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Easter 2 April 7 2024 Bulletin

THE SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

April 7, 2024

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS

The Gospel lesson for this Sunday underlines for us a key element of our faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ which is not to be understood as the escape of a disembodied soul into a place called  “heaven,” ( free at last!) but a raising, that is to say a transformation of the soul and body of Jesus Christ, into the life of God. In the encounter between the Risen Christ and his frightened disciples we discover what Resurrection means for us in the here and now: peace, forgiveness of sins, and partaking of the Holy Spirit. In our Epistle lesson we see that through faith in Christ’s death and resurrection, and through participation in the sacramental life of the Church (water= baptism, blood= Holy Communion) we become partakers and participants in the life of God, and so overcome all the negativity of the world that has fallen away from God through sin.

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Easter March 31, 2024 Bulletin

THE SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION

March 31, 2024

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, Alleluia! Today we celebrate the Feast of Feasts: the resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ, who “by His death has trampled down death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!”

Our Gospel lesson for today tell us how it was that the initial reaction to the discovery of the empty tomb was not the occasion of joy and gladness for the first followers of Christ, but rather surprise and confusion, which eventually gave way to wonder and joy in the bodily encounter with the the Risen Lord, that then also eventually gave way to understanding through the Scripture. But the Resurrection of Christ is not simply something to be believed, but rather a Life and Experience to be shared and participated in,  right here and right now. How does the resurrection become for us a personal reality? St. Paul points the way in our  epistle reading from Colossians:  by “setting our minds on things above”, and by “putting sin to death, practices which define our life in the Church. 

THE LESSON:  Colossians 3:1-11

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Lent 5 March 17, 2024 Bulletin

THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT

Passion Sunday

March 17, 2024

THE FATHER IS MY HOPE; THE SON IS MY REFUGE; 
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY PROTECTION.
ALL HOLY TRINITY, GLORY TO THEE!

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GETTING READY FOR SUNDAY: PREVIEW OF THE READINGS

Today marks the beginning of Passiontide in our church calendar, which comprises the final two weeks of Lent leading up to Easter. Our Scripture lessons for today set the “tone” for the season, setting forth something  of what the sacrificial death of  Christ on the Cross is, and  how the Cross of Christ provides us with the model and pattern for our own lives. The Epistle lesson from Hebrews speaks to us of what Christ has done for us. He is the mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death, we are set free from our sins, our consciences are purified by means of forgiveness, and we receive the promise of an eternal inheritance. Christ has done something for us, once and for all, which we could not do, but can only faithfully and thankfully receive. But the sacrifice of Christ is not just something that was done for us. It is something that must be done in us and through us, transforming our minds and hearts, and ultimately our lives, day by day. This is precisely the message of our Gospel lesson for today where in place of the pursuit of worldly ambition, power, and status, Christ calls his disciples to take His attitude of humble obedience, and make it their own. 

Hebrews 9:11-16

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