Welcome to Saint Ann's Episcopal Parish

Welcome to Saint Ann’s Old Lyme, an Episcopal Church in Connecticut on the coasts of the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound. We have been a welcoming community on the shoreline since 1883.

We invite you to come and see us at Saint Ann’s Sundays as we share the love of God in Jesus Christ. Join us during the week for community events, educational programs and fellowship opportunities. Learn about our commitment to addressing poverty, homelessness, refugee resettlement, food insecurity and climate change.

Be with us in person and virtually in discovering God’s abundance and joy.

The Rev’d Dr. Anita Louise Schell, Rector

Saint Ann's

Mission Statement

We are a community of Christians,
open to all, who serve God in Jesus Christ through worship, education, mission and fellowship.

Save the Dates

March

Sundays (thru April 13) – Fever 1793 ~ Lenten Book Study for Teens/Tweens – 10:30am

Tuesdays (thru April 15) – Tattoos on the Heart, weekly Lenten book class – 4pm

Fridays (thru Lent) – Stations of the Cross – 3pm

30 - Lenten Vespers, featuring Faure Requiem, by Gabriel Faure – 4 pm

LENTEN BOOK CHOSEN:

Boyle’s Tattoos on the Heart

March 11 - April 15, 4:00 pm

Purchase your Lenten reading ($11) now from the office, or borrow the book, and get started reading.

In person and online class led by Mother Anita and Charlie Potts. Zoom link above.

“For twenty years, Gregory Boyle has run Homeboy Industries, a gang-intervention program located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, the gang capital of the world. In Tattoos on the Heart, he distills his experience working in the ghetto into a breathtaking series of parables inspired by faith.

Arranged by theme and filled with sparkling humor and glowing generosity, these essays offer a stirring look at how full our lives could be if we could find the joy in loving others and in being loved unconditionally. From giant, tattooed Cesar, shopping at JCPenney fresh out of prison, we learn how to feel worthy of God's love. From ten-year-old Lula we learn the importance of being known and acknowledged. From Pedro we understand the kind of patience necessary to rescue someone from the darkness. In each chapter we benefit from Boyle’s gentle, hard-earned wisdom.

These essays about universal kinship and redemption are moving examples of the power of unconditional love and the importance of fighting despair. Gorgeous and uplifting, Tattoos on the Heart reminds us that no life is less valuable than another.”

Zoom link

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Fridays through Lent, 3pm

"Lest We Forget”

by Brother Bill Weisert

Every year, starting on Ash Wednesday we began a journey of preparation to the Glory of the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We say extra prayers of penance, the church is decorated in purple, alleluias are eliminated, all to remind us of the preparation of the forty days.

But there is a more intense preparation for the glories of Easter and His Resurrection, the Way of the Cross. These Stations, an acceptable change of wording, trace certain events from the Last Supper in the upper room with His Disciples, minus Judas, through His Arrest and trials. All these events occurred over 24-36 hours, without rest.

We are tracing not just the events, but the agony of the flesh and the torture of the spirit which our Lord underwent. Jesus suffered doubt and the pangs of His impending death. We are asked to feel those emotions, to suffer the inner pangs. We don’t just recite the words of the stations, but meditate on, no, inwardly feel, His suffering.

I have done the Stations many times, and no matter which liturgy of the stations, or the language in which they are written, I have always felt something different, usually something deeper. Each time is a different experience.

The opening title is not original to me, but offered by my housemate, Chuck. He is Jewish and has an amazing understanding of different faiths coming from his first first wife, who was raised Roman Catholic. The Way of the Cross is not Roman only, but Lutheran, Methodist, and Anglican. I have had Baptist ministers participate. We all bring something different and receive something different each time.

Please join the Way on Fridays at 3PM in the Memorial Garden during Lent.

Lenten Book Study for Teens and Tweens: Fever 1793

Fridays through April 13

This book study will be led by Becca Pote and targets our older youth in a coﬀee house setting for discussions around faith, service, and community. During our time together, we will explore topics and themes through plots and characters in the book. Text will be supplemented by scripture and ancillary materials such as graphic organizers, background on Absalom Jones and the Free African Society, historical maps, and the science of malaria contagion and treatment.

Overarching Themes for Exploration:

What does it mean to be a Christian?

What do we mean by “Love thy neighbor as thyself?”

How did Jesus model and talk about how we should treat others?

Topics for Discussion: