I still have a stock I've saved up, so I hope you enjoy (click on any image to enlarge)!
I'd say I laughed out loud, but then I got worried....
Isn't that amazing? One day it just happens? You have a completely normal conversation with a parent, and then it dawns on you....
"Mrs. Maestro" (my GPS) is a life saver, but she can be extraordinarily annoying at times...
This is soo true - school is completely backwards. We force kids to do their own work and work in large open spaces, and then send them into offices where we expect them to collaborate strongly on everything but stick them into tiny cubicles. What's up with that? RFSJ
Recently we discovered that the clothes dryer in the Vicarage was really past its prime - so much so that the dryer drum had worn a hole about five inches long and an inch wide in the inside door frame! It's a wonder it worked at all. A parishioner had an extra one and graciously agreed to donate it. Another parishioner ("M")showed up last evening with the new dryer to swap out the old one and put in the new one. Should have been the work of about fifteen minutes, right!
[Cue insane laughter here!]
Well, it turns out the old dryer was just small enough to fit through the door to the laundry room, which is a sliding pocket door off the kitchen. No problem there. But of course, the new dryer was about an inch or so too wide an each side! M (the parishioner) and I looked at each other. M suggested we break out the trim on one side of the door in order to get the dryer through. I was dubious, and suggested, since M is a certified electrician, that perhaps we could take the top and front off the dryer and fit it in that way. he agreed to try, and we scraped up the tools needed from down the basement. We disassembled the dryer and in the process gave it a thorough cleaning. M is nothing if not very complete in whatever he does. So we then tried to get it through the door. Of course it wouldn't fit - there were some protruding pieces on either side. So we got both pieces off, and it still wouldn't fit! So we concluded that yes, the trim had to go too. So M took a big screwdriver and pried the trim off on one side - four pieces of wood with probably thirty nails. We then barely got the dryer to fit through the door - basically it was just the metal shell, with the drum, top, and front completely taken apart. Even then it was very tight, and we had to shimmy the dryer through the opening a bit. But it finally got in.
We proceeded to put the dryer together and actually had to do so twice, as the first time we forgot to put back some important pieces of equipment. So we got it hooked up and plugged in, and voila! It started right up. Much quieter than the old one, definitely!
There was only one teensy-eensy problem: no heat. The dryer was merrily spinning away and putting out no hot air. Arrgghhhh! By this time it was 9:30 at night - three hours after the beginning of a fifteen minute job. At that point M had enough and plus had to get an early start to work the next morning. So I have a disassembled dryer in the laundry room!
More as it happens, and many many thanks to M for taking the time to work on this!
I'm very pleased at this. I expect to see the Blessing of the Bats sometime soon. Perhaps each stadium will now designate a Bishop's Box so he or she can properly entertain guests at each game:
As a part of opening week festivities, Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori announced today that the Episcopal Church has been designated the Official Denomination of Major League Baseball. The move was announced today in a teleconference with reporters.
Today we in the Episcopal Church observe The Feast of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel told ("announced" to) Mary that she would become pregnant miraculously and would bear a son. Only Luke records this, as part of his extended twin birth narrative cycle of John the Baptist and of Jesus. Matthew, in yesterday's Gospel, actually give the Annunciation to Joseph, although of course in a somewhat different context. (Mark and John do not contain any birth narratives.) There is always much to ponder about the Annunciation. As I've blogged elsewhere, this and the other Marian feasts really challenge me to open my heart to the place of Mary in Christian tradition. I have always been struck, as countless other Christians have, by Mary's response to the incredible announcement: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord. let it be with me according to your word." Such openness to God's will! Such trust! And in contexts which could have gotten her ostracized or even killed, as well.
More than that, though, I'm mindful of the unique convergence of the Feasts of St. Joseph and of The Annunciation. It only happens because Easter fell so early this year, and as others have reported, it won't be this early again in our lifetimes. Like St. Joseph, this observance was transferred because its normal day of March 25 was Tuesday of Easter Week this year, which takes precedence. There's a lot of significance to the fact that the both the (step-) Father and Mother of Our Lord have their feasts this year one right after the other. I will try to take some time today to meditate on this, as it's an occurrence very much worth taking time to note.
