EASTER III
A Sermon by The Most Reverend Mark Haverland,
Archbishop & Metropolitan,
Anglican Catholic Church (Original Province)
Saint John xvi, verse 22 -...your heart shall rejoice: and your joy no man taketh from you.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
The Church calendar has been called the greatest teaching tool ever invented. That is of course not a claim that is patient of proof, but it certainly is a claim for which there are many reasons and much evidence. I think that the instructiveness of the Church year and its patterns is particularly evident at this time of year. I would today like not so much to focus on the gospel for Easter III as to consider the day in the context of the Church calendar. I think this matter of context will help us understand the day better, and then fit it into the Sundays soon to follow.
The gospel is the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. That salvation has at its center the events that we recall and reenact on Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter. Palm Sunday and Holy Week bring us the story of the Passion and crucifixion. Easter brings us the story of the Resurrection. These great days in turn lie in the middle of a series of six Sundays to which our tradition gives specific names: Mothering Sunday, Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday, Easter Day, Low Sunday, and Good Shepherd Sunday. These named days stretch from mid- Lent to Good Shepherd Sunday last week which is well into Eastertide. In my sermon last Sunday I suggested to another congregation that Good Shepherd Sunday is in a sense a natural and appropriate culmination of this period of the Church year. The goal of the Christian life is, in a sense, to become part of the flock of Christ, to come under the care of the Good Shepherd. It seems to me that Palm Sunday proves that Christ is good - that at the heart of our Lord's work is love. As we gaze at the cross, which Palm Sunday and Holy Week hold up steadfastly before our eyes, we see love at work. Palm Sunday shows us that the heaven is not cold or the world indifferent. On the contrary, at the center of the universe is a heart that burns with love for us and that proved that love upon a cross. Christ is good - so Palm Sunday shows us.
But goodness alone may be impotent and helpless. Easter is needed in addition to Palm Sunday because Easter vindicates Christ's goodness and shows that his love for us is triumphant and mighty over death and sin. Easter shows us that Christ has the power of a Shepherd to protect and guard his flock and to bring us safely home. So together Palm Sunday and Easter show us that Christ is indeed the Good Shepherd, in whom love and power, goodness and strength, are united. The austerities of Lent and the glories of Easter, then, together point us towards Good Shepherd Sunday.
Now if these six central Sundays of the Church year all move towards last week and the revelation of Christ as the Good Shepherd, then today we begin another series of six weeks, which point us to another central dogma of the Christian faith: the Trinity. If you read the gospels for today and the next four Sundays, you will find that they gradually turn our attention from Easter Day towards the Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. In today's gospel our Lord begins to prepare his disciples for his departure from the world: 'A little while and ye shall not see me.. .because I go to the Father.' This refers, of course, to his Ascension. Next Sunday we begin to look even beyond the Ascension to the descent of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Church: 'when.. .the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.' Christ is our Good Shepherd and he died and rose from the dead. But the end and purpose and goal of Christ's work is to bring us to heaven and into the life of God himself. And in pursuit of this ultimate goal the Church year moves us forward in these next six weeks through prophecies of the Ascension and the Coming of the Holy Ghost and anticipations of the revelation of God as Trinity.
Consider if you will again the movement of these Sundays. On Easter V, Rogation Sunday, the major theme is prayer. Indeed 'Rogation' comes from the Latin verb rogare, to ask or pray. The theme of the gospel that day is prayer to God the Father: 'Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.' So there is God the Father. Then come Ascension Day and Ascension Sunday, which celebrate God the Son, who 'came forth from the Father' and then returned to the Father. There is God the Son. Then comes Pentecost, the great feast of God the Holy Ghost, who comes into the world from the bosom of the Father, through the Son, to continue God's presence with us after the Ascension. Rogation Sunday shows us the Father; Ascensiontide shows us the Son; Pentecost shows us the Holy Spirit. And then we conclude this series with its last Sunday, the feast of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity, which is the great pinnacle and crown of revelation, the end towards which the whole Church year moves and the hinge on which its seasons swing.
