April 1 Palm Sunday (Worship services at 8:00, 9:15, 11:15)

• 7:45 AM –the blessing ceremony of palm branches and palm crosses, outside the church
• Commemorate the entrance of the messiah into Jerusalem with the waving of the palm branches, observance of Holy Communion, and giving of the blessed palm crosses as a memento for this special day

The days between Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday are known as Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, and Holy Wednesday. The Gospels of these days recount events not all of which occurred on the corresponding days between Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his Last Supper. For instance, the Monday Gospel tells of the Anointing at Bethany (John 12:1-9), which occurred before the Palm Sunday event described in John 12:12-19.

April 2 Holy Monday

• 40-hour Holy Week Prayer Vigil begins. Sanctuary is open daily  for  certain hours in the morning before work, during lunch time, and in the late afternoon after work, to the community to come and pray during this most holy time of the Lent season
• Prayer Vigil hours: Morning 5:30-7:30 AM, Mid-day 11:00-1:00 PM, Evening 5:00-7:00 PM
• Devotional Readings and Prayers: Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 36:5-11; Hebrews 9:11-15; John 12:1-11

April 3 Holy Tuesday

• Prayer Vigil hours: Morning 5:30-7:30 AM, Mid-day 11:00-1:00 PM, Evening 5:00-7:00 PM
• Devotional Readings and Prayers: Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 71:1-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; John 12:20-36

April 4 Holy Wednesday

• Prayer Vigil hours:  Morning 5:30-7:30 AM, Mid-day 11:00-1:00 PM, Evening 5:00-7:00 PM
• Devotional Readings and Prayers: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 70; Hebrews 12:1-3; John 13:21-32

April 5 Holy Thursday

• Prayer Vigil hours: Morning 5:30-7:30 AM, Mid-day 11:00-1:00 PM, Evening 4:30-6:30 PM
• Devotional Readings and Prayers: Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10), 11-14; Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35
• Evening Worship Service 7:00-8:00 PM in the Sanctuary

Scripture reading, short pastoral message, Chancel Choir sings an anthem, Holy Communion is observed to commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles, and the ceremony of Stripping of the Altar.   (The Christian altar represents Christ, and the stripping of the altar reminds us how He was stripped of his garments and was exposed naked to insults.)

April 6 Good Friday

• Commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary

Jesus agonizes on the cross for six hours. During his last 3 hours on the cross, from noon to 3 p.m., darkness falls over the whole land.  With a loud cry, Jesus gives up his spirit. There is an earthquake, tombs break open, and the curtain in the Temple is torn from top to bottom. The centurion on guard at the site of crucifixion declares, “Truly this was God’s Son!” (Matthew 27:45-54)

• 12-hour Prayer Vigil from 6:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening
• Devotional Readings and Prayers: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42
• Good Friday Worship, 7:30pm — “The Seven Last Words of Christ” with meditations offered by persons of several area churches.  Sponsored by our Filipino Fellowship, this worship service will be held at Wilmington First UMC, 928 Lagoon Ave, Wilmington.  Everyone is welcome.

April 7 Holy Saturday

• Today ends the 40-hour prayer vigil:  4-hour Prayer Vigil from 6:00am to 10:00am

April 8 Easter Sunday — Hallelujah! Christ is Risen Today!

• Traditional Worship Service at 9:15 with the Chancel Choir
• Alternative Worship Service at 11:15 with the Praise Band
• Easter Reception in the Social Hall with Easter Egg Hunt  for the children following both services

February 11, 2012 — 6:00 PM

In New Orleans, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is a big celebration before Lent.  Being the flexible Methodists we are, our church will celebrate on February 11 instead, which makes it Fat Saturday.  There will be lots of prepared special food, (Cajun/Creole) music, mask making and a Mardi Gras parade.  It is an all-church, all-age FUN raiser and a great opportunity to bring a friend to Torrance First.  There will be a donation basket to defray costs, but there is no charge to attend.

We would greatly appreciate help with organizing, cooking, decorating, crafts, cleanup and especially musicians for that New Orleans jazz sound!  There will be a sign up sheet on the bulletin board by the church office for these things or food donations.  We are open to your ideas and talents to make this the most fun it can be. Thanks!    – Barry & Margie W.

Contact the Church office for more information and contact info.

• 8:00 AM — Informal Worship in the Friendship Room
• 9:15 AM — Traditional Worship in the Sanctuary with our Chancel Choir
  • 9:15 AM — Children’s Sunday School
• 11:15 AM — An Alternative Worship Experience in the Sanctuary with our Praise Band

The release of genetically modified organisms into the environment threatens genetic diversity, which is essential for global food security. And a lack of genetic diversity in agriculture, says Greenpeace, can already be linked to many of the major crop epidemics in human history.

EarthTalk®
E – The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: What is “genetic pollution” as it pertains to the bioengineering of animals, fish and plants, and what happens if they cross breed with their wild cousins? — R. Ahearn, Rome, NY

Genetically modified organisms are those that have been altered by scientists to include genes from other organisms (known as transgenes) that may impart specific benefits. For instance, crop seeds that have added genes which resist the effects of herbicides can allow farmers to spray their fields liberally with herbicides to kill undesired weeds without the fear of killing their marketable crop along with them.

Genetic pollution is the release into the natural environment of these altered genes, creating the risk that they might breed with wild plants or animals and spread out uncontrollably. Reports author Jeremy Rifkin in his landmark 1998 book, The Biotech Century: “Some of those releases…could wreak havoc with the planet’s biosphere, spreading destabilizing and even deadly genetic pollution across the world.”

To follow through on the previous crop seed example: If herbicide-resistant, genetically engineered crops were to breed with their wild cousins, it could lead to the creation of super-weeds undeterred by control efforts. The weeds could, in turn, edge out native species and drive them to extinction, causing an overall loss of genetic diversity. According to Greenpeace, crop genetic diversity is “essential for global food security” and a lack of it can be linked to many of the major crop epidemics in human history, including the Southern corn leaf blight in the U.S. in 1970. They quote noted botanist Jack Harlan who said that genetic diversity is all that “stands between us and catastrophic starvation on a scale we can not imagine.”

To track the growing problem of genetic pollution, Greenpeace International, along with GeneWatch UK, launched the GM Contamination Register in 2005 (the “GM” stands for Genetic Modification). This free online database details publicly documented incidents of contamination arising from the intentional or accidental release of genetically modified organisms into the environment as well as any accompanying negative agricultural side effects. Individuals, public interest groups and governments make use of the register to see where, when and how contamination has occurred. So far in 2011 alone more than a dozen cases of contamination—from Australia, Asia, Europe and the U.S.—have been reported in the register.

Gene pollution as it pertains to crops is only part of the concern. A Canadian company, AquaBounty, is seeking approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to sell genetically modified Atlantic salmon in the U.S. These fish have a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon (native to the North Pacific) and an anti-freeze protein gene from another fish, the ocean pout (native to the Northwest Atlantic). The resulting transgenic salmon produce growth hormones all year long—not just during the warmer months like other fish—and as such reach maturity faster than their non-genetically modified counterparts.

“There are concerns about the impact of GM salmon on wild salmon should it escape into rivers or the Atlantic ocean, because it could out-compete wild salmon for food, or breed with them producing offspring that may be less fit to survive,” reports GeneWatch UK. “This could have serious negative effects on declining or endangered wild salmon populations.”

CONTACTS: GeneWatch UK, www.genewatch.org; Greenpeace International, www.greenpeace.org/international; GM Contamination Register, www.gmcontaminationregister.org; AquaBounty, www.aquabounty.com.
EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E – The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe; Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

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