Joseph never gets a song or even much dialog in Scripture. So not much music for him. (Here's one piece I did find.) But Mary does. In honor of today, here's a haunting setting of her Song, the Magnificat by one of my favorite composers, Arvo Part:
Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord, that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought to the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Feast of St. Joseph, patron of the Universal Church, is scheduled for March 21 in the Episcopal Church's calendar, but this year that was Good Friday, so it was transferred to the first open date after the Second Sunday of Easter, or today. I like St. Joseph because of the poignancy in which Matthew and Luke recount what he did. In Matthew, he "did the right thing" by his fiancee Mary, and in Luke he's unnamed in today's Gospel but is concerned, along with Mary, when Jesus isn't in the traveling group coming back down from Jerusalem. And it's telling that Jesus "went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them." What a wonderful example of the young Jesus, who in Luke's Gospel has at least some inkling of his own identity, of a contribution to family life!
I'm reminded of the novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, by Anne Rice. This is her fictional account of how Jesus and his family came back from Egypt after Joseph took them there to hide from King Herod. There are some wonderful family moments in the novel, highly imaginative, that I think captured a good spirit of how the family might have related. I just discovered that Christ the Lord: the Road to Cana has just been published in hardback. I might have to get it once it comes in paperback. I enjoyed Rice's first novel in this series, and especially how she came back to the Roman Catholic Church and was inspired to write this series through her faith. I will proably want to reread it before I get the next one.
Update after Evening Prayer: The Second Lesson for this Evening is Ephesians 3:14-21. My Harper-Collins Study Bible has an interesting footnote to the word "family" in verse 15. It notes that in the Greek the word is "fatherhood" or πατρια ("patria"). It's obviously a completely appropriate passage to use on the Feast of St. Joseph, in that the sense of the verse is "I bow my knees to the Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named." St. Joseph, after all, served as step-father to Jesus. And yet all the major English translations, going back to the King James Version, render the word "patria" in this verse as "family." So there's a long tradition of translating this verse, in English at least, quite differently, even in times when awareness of inclusivity was not common at all. There's obviously more to this than I am qualified to discern, otherwise I would assume even the KJV would have rendered the word as "fatherhood."
O God, who from the family of your servant David raised up Joseph to be the guardian of your incarnate Son and the spouse of his virgin mother: Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to your commands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Opening day is today, with Atlanta visiting Washington. My Fantasy Baseball draft was yesterday, and the 2008 edition of RFSJuniors is now playing, with a link in the sidebar. Once again I own Tim Hudson, who is opening pitcher this evening for Atlanta.
In honor of Opening Day, something from Peanuts (click to enlarge):
This Sunday is always the conclusion of the Octave of Easter, the Day of Resurrection itself and the seven days following. The Gospel is always the encounter of Jesus and Thomas (our Patron!) in the locked room. It's a great story and always full of meaning. Here is my offering for this day:
St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Vernon The Second Sunday of Easter 2008 (BCP) Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Ps 118:19-24; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20-19-31 The Rev. R. F. Solon, Jr., Vicar
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be always acceptable to you, O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer.
It’s rare that the passage of time in the Gospel matches the passage of time in real life. It happens in Holy Week, of course. We enter in to the Triduum, the Three Days beginning Thursday night through Sunday, in much the same time sequence as how the passion narratives relate them. Notably, all four Gospels observe in almost exactly the same language, that very early on the first day of the week, various individuals discovered that the tomb was opened and that Jesus was not there. There are a few other days this happens, including the Ascension, forty days after Easter, which is May 1 this year, and Pentecost, fifty days after Easter, May 11. And finally, today as well. John recounts that a week after Easter, or today, Jesus appeared a second time to the disciples behind closed doors. The first time, Thomas, our beloved patron, was not there, but he was the second time. And that, for better or for worse, is where poor Thomas gets the nickname “Doubting Thomas.”
I don’t know about you, but I guess I have a problem with that nickname. Thomas wasn’t there the first time that Jesus appeared to the disciples. So when they said to him, “yeah, we were all there behind locked doors so the authorities wouldn’t find us, and all of a sudden Jesus was there too!” I can see Thomas saying, “Uh, right. What spices did you use in that lamb you had that night? How much wine did you drink?” To be fair to Thomas, the disciples didn’t believe Mary Magdalene either when she told them that she had seen the Lord. And we don’t call them the Doubting Disciples. So I think Thomas got a bit of a bad rap.
And you know what? I think John may have thought so too. When Thomas is present a week later, same as today, Jesus appears again and immediately invites Thomas to do what he had said he needed to do. He showed Thomas his hands and his side, the wounds of the Crucifixion, and asked Thomas to inspect them. And then Thomas says, “My Lord and My God!”
