Today's Scripture Readings
Acts 2:36-41 (NRSV)
Psalm 118: 19-24 (BCP, p. 762)
John 20:11-18 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
The Gospel reading on this Tuesday in Easter Week is the same one from Easter Day. Why do you suppose it is here after we already heard it two days earlier?
It is here so that we can continue to celebrate the event of the Lord's resurrection from the dead. We are to celebrate the resurrection as Christ's Easter People, who are experiencing and giving witness to the Risen Christ in our daily life and work. In our relationships and in our struggles. We are to "Give thanks to the Lord who is good, God's mercy endures forever." (Psalm 118: 1).
We Christians especially in the West tend to celebrate Easter at this particular time of the year. Many of us have just about had it with all the alleluia's in the Daily Office by the time we get to the Second Sunday of Easter. It is as if we would rather wallow in our misery than celebrate God's victory over death in Christ's resurrection. That is partly because in our human weakness which includes our limited vision of God, we can only imagine the resurrection, we cannot prove it by human standards. It is only through faith that we can believe in it. It is by our actions towards God, others and ourselves that we can give witness to it's reality.
Mary Magdalene was the first to see the Risen Jesus. Christ came to her as she was weeping, as she was dismayed about where his dead body might be. When Jesus said her name "Mary" she looked up and recognized him. Jesus then tells her not to touch him, because he had not yet ascended to his God and our God.
This image of Jesus risen from the dead, coming to one who was weeping with disappointment, fear and discouragement is something we should spend some time meditating on. We celebrate this week the Easter event in our prayer, Liturgies and in our church activities. But, our lives are still very broken by sickness, discrimination, violence, much pain and brokenness. If we will seek out the Risen Lord in our fragile hearts, He will come to us and affirm God's love and claim us as adopted children by way of Christ's redemption of humankind. Christ who was crucified and now alive in the resurrection, meets us at the point of our sadness and moments of personal growth. He meets us to tell us that God has forgiven our sins and wants to transform us, to help change the world around us for the better. We don't have to accept injustice, oppression, prejudice and inequality any longer. We are God's Easter People reborn in the waters of Baptism, and renewed by God's grace as we celebrate the Paschal Mystery.
The narrative of Christ's resurrection cries out for people who have been marginalized and excluded, to come and be made part of God's family. To know that all people are loved unconditionally by our God who has triumphed over sin and death. Sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, race, religion, cultural background, language, employment status, physical/mental/psychological challenges, immigration status, are not barriers for God to continue the work of redemption in our Church and society. It is through diverse individuals and peoples, that God will tear open the Pandoras Boxes that keep us from loving one another as Christ has loved us. The resurrection means new and unending life for all people, if only by God's grace expressed through the hearts and work of those who believe in Jesus. We can grow to respect the dignity of every human being, with God's help, because that is what we have said in our Baptismal Covenant. God has the power to transform us and the world around us, if we will, with God's help make the effort to do so.
The work of hospitality and reconciliation that is at the heart of the ministry of Jesus Christ, by which we grow in relationships with each other, is the Paschal Mystery active and speaking through our daily lives. As Christ comes to us in our misery and distress, so we in God's Name go to others, to wash their feet and give to them the sign of peace.
Prayers
Acts 2:36-41 (NRSV)
Peter said to the multitude, "Let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him." And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.
Psalm 118: 19-24 (BCP, p. 762)
John 20:11-18 (NRSV)
Mary Magdalene 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 around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" 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.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Blog Reflection
Alleluia. Christ is risen,
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
The Gospel reading on this Tuesday in Easter Week is the same one from Easter Day. Why do you suppose it is here after we already heard it two days earlier?
It is here so that we can continue to celebrate the event of the Lord's resurrection from the dead. We are to celebrate the resurrection as Christ's Easter People, who are experiencing and giving witness to the Risen Christ in our daily life and work. In our relationships and in our struggles. We are to "Give thanks to the Lord who is good, God's mercy endures forever." (Psalm 118: 1).
We Christians especially in the West tend to celebrate Easter at this particular time of the year. Many of us have just about had it with all the alleluia's in the Daily Office by the time we get to the Second Sunday of Easter. It is as if we would rather wallow in our misery than celebrate God's victory over death in Christ's resurrection. That is partly because in our human weakness which includes our limited vision of God, we can only imagine the resurrection, we cannot prove it by human standards. It is only through faith that we can believe in it. It is by our actions towards God, others and ourselves that we can give witness to it's reality.
Mary Magdalene was the first to see the Risen Jesus. Christ came to her as she was weeping, as she was dismayed about where his dead body might be. When Jesus said her name "Mary" she looked up and recognized him. Jesus then tells her not to touch him, because he had not yet ascended to his God and our God.
This image of Jesus risen from the dead, coming to one who was weeping with disappointment, fear and discouragement is something we should spend some time meditating on. We celebrate this week the Easter event in our prayer, Liturgies and in our church activities. But, our lives are still very broken by sickness, discrimination, violence, much pain and brokenness. If we will seek out the Risen Lord in our fragile hearts, He will come to us and affirm God's love and claim us as adopted children by way of Christ's redemption of humankind. Christ who was crucified and now alive in the resurrection, meets us at the point of our sadness and moments of personal growth. He meets us to tell us that God has forgiven our sins and wants to transform us, to help change the world around us for the better. We don't have to accept injustice, oppression, prejudice and inequality any longer. We are God's Easter People reborn in the waters of Baptism, and renewed by God's grace as we celebrate the Paschal Mystery.
The narrative of Christ's resurrection cries out for people who have been marginalized and excluded, to come and be made part of God's family. To know that all people are loved unconditionally by our God who has triumphed over sin and death. Sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, race, religion, cultural background, language, employment status, physical/mental/psychological challenges, immigration status, are not barriers for God to continue the work of redemption in our Church and society. It is through diverse individuals and peoples, that God will tear open the Pandoras Boxes that keep us from loving one another as Christ has loved us. The resurrection means new and unending life for all people, if only by God's grace expressed through the hearts and work of those who believe in Jesus. We can grow to respect the dignity of every human being, with God's help, because that is what we have said in our Baptismal Covenant. God has the power to transform us and the world around us, if we will, with God's help make the effort to do so.
The work of hospitality and reconciliation that is at the heart of the ministry of Jesus Christ, by which we grow in relationships with each other, is the Paschal Mystery active and speaking through our daily lives. As Christ comes to us in our misery and distress, so we in God's Name go to others, to wash their feet and give to them the sign of peace.
Alleluia. Christ is risen,
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Prayers
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. (Tuesday in Easter Week, Book of Common Prayer, p. 223).
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. (Collect from Easter Day, Book of Common Prayer, p. 222).
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice, Book of Common Prayer, p. 823).
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