This past Sunday, our sisters and brothers in the Orthodox Church celebrated Christ’s glorious Resurrection. In beautiful and highly nuanced liturgies, the Church proclaimed the triumph of light over darkness, creation over death, and hope over despair. For the people of Ukraine this was a very different Easter. The traditional vigil liturgies were canceled due to curfews in the wake of Russian bombardments. Yet, on Easter morning, people gathered at 1,000 year old Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv to rejoice that Christ is Alive. So, how do the Resurrection and the tragic human consequences of war seem to coexist? That is not a new question. The Epistles of the Apostle Paul exhorted the early Christian communities to stand strong against the reality of social and individual evil. That same counsel is valid in today’s world. That is the profound truth of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are now Easter people. Emboldened by Christ’s victory over death we are empowered to reject evil in all of its insidious manifestations. It is true that there are many Golgothas in each of our lives and in our world. However, because of Easter, we can and we must carry the light that overcomes the darkness of hate, injustice, and death. Now, that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom John 21:15-19 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.” I heard an old, old story of how a Savior came from glory. The opening line of that storied hymn , Victory in Jesus, reminds us that the passion and glorious resurrection of our Lord is an old, old story. Unlike other ancient tales, the story that we retell this Holy Week and on Easter morning is not simply an historical account. That story is as real and as relevant today as it was when the Disciples gathered in the upper room. It is as challenging today as when the followers of Jesus stood at the foot of the Cross. And it is as necessary today as when the women came upon an empty tomb. Unfortunately, we often treat Holy Week and Easter Sunday as remembrances of what happened centuries ago. In truth these sacred days are calls to enter fully and without reservation into God’s infinite grace. A grace that can be felt as we join in the sacred meal, we call the Last Supper. A grace that calls us to cry as we look at that Cross of Good Friday. And a grace we celebrate as we proclaim Jesus Christ is Risen today. Now, that is genuinely Good News. With Every Blessings for a Sacred Holy Week and Joyful Easter, Pastor Tom and Roxanne John 13:2-5 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. Palm Sunday denotes the beginning of Holy Week. Holy Week is , in truth, a fabric woven of conflicting imagery. What does Holy Week speak into our lives this year? Are the evocative images of Good Friday merely ancient history? Or are those images inescapable reminders of the reality that evil resides within the depths of the human heart? What of the Last Supper? It is far more than a gathering of Jesus and His Disciples. The Last Super is a powerful and haunting prefiguring of the self-sacrificial love that defines and illumines the passion of our Lord. In truth, Holy Week in preparation for Easter morning, is a profound message of God’s grace and God’s mercy. Each Holy Week pastors talk about God’s mercy. Sadly, we forget that grace precedes and informs divine mercy. This Holy Week, our prayers, both individually and communal, should be in gratitude for God’s abundant grace. The fact we serve a God of grace is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom Mark 11:1-11 When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. |
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