That’s truly an amazing thing for John to have Thomas say. In one brief sentence Thomas, the so-called doubter, utters the climactic confession of who Jesus is, in the entire Fourth Gospel. He definitively proclaims Jesus as not only Lord but also as God himself. No other human being in this Gospel gets that singular honor in quite the same way. So it seems to me that Thomas should be called The Confessor rather than The Doubter.
But there’s more to this story, as if that weren’t enough. We hear this very passage every year on the Second Sunday of Easter. There’s a very good reason for that. We Christians make the shocking claim that the man Jesus is, as Thomas described him, both Lord and God. It was just as difficult to accept back then as perhaps it is now. Because we really do mean that. We really do confess that there was a human being who was both human and divine, that that no one else was ever like him, and that because of him, our separation from God who creates all things is ended. One of the reasons we have this story on this day every year is because it asks us to stop and think. Do we really believe what we’ve been saying? Is this really who we believe this Jesus to be? Are we sure?
It’s easy to get swept up in the emotion and grandeur of first Holy Week and then the Great Vigil and Easter Sunday itself. Our liturgies are designed in part to do exactly that. But that was last week. We’ve had a week to calm down and think things through, to go back perhaps and examine those passages of scripture, those hymns. What do we mean but all of that? Do we believe? And in what?
In John’s gospel, “belief” is more like trust and not so much like intellectual assent. So for Jesus to say, “do not doubt, but believe” is more like saying, “It’s OK - trust in what you see.” Jesus was telling Thomas that no, his eyes were no deceiving him and that yes, it really was Jesus standing there. And Jesus says the same thing to us. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” In other words, so what if you haven’t seen exactly what Thomas and the other Eleven saw in the locked room nearly two thousand years ago. That’s OK. What do you see and hear and taste and smell and feel, right now? Those sensations are real and you are blessed when you trust in them.
And what do you see and hear and taste and smell and feel? I’ll tell what I sense when I open my eyes and ears and heart. I see a community of Christians gathered in honor of this very apostle. I see a community that reaches out to those less fortunate, especially in the Interfaith Hospitality Network and the other feeding ministries we support. I hear a community when it says it’s important to not only worship, but to serve. The Hiker Hostel is a wonderful and unique ministry that we will want and need to continue and strengthen. Along with you, I hear the Word and taste and smell the Body and Blood of our Risen Lord every Sunday at this Altar around which we gather. And I feel my heart opening with the warmth and love that you have for each other. And because of all that, I trust in what I observe about this place and this community. I join with our blessed patron in saying “My Lord and My God” because I can see and hear and taste and touch the Lord all around me.
My friends, I think Jesus was very clear that it’s OK to doubt, to question, to not be exactly sure. Jesus doesn’t ask us to sign on a dotted line and affirm a long list of theological propositions about himself. And neither does the Epsicopal Church. When we, in just a few minutes, recite that ancient statement of faith, the Nice Creed, we start with the same words that Jesus uses: “We believe.” In other words, we trust. We trust in the reality of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we trust in what we sense in this community when our hearts open to the reality of Jesus in and among us here at St. Thomas’s. The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty. Certainty doesn’t need trust to get along. Faith does. When we become so certain in the ideas and statements we assent to, that we don’t actually need the reality of Jesus anymore, then we have actually ceased believing altogether.
So this week, I invite you to join with Thomas our patron and use all your senses to seek the Lord. Schedule a few minutes each day to spend some time with yourself. It could be, like Thomas, behind a literal closed door. Or it could just be a time for yourself when other distractions are lessened. It doesn’t have to be a long time. Maybe while you’re shaving or going to work or on the bus to school or doing chores. How do you see Christ now in your life? How do you hear him and feel him and touch him? Are there ways you seem you don’t sense Jesus that you find you need? Areas in other words, which you doubt, where you find it difficult to trust in what you are actually sensing? It’s perfectly fine if there are. Thomas, after all, needed to touch Jesus in order to come to faith. Jesus met Thomas right where Thomas was and gave him just what he needed. As you examine your own faith this week, ask Jesus to help you where you need help. Do you need to see Jesus? Touch him? Hear him? Feel him? If you find these – perhaps I should say, when you find them, because we all have a bit of Thomas in each of us – don’t feel ashamed or dismayed. Jesus didn’t shame Thomas, after all. Individual faith, and the faith of the community, cannot grow, cannot strengthen, without understanding what things to work on, to invite Jesus to enter more fully into.
My friends, that’s the real faith that is the opposite of doubt. Not certainty. That’s merely false faith. But the faith that grows from questioning and wonder is true faith. That’s the faith that will enable each of us to show forth in our lives what we profess by our faith. Then our proclamation, along with St. Thomas our Patron, of “My Lord and My God” will be not only words, but real, something that people can see and touch and taste and feel in the world around us and around them. That’s the Good News, not only said with our words but lived out in our lives. Amen.
