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Greetings in the
Name of our Lord, Jesus Christ!
Alleluia! The Lord is risen! Because of the vagaries of the overlap between the lunar calendar (which
determines the date of Easter) and the solar calendar, our month began with the
“new commandment” given to us by Jesus Christ, that we
are to love one another (John 13.34).
Following immediately on this commandment, heard during the liturgy of
Maundy Thursday, the altar is stripped, the Blessed Sacrament removed, and the
church left in the darkness of Good Friday, when we rehearse the Passion of our
Lord and follow in the Stations of the Cross.
Think about that for a minute: We
begin the month with the sacrament of Jesus’ presence absent right after
He tells us to love one another. He is
with us when we
gather in prayer (Matt. 18.20) on Good Friday.
He is always with us (Matt. 28.20), but this involves us gathering. Holy Eucharist, for example, cannot be
celebrated by the priest alone.
The point in considering how
Jesus is present, and in how God comes to us as a guiding and giving Spirit, is
to remember that any faith in which God is an idea is dead, but when we
know and recognize that God is a Person with whom we have a relationship, then
our faith is alive. A mature faith has
two components: trust and assent. We are to trust in God on the basis of our
relationship with Him. We are to give
mental assent (agreement) to revealed doctrine (e.g., we confess in the
Creed to the fact that there is one God in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Faith cannot be just affect, just a feeling
of being “spiritual,” and it cannot be just a set of theological doctrines. On Easter we do not proclaim “Alleluia! Sins are made clean through ‘substitutionary atonement’!” (to
use a characterization of doctrine). We proclaim “Alleluia! The Lord is risen!” Doctrine matters; faith has a content, but
unless we know the Lord as a Person, we are just being religious rather than
living the new life to which God calls us.
During Lent we examined in detail the
arguments against faith that are being made by the so-called New Atheists. Atheism is a big deal in our current culture,
and books like The God Delusion (R. Dawkins) and God is not Great (C. Hitchens) are
best-sellers. Our series focused on how
to first address the arguments against faith at their own level; how to reply
in a secular context to point out what is wrong with the New Atheists’
arguments (e.g., how they are not scientific or rational, how history is
being ignored, how categories of thought are being confused) in order to maybe
get the opportunity to then testify to the faith. Let’s be optimistic and expect that if we get
a fair hearing that the doubter and debunker will then listen to what we have
to say. What will we then say? We need to be equipped to testify, and this
involves both testimony of our personal relationship with God (trust) and how
this relationship works (the content of the faith).
Being in
church on Sunday matters. It has to be more than just one
choice or option that can be “bumped” by a competing priority. If we say that we trust in God, that we have
a relationship with Him, then we must be ready to follow where He leads and to
listen to Him when He speaks. He
commands our attendance on worship in the same Ten Commandments in which He
proscribes murder and thievery, and none of us would argue that murder or
thievery might by OK options.
If this
strikes you as a bit harsh, consider that we have been doing very well as a
parish community (in attendance, in giving, in outreach in the community), but
that the trends so far this year are all flat at best. We’re in danger of getting complacent, and
falling into the trap that what needs to be done will be done by someone else
in the parish community. We are by no
means unhealthy, but we need to refocus.
In this Easter season we
proclaim that the Lord is risen. We proclaim this louder with actions than
with words. As
Do you “taste and see that the Lord is
good” (that He is the bread of life) in your regular participation in the Holy
Eucharist?
Is Sunday worship just one “priority” or
integral in your life?
2. Is Jesus the light of your
world? Do you seek His guidance in
prayer?
Do people see that Jesus is your light
because of how you honor God’s command to
worship?
Do you have faith that
Jesus is the one and only “gate” by which you gain entrance to the kingdom of
heaven?
Is Jesus your
shepherd? When He says “follow me,” do
you follow?
5. Do you live in Christ,
trusting in the resurrection to life everlasting?
6.
Is Jesus the one and only way, truth, and life, or an option in
your life?
7.
Are you a branch grafted into the vine by participating in Jesus’
Body in the fellowship of
the Church?
When you miss worship and community, do you
notice that something is missing?
Faith cannot be about obligation only
(although obligation is part of faith).
