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Lent 5 Festival of Readings and Hymns

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In full communion with:
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada

Easter Sunday - April 4, 2021.

My Dear Friends,

Over the past year, we have experienced the terrible power of creation to limit our human aspirations. We have also witnessed what humanity can do when we come together unselfishly to find a solution to a common problem. There is a lesson there which we should remember.

This week we walk with Jesus on the road to Calvary. From the joys of Palm Sunday when Jesus walked into the same social issues and violence problems that modern cities have, to the pain, desolation, forced vulnerability and isolation of the cross we are invited to walk with Him. We begin here, but this is only part of the story.

Out of the agony, the vulnerability and even death itself, God brings restored life. A life which is no longer bound or trapped by the changing joys and sorrows of this life but is bound in the unfathomable reality of God’s intimate love and relationship offered to all humanity. Stop for just a minute and try to remember a time when you were flooded and overwhelmed with the warm feeling of being so loved that nothing else mattered. Even if you can’t remember such a time, Easter offers that. One need only say yes and accept your own need and your own longing and desire to share in that relationship. It sounds simple, but in so many ways it is difficult to let go and experience that.

Like Jesus, we must say no to the negative tendencies of a lost world which serve only to burden us. We must be willing to be vulnerable and open ourselves to the reality of new life. Finally, we must be willing to accept a truth which lies beyond our human comprehension. We can easily understand, torture, humiliation and pain; but this is not the end of the story or the journey. The journey of Holy Week ends in an empty tomb and a new reality which is reborn in us every spring. We are invited into a reality which lies beyond the problems of this world, into the reality of the Resurrection. The flood of acceptance, love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control begins here as we sing out: Jesus Christ is Risen! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Our Holy Week and Easter services will be on YouTube. A week later you can see them on YourTV (Cogeco ch. 10 and 700)

A blessèd Easter to all of you.

The Reverend Canon Kevin Bothwell

Rector