And for a worthy conclusion to these most holy days in the Christian year:
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
TheSeventh Day of the Octave of Easter brings us to almost the end of the story of Peter and James and also the so-called "Longer ending" of the Gospel of Mark. The authorities try to censor Peter and James, who promptly said, "Well, too bad, because we have to keep speaking about what we have seen and heard." And this coming from uneducated Peter, fisherman, who before meeting Jesus might have only met his own rabbi at his own local synagague. What transformations God can perform in people!
The Gospel of Mark definitively ends only at 16:8. There are still 12 verses listed in most Bibles, but the New Revised Standard Version lists all of them as doubtful, in that the earliest manuscripts of Mark did not have them. In a way, it shouldn't be too surprising that editors and scribes would be uncomfortable with leaving Mark at verse 8: "So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." No witnessing of anything by anyone; simply sheer terror.
Here's the footnote the NRSV includes at verse 8: "Some of the most ancient authorities bring the book to a close at the end of verse 8. One authority concludes the book with the shorter ending; others include the shorter ending and then continue with verses 9-20. In most authorities verses 9-20 follow immediately after verse 8, though in some of these authorities the passage is marked as being doubtful."
Mark is considered by most scholars to be the earliest-written of the Gospel accounts. It's interesting to read Mark and the other Resurrection accounts. They are very different in various ways. If Mark indeed is the earliest, perhaps he simply didn't have some of the other stories that Matthew, Luke, and John did. Perhaps an editor borrowed liberally from other sources to "flesh out" the Gospel, feeling that it couldn't possibly by complete otherwise. If that happened, I wish he hadn't; verse 16:18 has been a trouble spot for those who take the entire Scripture literally. Here's a nice overview of what has been discovered about the Shorter and the Longer Endings of Mark.
More music from The Messiah for this day:
We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Today, during our 8-day celebration of the Octave, we hear on this Friday of Easter Week more repercussions of the healing of the lame man by Peter and John - they are hauled before the Sanhedrin and called to account. And Peter did. "Filled with the Holy Spirit," Peter again testifies to Jesus' saving power. Now Acts is silent as to how long after Pentecost this took, but it can't have been more than weeks or months, it seems. So those chief priests, et. al., were pretty busy!
And then, after the Psalm, we hear my absolute favorite resurrection story: John's account of the Breakfast by the Sea. There are so many truly odd details it would be easy to get bogged down in them. 153 fish? Who counted and why? Why did Peter put clothes on to jump into the water? Why the right side of the net? Now John's Gospel is usually chock-full of allegory and other details, ausually the details of allegory are important to understanding the point of the story. In this case it seems that maybe the odd details, in their oddity, are meant to remind one of what's really important: Jesus himself prepared breakfast for his friends! To me, that is awe-inspiring and astonishing. The strange details here are perhaps like neon signs that suggest that something is worth sitting up for. A neon sign is cool in and of itself, but its true value is that it points to something else. "Come and have breakfast!" Of course, we get breakfast every Sunday when we come to the Table, but that one must have been sublime!
It's a bit harder to find appropriate music from The Messiah to match this Gospel, but here goes:
Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
On this Thursday of the Octave of Easter, we hear one of my favorite Resurrection stories, this time from Luke. the disciples are sitting around, and Jesus appears to them. some don't believe it's him - the text says they thought they were seeing a ghost. So he asks for some food, and it's a piece of fish, which he proceeds to eat. Broiled too. Interesting detail. I'm always fascinated by the seemingly random details that often pop up in the Gospels in particular. Are they significant? Some are, such as the names of the women specifically mentioned in the geneology of Jesus. Some might be, like the name of the slave whose ear Peter cut off in the Garden of Gethsemane. And other might not be, like this one. Perhaps it's whether we we can attach some theological significance to that detail at the moment or not. I confess that whether it's broiled or not does not seem to matter, although the Greek for the word is a hapax logomenon, a unique occurrence, in the entire Scriptural text. Often that does mean something, but sometimes it's just a word.
More Easter Music for today:
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Ah, this explains many things (Click on any image to enlarge)!
I feel like lounging around myself this week - do you suppose there's a Manhattan nin that cup?
I'm impressed the cartoonist got both the reference to Lent and its length correct! And how many of us who fasted then binged when our Lenten fasts were over - I can totally relate:
Shades of the vicarage from a few weeks ago! Fortunately, there's been no water since and the guys have already come to clean it up. Thank you, Church Insurance!
