It is a tradition shared by many European ethnic groups, in particular Easter Europeans. It originated back when the severity and strictness of Lenten fasting in the past included abstaining from all meats, meat products, and dairy foods for the entirety of Lent. To the Blessing of Easter Baskets, a basket is brought, by each family, containing foods which are to be shared at the Easter Sunday feast: a small bottle of water, bread, cheese, Easter eggs, meat, wine, salt and pepper, butter, sweets, and other condiments. A short prayer service is performed where the contents of the baskets are blessed. Usually only a portion of the Easter feast food is put into the basket. Since most of the food remains at home, the blessed salt and pepper and other condiments can be used to spread the blessing out over the whole feast. If a small bottle of water is included in the contents of the basket, it becomes Holy Water and can be used to bless other food items and/or the table in general. This blessed food is then shared with friends and family at the Easter feast. It a nice way to share a blessing with your loved ones. The baskets are commonly decorated with ribbons, bows, flowers, herbs, and basket coverings made of nice linen or decorated cloth towels. For a nice effect, butter is sometimes molded into the shape of a lamb. Another item which is commonly put into the Easter basket is a blessed candle from The Presentation (Candlemas), or any other candle if a Candlemas candle is not available. If a candle is present in the basket, it is lit just before the blessing. It is then blessed along with the contents of the basket. The candle is then used as part of the table setting during the Easter feast. This very nicely blends all of salvation history together with both Christmas and Easter in a very visual symbol.

The whole service is only about 20 minutes long. So we figured we would have a little fun with it by inviting everyone to a light lunch, and entertaining children both young and old with an Easter egg hunt, and Easter egg relay races. Prizes will be given to the winners of the relay races.

We are extending an invitation to this event to all surrounding Christian parishes, regardless of exact denomination, since it would be a somewhat unique spiritual offering in the region. We will also extend an invitation to this event to the wider Canton community. This will provide us with a unique chance at visibility and outreach. So please, invite all your friends, family, and neighbors! Spread the word! Join us in preparing for the coming of Christ in a unique and fun-filled way! ~~

Inside This Issue
1	Blessing of the Easter Baskets
1	Fun, Fare, & Friends: Events In & Around Our Community
2	Rector Letter
3	Worhip Notes, People to Pray For, & Weekly Prayers
4	Crossroads: Our Parish Mission & Future
4	Trinity e-Tools
6	Hall Usage
7	Event Calendar

This kind of cleaning out is a trip through time and memory. Some of it is moving and heart warming. The other night, I reread a bag full of cards and letters sent to me the first year we were here in Trinity Parish, when I was hospitalized with a very severe pneumonia. Some of them were sent by some of you and were deeply appreciated all over again. A number came from our dear friend Tom Tull in California. Little did we realize how soon our roles would reverse; that we would be anxiously checking on his health from the opposite side of the country; and that within four and one half years we would lose him, as he had so feared losing me. These memories are rich and full, reminders to cherish and develop the important relationships in our lives and to be grateful for what we have.

Another box yielded more letters, including several from two students I had taught at Hamden High School, just north of New Haven, Connecticut. Phebe and I had become close to a number of them. Indeed, nearly a year and a half after I left the school, six of them, with their families, drove up to Newtonville, Massachusetts to see me ordained a deacon. Four came to my priesting the next spring. Two returned to see me say my "first mass," and one asked me to preach at his wedding. Somehow, over the years, with moves and "busy-ness," I had lost track of them. Here were letters from two of them. I fear those letters were put aside to be answered "later," eventually getting put into a box during a clean up, the box subsequently packed away, the letters "lost" for more than three decades. Here was opportunity missed, sins of omission, if you will. Both young men had been idealists. Thom had joined a Vista program in Virginia, but I have no idea where he went from there. Bob, seeking a different life, had begun graduate work in Vermont, married, and stayed. I suspected he had remained in northern Vermont. A helpful information operator proved me right, and the "Wow!" I received when I identified myself on the telephone told me that my shortcomings had been forgiven. Sometimes cleaning our attic gives us an opportunity to make amends, to reconnect what has been broken, if we will recognize our mistakes. Of course, I have several more students to go and more boxes to open, but this was a beginning (even if I was taken back to find that my former student was now 57!).

Still other discoveries in the attic were just clutter, the result of inertia, and often the unwillingness to make a decision. That plate or dish or piece of furniture which belonged to some great aunt or great grandparent, but which we find appalling ugly, cannot use and would not even if we could, can be shoved into the attic to avoid dealing with it and likewise pushed out of our mind. There, it takes up space, gets in the way when we are looking for something else, and is kept from those who actually might like or use it. Unwise choices, denial and the refusal to face consequent problems create a certain kind of clutter. The longer the problem continues, the more Herculean the task when finally faced. Our attic is going to take a lot more than a few days during a vacation week to clean up and sort out, to dispose of some things and decide where to put others.

