April 19, 2023

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

As you no doubt know, Easter is not just a day but a season. It is a season of fifty days that begins on Easter Day and culminates on the Day of Pentecost. To celebrate this joyful season of resurrection we make liberal use of Alleluias, stand during prayers, and omit the Confession of Sin.

One of the things we know for sure about resurrection is that it fundamentally changes you. There are stories in the gospels about Jesus bringing to life people who have died – the daughter of Jairus, the widow's son at Nain, and Lazarus – but they were not resurrected. They were, more properly, resuscitated; that is, they had died, were returned to life, and people were able to recognize them. They were not fundamentally changed.

Resurrection, on the other hand, fundamentally changes you in such a way as to not be immediately recognizable. We see this with Mary and with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

I was pondering this fundamental change to the resurrected Christ and I think the reason he is not initially recognizable is that, while Jesus was fully human/fully divine and recognizable in human form, the resurrected Christ is fully God, second Person of the Trinity.

This change returns the Son to his initial nature, of one being with the Father, true God of true God, part of the great I Am. Whereas Jesus lived a linear life from birth to death, God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – lives a life that simply is: no past, no future, where everything is now present. He is wrapped up in what was and what will be by being what is. Among other things, this is why Moses gets a name of, “I Am,” when he asks who sent him.

We can see all this when we look at the gospel readings for the first three Sundays of Easter. On Easter Day, John tells us Mary is at the tomb when Jesus appears to her but is at first unrecognizable. Matthew tells us that Jesus simply appeared to the women as they were going to tell the disciples. He appeared to the ten who were locked away in a room, and then again a week later when Thomas was present. And this Sunday we hear the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus when Jesus appears to them and then vanishes after blessing the bread, but he had also appeared to the other disciples.

What all this points to is that Jesus, as the resurrected Christ and second person of the Trinity, is now IN time, not of time. Another way of saying this is that Christ is present in this moment and that, for Christ, all moments of time exist in the now.

In this Easter Season when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, may you come to see Jesus not only as the teacher, prophet, and healer of 2000 years ago, but may you come to see him as the risen Christ, part of the Godhead who is present in the here and now with us in each moment of our sorrows and joys. And in this Easter Season of resurrection, may you be as surprised as the men and women of that first Easter to find the risen Christ in your midst.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

April 12, 2023

Holy Week has come and gone. Over that time we participated in the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ, mourned his death at the grave, and celebrated his resurrection in the early morning of Easter and then again at the later service.

On Monday the ministers and staff of almost every church took the day off to recover; and yesterday we returned to the office to begin looking forward to this coming Sunday and beyond.

As I've said before, this was the first Holy Week in three years that we could fully participate in the services of Holy Week. I hope you took the opportunity to participate in these services and experience Holy Week in its totality.

I do not do this alone – it takes a whole lot of people to make Holy Week what it was. With that in mind, I want to thank the following people:

Our openers and closers who made sure the church was opened for worship and locked afterward.

The lectors and Eucharistic Ministers who performed their liturgical duties admirably.

The acolytes who stepped up to assist with the service, some for the first time.

The altar guild who worked many hours getting ready for each service and cleaning up after.

The choir who sang wonderfully over the days of Holy Week.

John Sabine, our new Minister of Music, who has only been here three weeks but managed to make it look and sound like he's been here for years.

Deacon Sue, whose presence is always appreciated, and who was part of almost every service.

Melonie Orr, our amazing parish administrator, who put all the bulletins together without mixing them up or losing her mind (along with her other regular duties).

Mark Shaffer who ensured everything was ready for the new fire at the Vigil.

Parish Life who provided food for the Maundy Thursday dinner and Easter breakfast and coffee hour.

Betsy Mummert who oversaw the Easter egg hunt.

And finally, thank you to everyone who participated simply by showing up. One of our first duties as Christians is to worship. We worship as a community because it takes a community to worship. This past Holy Week was a reflection of the best of Saint John's – from all of the supporting roles to the worship we experienced.

Thank you for helping to make Holy Week 2023 a memorable experience.

May the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, make you perfect in every good work to do his will; and may the joy of this Resurrection season give you hope in a life changed, not ended.

April 5, 2023

We are in the middle of Holy Week. Over the years I have come to see this week as less about all of the worship services the church provides and more about learning to journey with Jesus during this sacred time. I've moved from, “Oh man, I have to provide all these services,” and all the work that entails, to a place where I am able to fully participate in this journey. To be honest, that has also allowed me to not stress over how many (or how few) people choose to attend the various worship services. It has also helped me to not stress about whether everything is “perfect,” wherein we understand that every journey has its ups and downs, its smooth sailing and its bumpy rides.

As part of this journey, we offer Stations of the Cross every day at 12:15 (except for today when we have the regularly scheduled midweek Eucharist). This is a solemn, prayerful journey with Jesus from his trial to his burial, and there is something deeply touching about walking with Jesus as he falls three times, seeing a woman wiping his face and offering comfort, watching as his lifeless body is placed in his mother's arms, and finally seeing the body laid in a tomb.

As part of this journey we share a meal on Thursday, followed by the final Eucharist of the week and the stripping of the altar, signifying our own betrayal of Christ.

As part of this journey we form an angry mob and cry out for the crucifixion of Jesus. As part of this journey we also gather at the tomb to mourn the death of friend and teacher, wondering, “What's next?”

This week reminds us that life is a journey. It has its good times. It has its difficult times. It has its times of death and separation. And through it all, it reminds us that we live in hope of what is promised but not seen.

I hope you will find the time this week to journey with Jesus on this slow, deliberate walk through all of life's ups and downs, twists and turns. I hope that, wherever you are, you find a faith community to share in this journey. And if you are unable to spend time in worship this week, I hope you make time to prayerfully contemplate those mighty acts of Christ that will lead us to life and immortality.

May you have a blessed Holy Week and a joyful Easter.