I am soo not a morning person - there are days I totally feel like this:
The Church continues to celebrate the Octave of Easter on this Wednesday of Easter Week. Today we hear the story of Peter and James and the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and then one of my most favorite passages, the appearance of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. The disciples asked themselves, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" What a wonderful tribute to the power of Scritpure to point the way to the Word Incarnate! And then they the apostles back in Jerusalem told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
For me, some of my most intimate encounters with other people have been with food, while breaking bread together. This most basic act of human fellowship becomes, for us, the means of not only encountering each other, but the means to encounter the Risen Lord as well. I have been strongly attracted to and interested in the Eucharist ever since I was rather young. I think that's one reason I discerned a call to ordained ministry. It is such a privilege to say the prayer over the gifts on behalf of the assembled congregation. I hope it never becomes rote for either me as presider or for those who assemble in Jesus' name.
My "home" parish, the parish that supported in my discernment toward ministry, is Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis. They have always used and still use real bread at all Sunday Eucharists, and it was there I think I finally made some of the connections between the bread we break and the Body of Christ. I guess I was and slow to pick up the symbolism, but I've always found it easier to understand the blessed bread as the Body of Christ than to be understand a small round tasteless host as being bread! So this Eastertide at St. Thomas's we're using real bread. We're working on various recipes because the crumbs can get to be a bit much. If anyone knows of any good recipes that aren't too crumbly, please let me know!
Here is a particularly apt movement from Part I of The Messiah for today:
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Today we continue the Octave of Easter with Tuesday of Easter Week. Today we hear the conclusion of Peter's sermon at Pentecost and hear (again) Mary's encounter with Jesus at the tomb from the Gospel of John.
(Today is not the Feast of the Annunciation this year; all Major Feasts falling in Holy Week or Easter Week are transferred to the open days after the Second Sunday of Easter; so next Monday is the Major Feast of St. Joseph [normally March 21, which was Good Friday this year] , and then next Tuesday is the Annunciation. PotD will observe both feasts in their, um, proper order!)
I've thought for a while that the conflicting details of the resurrection accounts must show that Jesus was in some sense quite different after he rose than before. Mary didn't recognize him at first, and neither did the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Perhaps it's like describing an elephant if you've never seen one; Jesus was so different in his resurrected body, yet similar to the unresurrected body, that people just couldn't get a grasp on what was happening.
More music for the Easter Octave here:
O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.
In the Episcopal church, the entire week after Easter is celebrated as a series of Major Feasts. Originally called an "octave," meaning "eight," there were a lot of octaves observed at various times in the life of the Church, including the Octave of Christmas (12 days, really!) the Octave of Pentecost, and sometimes various octaves for saints of local veneration. But this is the only one remaining, which seems appropriate to me. Thus, today is Monday of Easter Week.
The First Lesson this week comes from Acts - it's a tradition during the Easter Octave and the Sundays of Eastertide to recount the early days of the Church in place of a selection from the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus, today is St. Peter's first public sermon, at Pentecost. And today's gospel has certain affinities with John's version as well, especially the phrase, "and they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him." Apparently, though, no confusion about who Jesuswas, a la Mary and the gardener.
I wonder if the details about securing the tomb by the temple police are made up or true?
Here's some more music from Part III of The Messiah in honor of the Octave:
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
This day is the Sunday of Sundays, the first of the Great Fifty Days of Easter, ending at Pentecost, the Fiftieth Day. On this day Christians celebrate the basic truth of our faith: Christ is Risen! We make the audacious claim that the man named Jesus of Nazareth was executed as a common criminal and then rose again from being dead three days later. We say that, in the Resurrection, not even death could separate Jesus, and us, from the love of God. From this simple statement comes all of our faith and worship and practice. And so this is the most solemn day of the year for us. All other days, and all other Sundays, take their model from this day. And so we rejoice as much as we can. Our Lenten Fast is ended, and the Great Pashcal Feast begins!
In honor of our Risen Savior, here's what I offered today at my parish:
St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Vernon
The Day of Resurrection 2008 (BCP)
Acts 10:34-43; Ps 118: 14-17, 22-24; Col 3:1-4; John 20:1-18
The Rev. R. F. Solon, Jr., Vicar
May these words be in the Name of Him Who Overcame Death and the Grave, Amen!