I hope you are beginning to see that the majestic progress of the Church year, its lessons, and its seasons reveal to us the love and the power of Christ, and through that revelation move us towards the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. There is an inner coherence and purpose to this movement. For many years I found the Third and Fourth Sundays in Eastertide — this week and next – very difficult to understand. The gospels for these two Sundays seemed to me to anticipate Pentecost so much that I found it difficult to distinguish them. But I think now that I see a wisdom in the gradual movement or turn from the Resurrection towards the Spirit and the Trinity. The movement is stately and deliberate as is the vast movement of the Spirit in human history itself. Gradually the truth unfolds, as God's purposes in our world also unfold, often slowly, imperceptibly, and in ways both so vast and so subtle that we cannot easily explain or detect them. But God is at work indeed. The Spirit descends, shaping and moving our hearts and our wills and our world. The Lord is assimilating us into his flock under the care of the Good Shepherd, under the will of the Father, under the enlivening influence of the Spirit: all so that we may come to the final purpose of human life - which is to glorify and enjoy the Holy Trinity forever.
And so indeed, as my text says, our hearts shall rejoice, our hearts do rejoice: for God is giving to u:s a joy which no man can take from us. God is watching over us, ruling our world, and leading us into his own eternal life.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
He is risen. The Lord is risen indeed.
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ORGAN FUND SUCCESS!
With contributions received and pledges outstanding, the amount needed for the new organ has been reached. A very special thank you to each of you who have donated or pledged funds to purchase the new needed organ for the parish. Thank you again. And God bless.
New Event: Women's Tea, Brunch & "Baby Shower" for the MaRiH Crisis Pregnancy Center, Saturday, June 7, 10:00 AM.-12:00 PM, church undercroft.
Join us for food and fellowship, while helping the MaRiH Center's important mission! Please bring an item from the critical needs list in this issue of the e-letter below, or you may also order items from MaRiH Center's Amazon page to be delivered directly to the center: https://www.amazon.com/baby-reg/marih-center-december-2019-alexandria/ZTJWLHWSD2VR.
Services & Events
Sunday Services, 7:45 AM, 9:00 AM, & 11:15 AM (for online participation for the services go to: https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland)
Sunday School, 10:30 AM
Nursery 9:00 & 11:15 Services
Wednesday at Noon – Holy Communion and anointing for healing (for online participation please above under Sunday Services)
Men's Breakfast & Bible Study, Saturday May 17, 8:30 AM, Breakfast, Bible study with Fr. Bragg , and great fellowship.
Next Vestry Meeting, Monday June 2, 7:30 PM, church undercroft
Saturday, June 7, 10:00 AM to Noon, Women's Tea, Brunch & "Baby Shower" for the MaRih Crisis Pregnancy Center, church.
UPDATED NEEDS FOR MaRiH CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTER
As you will see in the list below, MaRiH Center has made a number of changes in its critically needed items. The Center provides help to mothers-to-be and mothers in need. Please provide some of the items that are needed..They are very greatly appreciated. (You can leave the donations where the food for the food bank is collected on the pew in the undercorft.)
Especially Needed
In Bold and with an asterisk are a critical need. Please note changes in diaper needs and other items.
*Diapers (sizes newborn, 1, 2, *3, *4, *5, & *6)
*Lovies
*Baby wipes
Diaper rash ointment
Baby shampoo
*Baby blankets
Baby bottles
*Bibs toddler
*Formula: *Simulac Advance Formula
Formula: other but not recalled
Wash clothes
Hooded Towels
Spring/summer clothing: 3-6 mo, 2T
*Grocery gift cards
Food Bank Needs
The food bank appreciates the generosity of our parish.Please help this month with a food donation if you are able. Those we help feed are very thankful for the food we provide to them each month. Please also buy low sugar cereals (and not the kid's types that have lots of sugar). Current needs include the following:
canned meats (chicken, corned beef, spam)
peanut butter
jelly
tuna
canned vegetables (corn, green beans - (regular and low sodium)
individual fruit cups (low sugar)
canned fruit (low sugar)
canola or vegetable oil (48 oz)
boxed cereal (low sugar) and instant or old fashioned oatmeal (18 oz or 42 oz)
pasta (regular and gluten-free):
instant potatoes
single serving fruit juice
macaroni & cheese
soups: Chunky or Progresso,noodle soup; chicken broth, cream of mushroom
coffee, cooking oil, flour, sugar
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