Of course, I am not writing to you just to describe trying to clean up the attic of the Rectory. Our spiritual lives seem to have attics, basements and garages, too. Lent is a time to clean up, sort out and take stock. Some of the things, habits, ideas and practices, are precious, but not sufficiently noticed, taken for granted. These should be restored to their rightful place and proper prominence. A proper inventory of our souls also will reveal things neglected, done badly, if done at all. Here we need amendment of purpose, sometimes forgiveness, restoration and healing. Other times we will find things that are downright wrong, which get in our way, deprive others and send us down the wrong road. Then we need to find effective ways to correct our sinfulness, get back on the right path and help restore us to the company of our Lord. The further afield we are, the harder this is to do and the more important. We are approaching Mid-Lent and our spiritual house cleaning should be well along. Our attic has a long way to go. How about yours?

Yours faithfully,

Phil

Worship Notes

Crossroads

Trinity e-Tools

1. Goto http://partnerpage.google.com/ and then click on "Sign In" in the upper left corner.http://calendar.google.com
2. Log in with your user name and password, if you already have an account. If you don%92t have an account, you can get one by clicking the link named "Create a New Google Account", found on the right hand side of the page in a blue box. Follow the steps the web page leads you through to create the account. After the account has been created and verified, you can log in and continue with step 3.
3. In the search bar at the top of the page, type in "Canton, MA", no quotes, and click the "Search Public Calendars" button. You will see a bunch of listings, but most importantly "Trinity Episcopal Church Hall Usage Canton MA" and "Trinity Episcopal Church Event Listings, Canton MA".
4. Click the link of the calendar you wish to view, or click the "Add to Calendar" button, to have the calendar automatically added to the calendars you regularly view.

When you click an event you are interested in, a text balloon, (like in the comics), will pop-up. You will see

Trinity Episcopal Church Event Listing, Canton MA March 2008

Hall Usage March 2008

1. a link in the bottom-left corner of the balloon which says "More Details". If you click that, you will get a web page with the full event details, including a link to a map to the location of the event.

To have a reminder for an event sent to you:
(You must add the calendar to your calendar in step 4 above to be able to set reminders.)

1. Repeat all the steps from "To View Our Calendar",
   through step 5.
2. In the right hand side of the event page, you will see a gray box titled "Options".
3. Click on the link in that box named "Add a Reminder".
4. You will see two boxes with down arrows in them. If you click the down arrow in one of the boxes, the box will expand to list different options you can select. The left-hand box lists types of reminders you can set: Email (an automated email message with full event details will be sent to the email address registered with Google Calendar), SMS (an automated SMS text message containing full event details will be sent to your mobile phone), or pop-up (a pop-up balloon with full event details will pop-up while you work on your computer, if you use Google Desktop). Click the type of reminder you would like to receive.
5. In the right-hand box with a down arrow in the "Reminder" section, you will see different options for when the event reminder will be sent to you. Click on the time you want.
6. You can repeat steps 3 through 5 to add additional types of reminders.
7. When you are all done adding reminders, you must click the "Save" button found under the green box on the left side of the page which contains all the "who, what, where, when" details of the event.
8. Conversely, if you don%92t want to save the changes to reminders you made, click the "Cancel" button, which can be found next to the "Save" button.

• admin@TrinityEpiscopal-canton.org You can send an email to this address to ask technical questions about using our web site or the Google Calendars, and to report errors or inconsistencies in the events on the calendar or web site. These all come to me, JulieTittler.
• Jr.warden@TrinityEpiscopal-canton.org You can send email to this address to ask questions about Buildings & Grounds, hall usage, report on things which need to be fixed around the church, and send suggestions about changes you would like to see around the church which would make it more user friendly and/or enjoyable.

• Bulletin.editor@TrinityEpiscopal-canton.org Email this address with additions to the sick list, events you would like to see listed in the bulletin, or inserts you would like added to the bulletin. This is not limited to members of Trinity Episcopal Church. Members of the public are welcome to submit events to the bulletin and public calendar.
• treasurer@TrinityEpiscopal-canton.org Email questions about your donations to date, requests for pledge envelopes, and information about making donations to this address.
• volunteering@TrinityEpiscopal-canton.org Email questions about volunteering opportunities, including: Sunday worship, coffee hour, parish hosted events, and community out reach opportunities, to this address.

If you can think of anything else we can do to make communication with the church easier, please email admin@TrinityEpiscopal-Canton.org, or speak to Julie Tittler or Gil Swire at coffee hour.~~