As some of you know, I moved into the very nice home that is part of the St. Thomas’s complex a week ago yesterday.I’m very fortunate because my commute to work is pretty easy.I know many of you have very long drives to work and so, believe me, I’m very grateful to not have very far to go at all.For the most part, the move went very well and I’m grateful for all the help that members of the parish offered both in BayonneNew Jersey, where I moved from, and on this end here in Vernon.The unloading of the truck was much easier than the loading, I noticed, and that was actually a good thing, since we were all pretty tired.
One of the things that was wasn’t so nice was that it took more than a week to arrange for internet service.Now, many of you know that my first line or work before ordained ministry was in information technology.I worked for a leading-edge technology research firm, and so we had excellent email and phone and broadband internet service.And those of us of a certain age pretty much take for granted that we will have it when we want it or need it. Now, admittedly, there are those like my brother, who have basically never not had the internet in their lives.I can still remember quite clearly that I didn’t get my first email account until after college. Now kids are getting them in sixth grade or even earlier, not to mention getting cell phones and all the rest of what goes along with the Internet age.
In a way, not having internet access during Holy Week was a blessing.It was good not to be distracted, and to be able to keep my heart and soul on what was important this past week.At the same time, it’s amazing how much I missed it.I really wanted to be able to read the newspaper online, and to get my funnies via email like I usually do, and to be able to do all the other things I’m used to doing when I have a good internet connection.I missed all that!And I wanted it back.Just like any effective fast, where one gives something up to help one’s spiritual life, this particular one definitely helped open my eyes to what I think might be important in my life and what actually is important.And I didn’t even do it deliberately – it was all because Service Electric doesn’t operate as quickly as I thought they should have!And to think that all that stuff I wanted so, is all just bits and bytes – not even real, just little ones and zeros in a bunch of computers somewhere, who knows where.It’s all virtual.You can’t touch it or feel it.And yet it has taken such a place of importance in my life!
I’m struck by the difference in what we encounter as Christians, and what the Internet offers.We’ve just moved through Holy Week.During this time we experienced in real life much of what we commemorate.Last Sunday we took real palms and entered Jerusalem with Jesus.On Thursday we used real water and washed each others’ feet in the very act of love that Jesus specifically asked us to do. On Friday many of us revered the cross of nails and wood, physically standing in front of us.We knelt in front of it and touched it.It was real and we could feel it. We even honor the Gospel with a real book and we bring it right in to the middle of the people when we read it.And today we will eat real bread and drink real wine.We will eat the real meal that Jesus asked to eat in his memory, just as we do on every Sunday.
We Christians are in to stuff – real stuff, that we can feel and touch and taste and see..It’s not things that are out there or that only appear to be real – it’s right here among us.We’re into symbolism, sure.You can’t experience Holy Week without realizing that much of what we do is symbolic.But we use real stuff to do so.We don’t just talk about it or think about it.We do it.We use real things to announce the reality of what we know and trust.And the reason we are so into atoms and molecules and stuff, rather than merely bits and bytes and words, is that Jesus himself was real.He was real blood and bone and hair and teeth and all the rest.He really existed, with cells and DNA, and he took up space and experienced time.The fact that God himself became human had the effect of blessing, sanctifying, if you will, the entire created order.Because Jesus was human, we humans are holy too.But not only that.We glory in the fact that Jesus was really on earth, and that makes the entire earth and all of creation holy too.We Christians are so into matter, the stuff of creation, the real things that make up life, because Jesus was really present, was really human, really died and was really raised from the dead.
Just one example may help.Jesus tells Mary, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.”It sounds like Mary may have perhaps grabbed hold of Jesus.She was physically touching him.It wasn’t some virtual thing.It was real.He was real, as real as she was.He talked to her.And apparently she had a good grip on him, too, enough that he had to tell her to let go.Our whole emphasis on reality stems from the truth that Jesus was a human being.Jesus, the Son of God in a way we can probably never completely understand, became human and suffered and died and was raised so that we might become divine and be with God.
All our focus on stuff, on the created order, is well and good. Jesus for a time occupied space and time right along with the rest of us.He wasn’t’ merely virtual. He didn’t just exist as some kind of avatar like in Facebook or Myspace.He really lived. And He really died too, because he was human.But he was not simply human, but more than human.When he died, death could not keep him.God raised him, to prove to Mary at the tomb and to us today, that Jesus, both human and divine, could not be bound by the laws of nature that bind us.And because death could not keep him from God, death cannot keep us from God either.There’s no reason to be ashamed of our humanness, because Jesus was human too.Not only that, we know, we trust, that just as Jesus was no longer separated from God, neither are we.The physicality of Jesus is our physicality too, and so we share in not only his death but also his rising again.
