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Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord A feast of our Lord celebrated on Feb. 2, also known as Candlemas and the Feast of the Purification. It commemorates the presentation of Jesus and the purification of Mary in the Jerusalem Temple forty days after Jesus' birth, in accordance with the requirements of Jewish law. The feast is celebrated about forty days after Christmas. According to the account of Lk 2:22-39, the presentation of Jesus was also the occasion of the meeting of Jesus with Simeon and Anna. Simeon's prayer of blessing is the basis for the canticle Nunc dimittis. The celebration of the feast dates from the fourth century in Jerusalem. It was introduced in Rome in the seventh century, where it included a procession with candles and the singing of the Nunc dimittis. The celebration came to include the lighting and blessing of candles which were carried in procession. This feast was known as “Candlemas.”

There are still spaces available for Sunday's celebration of Holy Eucharist.
Make a reservation through the office.

If you would like to contribute a reflection during Lent, please contact Cheryl Rogers cheryljrogers@hotmail.com. Reflections will be posted on our Facebook page, but a limited number of copies will be available in the office.

If you would like to volunteer with our Food Drive February 13 at Emmanuel please let the office know. Helping hands are always accepted as we reach out into the community.
The Northern Illinois Food Bank is asking volunteers to be at EEC 9am.

Due to COVID restrictions, we are providing ashes for pick up so each individual can self-impose ashes or household members can impose ashes on each other during our online service. If you are unable to pick-up ashes, please call the office and arrangements will be made to drop them off at your house.

Ash Wednesday service will take place at February 17 7pm on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/emmanuelrockford

Imposition will take place during the service by the sprinkling of ashes on parishioners' heads..

February's selection is "The Invention of Wings" by Sue Monk Kidd. The discussion will be on Zoom.

Hetty "Handful" Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke's daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful's cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better. google books

The Lenten program this year is NT Wright's video series "The Day the Revolution Began" via Zoom.

Panda in the Snow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UvbhER4RmM