The Easter season is full of what the Church calls "mystagogy" - explorations of the mysteries of the Church. Baptism is a major focal point during the Great Fifty Days between the Great Vigil of Easter and Pentecost. In the Episcopal Church, we tend to skip right over Ascension Day.
Ascension Day is the fortieth day after Easter (it falls on May 1 this year and there will be a 7:00 PM service here at CC) and on that day we celebrate Jesus taking his place "at the right hand of the Father." Jesus in his risen, but still fully human form, ascends to heaven to be with God. This reminds us that we, too, will rise to be with God one day.
Once Jesus has ascended, a new era begins for the people of God. Ten days later, as Jesus promised, he sends his Spirit to the disciples on Pentecost and the Church as we know it is born. Pentecost is a major Christian feast day, as important as Christmas and Easter. At Pentecost, we are empowered to live out our baptismal ministry to "go and make disciples of all the nations" (Matthew 20:18).
All of the feast days of the Christian church year remind us of the story of God's plan of salvation for us. Celebrating them as a parish family helps us to understand the very important place God has given human beings in transforming and re-creating the world to be as God intended it!
Faithfully,
Elizabeth
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Is It Spring Yet?
I must confess that I am hungry for Spring. Especially with Easter falling so early this year, I find myself yearning for warm sun and the smell of newly turned earth. I am tired of what seems like never-ending rain and cool temperatures.
But there are signs spring is coming. The forsythia in my yard has buds and my daffodils have broken through the soil. And as the earth gets ready to burst forth into new life, I find myself humming over and over the third verse of one of my favorite hymns, Immortal Invisible (423 in the Hymnal):
To all life thou givest, to both great and small.
In all life thou livest, the true life of all.
We blossom and flourish like leaves on the tree,
then wither and perish, but nought changeth thee.
The Easter season we continue to celebrate reminds us that the cycle of birth, death and resurrection is one that is ordained by God, the Creator. We live that story in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus during the "Great Fifty Days of Easter" (did you know Easter last for 50 days?). In this hemisphere, we are blessed that Easter always falls in the Spring and we can see the visible signs of new life coming forth from what looks like death all around us.
I hope you and your family find some time together to dig in the dirt, to watch the new life poking up from the earth and bursting forth on the tree branches and to celebrate the miracle that is resurrection in the creation this spring. This is a wonderful way to not only celebrate God's goodness, but to help children understand that all created life is born, flourishes, lies dormant and is then resurrected in God's time. As we tune our spirits into the divine rhythyms in the creation, we are again reminded that death holds no fear for us because we know that God through Jesus is at work in it and we, too, we share in the new life blossoming all around us.
Faithfully,
Elizabeth
But there are signs spring is coming. The forsythia in my yard has buds and my daffodils have broken through the soil. And as the earth gets ready to burst forth into new life, I find myself humming over and over the third verse of one of my favorite hymns, Immortal Invisible (423 in the Hymnal):
To all life thou givest, to both great and small.
In all life thou livest, the true life of all.
We blossom and flourish like leaves on the tree,
then wither and perish, but nought changeth thee.
The Easter season we continue to celebrate reminds us that the cycle of birth, death and resurrection is one that is ordained by God, the Creator. We live that story in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus during the "Great Fifty Days of Easter" (did you know Easter last for 50 days?). In this hemisphere, we are blessed that Easter always falls in the Spring and we can see the visible signs of new life coming forth from what looks like death all around us.
I hope you and your family find some time together to dig in the dirt, to watch the new life poking up from the earth and bursting forth on the tree branches and to celebrate the miracle that is resurrection in the creation this spring. This is a wonderful way to not only celebrate God's goodness, but to help children understand that all created life is born, flourishes, lies dormant and is then resurrected in God's time. As we tune our spirits into the divine rhythyms in the creation, we are again reminded that death holds no fear for us because we know that God through Jesus is at work in it and we, too, we share in the new life blossoming all around us.