In the midst of all the problems that come from being real flesh and blood, of being atoms and molecules and all the stuff that makes us up, we can be certain that God loves us.God created us, after all, in God’s own image.Not only that, God sent Jesus to take on humanity as well.If God were ashamed of us or of our raw flesh-and-bone natures, do you think he would become one of us, right down to the DNA, in Jesus?But he did!And that’s the Good News of the Resurrection.In the Resurrection, God says, “Yes, Jesus is human and so he died.But Jesus is also my son and so he lives.And you are my children too and so you live as well!”
Our physical lives aren’t always easy.It’s hard being a human being, a creature of cells, organs, skin and flesh. And life for many of us hasn’t gotten much easier.Gas is really expensive.The economy is really weak.Jobs are difficult.We have problems with our loved ones. We get sick.We die.But we can be sure that in all our physicalness, Jesus is there too.God is right with us, in the good times and the bad.It may seem that God is not around, but never forget the that truth of the Resurrection is that Jesus was just like you and just like me – eyes and skin and hair and muscles and teeth and hands and feet and blood and everything.And Jesus is right here now, too.Not in a virtual way, like your friends who are only a click or a text message away over the Internet.Right here with us.Right now.
That’s why we gather in real time, not in the virtual world, but in reality.We come together because Christ came to us first.Our physical lives are made holy by his physical death and physical rising again.There’s nothing virtual about it.The internet is about virtual life – it doesn’t really exist.It’s hardly important.Jesus in the resurrection assures us that real life is really important – the good parts, as well as the not-so-good parts.It’s far more important than any virtual reality we may see on the internet.It’s not just our souls that God is interested in.It’s all of us.On this Day of Resurrection, remember that your real life is loved by God.Not as you could be.Not as you might be on the Internet.Not even as others see you.Those are all avatars, mere simulations.They’re all virtual.Reality is what counts.Reality is what Jesus came to redeem.Reality – you and me, with our ups and downs, with our joys and our sorrows , the messiness of life itself – that’s what Jesus redeems too.That’s you, and that’s me. As we get on with our real lives, we can know and trust that Jesus is right here with us, in our real lives.He is real, and his reality makes us real too. And that’s infinitely better than anything you can dream up on the Internet!
Amen.
In honor of this day, a selection from the Messiah, one of my most favorite pieces of music:
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Our Lenten fast is over and we celebrate with the whole Church this night the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord. I would quote from the Exultet, the ancient hymn of praise for the Paschal Candle and the New Light of Christ, but I do so below.....
St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Vernon
The Great Vigil of Easter 2008
The Rev. R. F. Solon, Jr., Vicar
In the Name of our Risen Lord. Alleluia!
I have a confession to make.I’m really shy, and I get anxious in new situations.I can clearly remember the first day of school after moving, and the first day of junior high, and especially high school.I was worried and nervous and unsure of myself of what was going to happen.I was really afraid of what people would think of me and what they might say.More than school, though, I can clearly recall the first day of work at each new job I’ve taken.There was so much to learn, so many forms to fill out.What if I did something wrong?What if they found out I really wasn’t as qualified as they thought?What if my boss or my co-workers hated me?All my anxieties piled up and I often had a headache by noon. Often, it wasn’t until weeks or months later that things started to make sense and started to come together in a coherent way.
I can distinctly remember one particular day, when I was driving in to work.I was a computer analyst working for the Department of Defense on a human resources computer system.Our software handled the payroll, personnel, and accounting for large parts of the Department.The business rules were very complicated, and I was unfamiliar with the technology.There was a great deal to come up to speed on, and even though there was a training program on the mainframe technology we used, my level of anxiety still was pretty high for what seemed like a long time.So one day I was driving into work and it suddenly clicked.I could suddenly see how the major pieces worked and how things fit together and what everything did.It was almost stunning how it happened so suddenly.One moment, I was in the dark, and in another moment, I was in the light. At least, that’s what it felt like.Maybe you’ve had moments like that in your work or in a group you belong to or in your education.It’s amazing how all of a sudden it all begins to make sense.