Faith must be alive. We are
called to be joyful. But your faith will
not live, you will not experience this joy, if your
practice of faith is just one choice amongst others. In this Eastertide, let us each refocus on
the fact that when we proclaim and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we proclaim
and celebrate new life for us and for the world. Alleluia!
The Lord is risen! Use the words, but far more importantly, live
them.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Vestry Highlights:
1.
Operating account: $ _________ 2.
Capital account: $ __________
3. Pledges paid to date (3/23): __% of a projected 22.4%.
4.
Rector’s Discretionary Fund: In
March help has been provided for utilities, food, medical costs. Support was also provided for the EYC
outing. Disbursements totaled $1,202.04
(21 cases).
The Vestry have
accepted a new lawn care bid from R&R Lawn Care, and will also proceed with
the installation of a crushed stone French drain, to provide drainage for the
playground. Bids are currently being
solicited for the painting of the rectory exterior.
Attendance: Average Sunday attendance 2010: 68 2009: 70 (Change
= +2.9%)
Attendance has been trending upward in 2010, but
was down significantly on either side of
Spring break.
Episcopal Youth Community: EYC
outing was held on Saturday, 27 March.
The EYC first helped with the Spring parish
clean-up, and then travelled to
Many thanks to the Haas
and Sugg families for their hospitality, to Kelsey for her leadership, and for
all who helped in bringing together this time of fellowship, worship and fun.
Men’s Fellowship: The men’s
fellowship will meet on Monday, 12 April, at 6:30 p.m. at the Falkner camp
house. Bring something to cook on the
grill, and your favorite libation!
Please let Fr. Karl know if you plan to attend, so the correct number of
side dishes can be prepared.
Attendance: Average Sunday attendance 2010:
68 2009: 70 (Change
= +2.9%)
Attendance had been
trending upward in 2010, but was down significantly on either side of Spring
break.
Christian Education: [insert
re. Sunday School]
Lenten Adult Education:
The Bible study group meets Sunday morning at 9:15. The lessons for Sunday are reviewed in
detail, using the summary format found in the Bible Study section of the parish
website. Join us for coffee and
discussion!
The Wednesday night Lenten supper learning
sessions were well attended. All
materials from the series on the New Atheism are available on the parish
website.
In May we will re-start our first
Wednesday practice of adult education following evening Eucharist and supper.
Grace Notes
Music:
In an effort to allow for greater congregational participation, we have
begun use of settings from The Portland Psalter. This is a publication prepared by the head of
music at the cathedral in
Easter
music presents us with an embarrassment of riches, but we begin the month on
Maundy Thursday, and will sing the ancient hymn “Pange
lingue,” Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle
(166) a capella while the altar is
stripped. The hymn is from the sixth
century, by Latin poet Venantius Honorius Fortunatus, with the music being an ancient chant from
Salisbury Cathedral.
In
Eastertide proper will enjoy such favorite hymns as 207, Jesus Christ is risen today, and 208, The strife is oe’r, as well as the less familiar 195, Jesus lives! This latter hymn echoes the New Testament
lesson for the primary service on Easter (1 Cor. 15.19-26), in which Paul
proclaims how Jesus has conquered death.
We’ll also here an echo of Jesus teaching His disciples what love
includes, in the anthem “If ye love me, keep my commandments”.
Another
anthem will be the R. Vaughan Williams setting of George Herbert’s poem, “The
Call”. Herbert (1593–1633) was an
English priest famous for his poems and for his work of ascetical theology, The
Country Parson. Herbert also
recognized that music involves praise, writing, “Awake, therefore, my lute, and
my viol! awake all my powers to glorify thee! We praise thee! we
bless thee! we magnify thee for ever!” Let us each recognize that our music is an offering
in worship, that it may be an offering of the heart.
Holy Days: Holy days
are secondary to the season in Eastertide.
That said, there are a number of notable
commemorations. 9 April will be Friday
in Easter week, but the date is otherwise kept on the calendar as the
commemoration of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great Christian witness and martyr against
fascism, executed by special order of Heinrich Himmler on the same day Adolf
Hitler committed suicide; his death thus providing an additional witness for
our Lord against evil. Other notable
feasts include Alphege, the only Archbishop of
Canterbury to be remembered as a martyr (19 April, d. 1012), St. George (23
April, patron of