
Easter Day, April 21
+ 9 AM Holy Eucharist in the Chapel.
+ 10 AM Festival Brunch (As you are able, bring a festive dish to share. Kids bring a basket for an Easter Egg hunt).
+ 11 AM Holy Eucharist with baptism by the Pond. Bring your own chairs or blanket to sit upon.
Weather updates will be posted as needed.
Contemplative Prayer Retreat
The Contemplative Prayer Groups of Church of the Advocate and Church of the Holy Family will be hosting their annual contemplative prayer retreat at Avila Retreat Center in Durham on August 2-4, 2019. While the focus of the retreat is contemplative prayer, the retreat is truly for anyone who would like a few days of quiet reflection.
Registration is $195 per person, which covers two nights lodging in a private room as well as Friday supper through Sunday breakfast.
Registration is open now and closes June 1.
For more information, please contact Paul Marvin at pmarvin@nc.rr.com or 919.451.2843.
This Lent, The Episcopal Church of the Advocate invites our neighbors and friends, known and unknown, to participate in the ancient practice of prayer and reflection called the Stations of the Cross, around the Advocate Pond. Traditionally, the fourteen stations mark different events on the path that Jesus walked through the city of Jerusalem on the day of his death, from the house of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, where he was condemned to die, to the hill at Golgatha, where he was crucified. At each station, participants pause for a reading from scripture, a prayer, and a time of meditation.
From early times, each of the fourteen stations has been marked by a Roman numeral. At The Advocate, we have localized the stations by using discarded railroad spikes from the nearby tracks for the numerals, and affixing them to reclaimed local barn boards.
A booklet of the fourteen stations, with prayer and scripture readings, as well as an olive wood cross to carry as you go, are available in a box under the well house roof. There is also a booklet of a children’s version of the stations. The first station is just to the east of the altar (towards the railroad tracks), and the stations proceed counterclockwise around the pond, ending with the fourteenth station just to the west of the altar.
The Stations may be walked and prayed at any time by any one. All are welcome.
T.S. Eliot once wrote, “What we call the beginning is often the end and to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”
On Ash Wednesday, March 6, in services at noon and 6 PM, we will gather in the Advocate Chapel, to remember our mortality — that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. We will also mark the beginning of our Lenten journey, the forty day season of our preparation for the holiest days of the Christian year – Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. In so doing, we will anticipate – however paradoxically – the end of our Lenten journey even as it begins.
From that ending, we make our beginning, together as people of faith.
Come be a part of the journey.
Lenten Series: Exploring “The Cross and the Lynching Tree,” by James H. Cone