Those two ideas, remembering and light, are what we’re doing this evening.We started out Vigil in darkness, and we lit the New Fire of Easter.Now for most of human history, it was dangerous to let a fire or flame totally die out.Sometimes you couldn’t get it lit again.Flint and steel aren’t the easiest way to make a spark, and you have to have very flammable items around to catch that spark.So when our forebears in faith put out their lights – all of them – on Good Friday, they weren’t just making a symbolic gesture.There were really participating in the darkness that came over the land at the Crucifixion.So the lighting of the New Fire was truly a joyous occasion.That’s why we solemnly escorted our own new Easter light to the honored place it has now.We, too, are participating in the fact that Jesus, who rose from the dead, conquered not only death but darkness.That’s why we sing, with countless Christians of ages past, the festive, “The Light of Christ! Thanks be to God,” for the new light we have.Even though our own lights are available to use at the touch of a button, in our hearts we can remember how terrible and scary darkness really is.
We then took time to listen to our own sacred history, while we waited for the Easter proclamation.In ages past, the Church did a lot of vigils.The purpose of a vigil is to keep watch and to wait for something else that is about to happen.It’s a moment of transition from one state to honor. Squires who were about to become knights kept vigil with their swords all night in the church.Christians kept vigils on the eves of the major festivals of the year, like Pentecost, Christmas, and of course Easter.They could last all night.There would be long cycles of readings, Psalms, and prayers.No one was in a rush, because they couldn’t get there any more quickly. People would come and go as they needed to, but most settled in for the duration.People would get a little sleepy, they might doze off, but for the most part, they stayed all night, keeping watch and waiting.They wanted to make sure they were there for the beginning of the Easter celebration.It’s kind of like camping out to get tickets for a concert you really really want to see.
But not only that.The point of the vigil was to not only gather in anticipation, to look forward, but also to look back, to remember. We did that tonight.We recalled the poetic account of the creation of the whole universe by God’s hands.With Noah and his family, we watched the destructive power of water to ravage the earth. We were then witnesses to the Covenant of the Rainbow that God made, the covenant that would be extended into today with the action of our risen Lord.We, with the Israelites, escaped from the bondage of slavery into freedom, again at God’s mighty hand.We followed the Pillar of Fire through the waters of the Red Sea.Isaiah invited his hearers and us to the unending banquet of the Lord, the very same banquet of which we will partake in just a few minutes.And we exulted with Zephaniah at the glorious promises of restoration and wholeness that God made.We remembered where we have come from while waiting for the fullness of the New Light of Christ to come.
After that we took time to remember, still by the light of the Paschal Candle, the Pillar of Fire and Cloud, that we are children of God, adopted sons and daughters.As St. Paul reminded us, we are dead to sin and alive to God in the Resurrection of Jesus.We recalled in words our own personal covenants with God in Jesus, and then recalled in action our baptisms, as we were sprinkled with the water that can both ravage a world and can also cleanse us from sin.
And finally, it was time!The fortieth day of Lent was over!Sunset was upon us, which in both ancient Jewish and Christian tradition meant it was already the Third Day. And so, there was nothing left to do but proclaim the Easter Acclamation – Christ is Risen!Alleluia!And we continued our festive alleluia right through the Gospel, the Good News that announced that not even death could keep Jesus from God’s love.That means, too, that not even death can separate you and me from God’s love in Christ either.
This is the night, when God brought out our forebears in faith, the children of Israel, out of bondage in Egypt, and led them through the Red Sea on dry land!
This is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from the gloom of sin, and are restored to grace and holiness of life!
This is the night when Christ broke the bonds of death and hell, and rose victorious from the grave!
This is the night, my sisters and brothers, when it all comes together.This is the night which is the source of everything we do as Christians.All other Sundays, all of our feasts, all of our fasts, are merely stripped down versions of this night.And so, echoing with the triumphant voices of Christians for ages and ages, we proclaim again the ancient cry:
On this day the Church waits. I've always thought that Holy Saturday is under-appreciated. There is a Proper Liturgy for this day, but I don't think very many churches observe it, including my own. (Maybe next year). The tone of the Scriptures seems funereal to some degree, and at the Prayers of the People we recite "In the Midst of Life" instead. For myself, I find that verse five of Psalm 130, appointed for today, is most apt:
My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning * more than watchmen for the morning.
As we wait for the third day, it's good to be reminded that Saturday has traditionally been a day for rest and relaxation, at least here in the US. Somehow, as all Sundays take their sense from the Great Sunday, the Day of Resurrection and its Vigil, I can see there's a way that all Saturdays can take their sense from Holy Saturday. Not as a day of mourning, because that really isn't the feel. Rather, it's a day of rest - a rest for the body of Jesus, and perhaps a rest for our own bodies as well.
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
These are my thoughts and musings about whatever I'm thinking. They're mostly for me, but you may find them entertaining or enlightening - or not! I tend to organize my life around the Feasts and Fasts of the Church, hence the title, Proper of the Day.
