Easter at St. Andrew’s
Dear Friends,
We can't say the "A-word" quite yet, but as we are on the cusp of our observance of Christ's passion, death and resurrection, I knelt down and prayed this afternoon for our parish of St. Andrew's. I found my petitions coming back again and again to the experience of God's presence and our feeling (in our souls, minds, and bodies) God's grace and love poured out for us in the life of Jesus Christ our Lord.
At Easter we repeat a fact. We repeat this fact in our songs and prayers. We repeat this fact in our readings and preaching. We repeat it in the liturgy. We repeat it on Facebook and to our children. The fact is this: Jesus of Nazareth was killed and three days later rose again from the dead. This is an amazing fact. (And yes, for some people this is an unbelievable fact. "Unbelievable" is actually a not-uncommon type of fact. A fact's believability isn't nearly as related to the truth of the fact as we wish it was.) It is true, and it is amazing.
But facts – even true and amazing ones – can be dry and uninspiring if they remain only in our heads. Easter fully blossoms in our life when we experience it, when we feel God's love, when we know his presence, when we can feel the living Spirit blow through our hearts in worship. This is my prayer for us – for you – this week.
Come and be a part of it all. We have four services on Easter Day, each of them different.
The 6:45 service at sunrise will see us meet the risen Lord in a garden – the same setting he first met the women on Easter morning.
The 8 am service is holy in its simplicity.
At the 9 am we will have the praise band, and trumpets, and the joy of a packed house and kids shouting A*****ia for the first time in months.
And after the pure joy of the egg hunt, the more traditional 11 am service will have our choir and guest musicians giving full-throated, beautiful accompaniment to the greatest message the world has ever known.
I can't wait to celebrate, and experience, Easter with you this week.
In Christ,
Fr. Andrew