Faithfully,
Elizabeth
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
” “Were Not Our Hearts Burning Within Us . . . ?” -Luke 24:32
The Gospel reading for the third Sunday of Easter in Year A is always the disciples experience on the road from Emmaus. I grew up hearing this story and it never ceases to thrill me. I look forward to hearing it every three years.
The story the two disciples tell of their experience at Emmaus is a familiar and rich one. There is much food for thought and prayer within this text, yet I always find it is verse 32 of this passage that leaps out at me: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the Scriptures to us?”
I suspect this verse catches my attention because, at heart, I am both a teacher and a student. I recognize the thrill and certainty the disciples feel when they have been in the presence of Truth that opens their hearts and eyes to seeing in a new way. Educators of all kinds refer to what happens in this story as a "teachable moment"- a moment that helps us to see and know in a new way. This is the function of Christian formation within the tradition of the Church. Gathered together as the community of faith around both sacrament and teaching, we experience over and over again the "teachable moments' that faith offers us. We meet Jesus the teacher again and again - and our lives change as our hearts change because of it.
Christian formation – Church School as it is more commonly known – it not the glamour place of the Church. It tends to be messy (glitter paint and glue) and noisy (children aren’t designed by God to be quiet!). Viewed in passing, it can often appear somewhat chaotic. And it is easy to think that it is only one more activity in which our children participate. But something else goes on in Church School that doesn’t happen during our children’s other activities. It is in this place, at this time, in these activities that our children, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, encounter Jesus, the teacher. At Church school, our children hear, play, share and explore the teachings of Jesus in community with others doing the same. As they mature and progress through the different stages of faith formation here at Christ Church, our children encounter the stories of Scripture over and over. Each moment is rich with the possibility of new understanding, change and growth. These stories of God’s saving action in Jesus form a foundation of faith that lasts a lifetime, and continues to grow and develop as our children mature throughout life.
In the larger scheme of life, it is easy to forget the place of Church School in our children’s lives. But where else in their busy lives will they hear the stories that change their hearts, provide a secure foundation of love and trust, and form them into the people God calls them to be? That’s the role of the Church School in partnership with you, their parents. We are delighted to have your children on the journey with us.
Faithfully,
Elizabeth
The story the two disciples tell of their experience at Emmaus is a familiar and rich one. There is much food for thought and prayer within this text, yet I always find it is verse 32 of this passage that leaps out at me: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the Scriptures to us?”
I suspect this verse catches my attention because, at heart, I am both a teacher and a student. I recognize the thrill and certainty the disciples feel when they have been in the presence of Truth that opens their hearts and eyes to seeing in a new way. Educators of all kinds refer to what happens in this story as a "teachable moment"- a moment that helps us to see and know in a new way. This is the function of Christian formation within the tradition of the Church. Gathered together as the community of faith around both sacrament and teaching, we experience over and over again the "teachable moments' that faith offers us. We meet Jesus the teacher again and again - and our lives change as our hearts change because of it.
Christian formation – Church School as it is more commonly known – it not the glamour place of the Church. It tends to be messy (glitter paint and glue) and noisy (children aren’t designed by God to be quiet!). Viewed in passing, it can often appear somewhat chaotic. And it is easy to think that it is only one more activity in which our children participate. But something else goes on in Church School that doesn’t happen during our children’s other activities. It is in this place, at this time, in these activities that our children, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, encounter Jesus, the teacher. At Church school, our children hear, play, share and explore the teachings of Jesus in community with others doing the same. As they mature and progress through the different stages of faith formation here at Christ Church, our children encounter the stories of Scripture over and over. Each moment is rich with the possibility of new understanding, change and growth. These stories of God’s saving action in Jesus form a foundation of faith that lasts a lifetime, and continues to grow and develop as our children mature throughout life.
In the larger scheme of life, it is easy to forget the place of Church School in our children’s lives. But where else in their busy lives will they hear the stories that change their hearts, provide a secure foundation of love and trust, and form them into the people God calls them to be? That’s the role of the Church School in partnership with you, their parents. We are delighted to have your children on the journey with us.
Faithfully,
Elizabeth
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