STORY OF THE DAY - PLUMBER

The plumber was digging around in the 
pipes & he saw something shine in the 
muck & it turned out to be the soul of 
the last tenant. He gave it to me & I said 
I wonder how we can return it & he 
 shrugged & said he found stuff like that 
all the time. You'd be amazed what 
people lose, he said. 

From StoryPeople.

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.

JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN TODAY - KINGS COLLEGE CHOIR

A BLESSED AND HAPPY EASTER!

NOLI ME TANGERE

GIOTTO di Bondone
No. 37 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 21. Resurrection (Noli me tangere)
Fresco, Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

John 20:11-17

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”

Why did Jesus tell Mary not to touch him? In my search for an answer, I found this article in The Smithsonian Magazine, titled "Who Was Mary Magdalene?" by James Carroll, who writes a regular column in The Boston Globe.

The multiplicity of the Marys by itself was enough to mix things up—as were the various accounts of anointing, which in one place is the act of a loose-haired prostitute, in another of a modest stranger preparing Jesus for the tomb, and in yet another of a beloved friend named Mary. Women who weep, albeit in a range of circumstances, emerged as a motif. As with every narrative, erotic details loomed large, especially because Jesus’ attitude toward women with sexual histories was one of the things that set him apart from other teachers of the time. Not only was Jesus remembered as treating women with respect, as equals in his circle; not only did he refuse to reduce them to their sexuality; Jesus was expressly portrayed as a man who loved women, and whom women loved.

The climax of that theme takes place in the garden of the tomb, with that one word of address, “Mary!” It was enough to make her recognize him, and her response is clear from what he says then: “Do not cling to me.” Whatever it was before, bodily expression between Jesus and Mary of Magdala must be different now.

After his Resurrection, Jesus has a body. He is the same Jesus, but, at the same time, he is different, and his physical relationship with his disciples had to be different.

Carroll's entire piece is worth reading as a counter-story to the nonsense floating around about Mary Magdalene.


Collect

O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

Image from the Web Gallery of Art.

COLD IN THE TOMB

The Body of the  Dead Christ in the Tomb - Hans Holbein the Younger

Cold In The Tomb

Jesus is dead, stone cold in the tomb.
The Lord of Life breathes no more.
The Marys weep, the mother, the friend,
Bereft, bereaved, their dearest gone away.

The Lamb of God, abandoned by God,
To ignominious death high on a tree
Of shame.  And us?  Left to weep
With the grieving Marys.  Oh, God!

Night approaches; strength fails.
Heal our broken hearts; revive our
Weary bodies; renew again our
Wondrous hopes and dreams.

June Butler  4-7-12

HOLY SATURDAY - HOPE FOR MERCY AND GRACE

Psalm 88:10-18

LORD, I have called upon you daily;
I have stretched out my hands to you.
Do you work wonders for the dead? *
will those who have died stand up and give you thanks?
Will your loving-kindness be declared in the grave? *
your faithfulness in the land of destruction?
Will your wonders be known in the dark? *
or your righteousness in the country where all is forgotten?
But as for me, O LORD, I cry to you for help; *
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
LORD, why have you rejected me? *
why have you hidden your face from me?
Ever since my youth, I have been wretched and at the point of death; *
I have borne your terrors with a troubled mind.
Your blazing anger has swept over me; *
your terrors have destroyed me;
They surround me all day long like a flood; *
they encompass me on every side.
My friend and my neighbor you have put away from me, *
and darkness is my only companion.

Hebrews 4:14-16

Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Collect - Holy Saturday

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your 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.

(Book of Common Prayer)

WASHING THE FEET OF THE HOMELESS

From UTSanDiego:

The Right Rev. James Mathes, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, and others, washed guests' feet.

Read the rest of the story, and view the gallery of pictures at the newspaper's website.

What a beautiful, Christ-like gesture by Interfaith Community.

H/T to Nicholas Knisely at The Lead.

SIRIUSxm WANTS MY QUESTION

  

  

So, should I send in a question?  What are the chances that my question would be chosen as one of the twenty (20) best?  I have questions for His Eminence, all right, but I expect my question would be eliminated in the first round.  Perhaps, I should send in a phony question, and, if I am selected to attend the exclusive "Town Hall" event, I'll ask my zinger question when I get hold of the mic.  A free trip to New York sounds good to me, but when I think of fascinating and iconic people, a good many others come to mind before the cardinal.  Still, a free trip....   

DID YOU DIE FOR ME?

CELLINI, Benvenuto - Crucifix - 1562
Marble - Monasterio de San Lorenzo, El Escorial 

 Did You Die For Me?

Did you die for me,
Jesus, did you?
Did God raise you for me?

Why? Why for me?
What good am I?
What use to you?

You say because you love me.
Why do you love me?
Because you are love, you say.

I must love my brother.
I must love my sister.
As you love me,
So must I love.

Spirit of God,
Dove of love,
Fill my heart to overflowing.

June Butler - 3-20-08

 Image from the Web Gallery of Art.

GOOD FRIDAY

Crucifixion - Jan van Eyck
1420-25

Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
   Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
   and by night, but find no rest.

Yet you are holy,
   enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our ancestors trusted;
   they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
   in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm, and not human;
   scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me;
   they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
‘Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
   let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’

Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
   you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
   and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
   for trouble is near
   and there is no one to help.

Many bulls encircle me,
   strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
   like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,
   and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
   it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
   and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
   you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs are all around me;
   a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shrivelled;
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
they divide my clothes among themselves,
   and for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
   O my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
   my life from the power of the dog!
   Save me from the mouth of the lion!

From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
   in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
   All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
   stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he did not despise or abhor
   the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
   but heard when I cried to him.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
   my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
   those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
   May your hearts live for ever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember
   and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
   shall worship before him.
For dominion belongs to the Lord,
   and he rules over the nations.

To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
   before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
   and I shall live for him.
Posterity will serve him;
   future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
   saying that he has done it.

John 13:36-38

 Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterwards.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.

The Body of the  Dead Christ in the Tomb - Hans Holbein the Younger

 Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Top image from the Web Gallery of Art  ; lower image from Wikipedia  .