THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT - GAUDETE SUNDAY

 

The Bag

Away despair! my gracious Lord doth heare.
Though windes and waves assault my keel,
He doth preserve it: He doth steer,
Ev’n when the boat seems most to reel.
Storms are the triumph of His art:
Well may He close His eyes, but not His heart.

Hast thou not heard, that my Lord Jesus di’d?
Then let me tell thee a strange storie.
The God of power, as He did ride
In His majestic robes of glorie,
Reserv’d to light; and so one day
He did descend, undressing all the way.

The starres His tyre of light and rings obtain’d,
The cloud His bow, the fire His spear,
The sky His azure mantle gain’d.
And when they ask’d, what He would wear;
He smil’d and said as He did go,
He had new clothes a making here below.

(George Herbert - From "The Bag")  

Collect - Third Sunday in Advent

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

RESURRECTION DAY AT ST JOHN

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Our 10:30 service at St John was a lovely celebration of Easter Day.  Our liturgy is what I'd guess most Episcopalians would place in the broad-church tradition.  Smells and bells, and long processions are the exceptions, reserved for special occasions, rather than the rule.  We are blessed that our priest-in-charge, Ron, believes in good liturgy, which suits me because I admire a well-planned and well-executed liturgy.  He preaches his sermon in the aisle, without notes.  Ron told me he writes his sermons in his head, beginning on Monday after reading the Lectionary readings for the next Sunday.  He may make a few notes, but, by Sunday, the sermon is done...in his head.  And fine sermons they are, indeed.  As I said, we are blessed.

We celebrated the return of our organist to playing the organ.  LaDonna fell and injured her leg, which required surgery to mend the leg, and she had been playing hymns and preludes on our grand piano, but she returned for the first time to our wonderful old organ today.  How fitting.

In addition to LaDonna's return to the organ, another wonderful surprise came during the second communion hymn, "Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks to the Risen Lord", when two female voices in the choir soared into a lovely descant at the end of the two last verses of the hymn.  The sounds were so beautiful they gave me chills.

Pictured above is our Easter cross.  The small cross is made of wood, painted white, and covered with chicken wire.  It is not a pretty sight.  A former rector wanted to be rid of it, but the congregation clung to the cross and the tradition, and he decided to accept it as his cross to bear.  The unsightly cross is transformed when the children process forward at the beginning of the Easter service with fresh flowers to decorate the cross and make it beautiful.

I hope and pray that many in the congregation experienced the same sense of new life in Christ that I did today, and I hope and pray for the same for all who read my words here.

                                      Easter Song - George Herbert

I GOT me flowers to strew Thy way,
I got me boughs off many a tree;
But Thou wast up by break of day,
And brought’st Thy sweets along with Thee.

The sun arising in the East,
Though he give light and th’ East perfume,
If they should offer to contest
With Thy arising, they presume.

Can there be any day but this,
Though many suns to shine endeavour?
We count three hundred, but we miss:
There is but one, and that one ever.