I just returned from the Easter vigil service at St. John the Divine in Houston, and will be joining my daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons for dinner later. very likely then going to an Easter Eucharist with the folks from Houston’s Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal). Since the loss of their building, they have been worshiping in space provided by the ELCA Church of the Redeemer in the same neighborhood.
This Holy Triduum has been an especially intense for me, encompassing great blackness and great grace. The blessing is that our blackness, while not always removed, is *always* drawn into our Lord’s passion, and made one with His, to the end that we, and I, are to be drawn, not only into His resurrection, but into His exultation.
Wonderful music this morning, ranging from the chant of the Exsultet, to several R. Vaughan Williams settings, to two arrangements from Betty Pulkingham, mixed together with Jacobus Gallus “Haec est dies†It was glorious to have the spectrum of music written to the Glory of God so represented as one, and not cut up into separate rooms at separate times.
I was immensely glad to be among this body of Christians proclaiming the victory of God, and worshipping the One we proclaim. A great day!
Greetings from London. We baptised one adult and received three at the Easter Vigil last night. There was a full church, and a sea of glittering candlelight. At our 10 am family Mass great crowds to standing room only, and again a full church for the Latin Mass at 11.30 am where the choir sang Byrd for five voices with rich resonances. This Easter I have been struck by the sheer graciousness of the people. They work hard at their jobs, they give themselves to their marriages, they put their children first in everything. They have so much pressure on them but they find time for God and for the gathering of the Christian community. Of course there are things that go awry – but looking at them I could feel only respect and a sense of something profound running through them, and I can only call it the life of the Spirit. I hesitated to say that because I don’t want to seem to be making any special claims for my parish – we are ordinary people – but it is to us ordinary people that the risen Christ comes. Alleluia!
I attended the Vigil at Church of the Heavenly Rest, Episcopal, here in Abilene, TX. Very, very beautiful and, has been my experience in my tenure as an Episcopalian, woefully attended. Easter Sunday is always bursting at the seams and I expect that it is today, as well.
This was our first Lent with our new rector, Luke Back, who arrived last fall and we are especially blessed by his ministry. If what I hear is true, that it is difficult to find clergy who are both Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical, then we struck gold with this fine young man. We are blessed to have his father, George, frequently among us and ministering, as well. (He recently retired as dean of the cathedral in Oklahoma City.) In a very short time, this family has brought out the best in our parish and has made it into a larger family who is proclaiming and attempting to live the Gospel.
Personally speaking, at this time, I need to receive and contribute as a family in Christ. That is what has happened this Lent and I pray that our bonds and our mission even further deepen in the months and years ahead.
Happy Easter to all!
(R. Eric Sawyer, is Regan Cocke still serving St. John the Divine?)
We celebrated with Easter dinner at noon, ham; stuffed zucchini; roasted potatoes and chocolate for dessert. We prayed thankgiving for the Resurrection and blessings for us and our daughter who is away this semester.
I attended the Easter Vigil at Trinity Cathedral in Pittsburgh with Archbishop Duncan presiding, and the Easter Eucharist this morning at the church where I was once pastor. Two very different liturgies but the same life-giving message. Holy Week and Easter go by much too quickly for me.
This afternoon, we will have Easter dinner with my wife, my daughter and her two children and my sister. Alleluia Christ is risen – the Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!
We Harmons had four of five of us home for the midday Easter meal, with our two daughters, Abigail and Selimah, present. Elizabeth and the girls worshipped at Saint Paul’s, Summerville, South Carolina, while I served at Christ Saint Paul’s, Yonges Island, S.C.
Blessed Feast of the Resurrection to all blog readers.
Preached and baptized at St. Alban’s Chapel at Vogelweh Air Force base in Kaiserslautern, Germany this morning. Fr. Carl Wright, Air Force chaplain, was our celebrant. It was a glorious Easter celebration. Spent the remainder of the day visiting with our wounded, ill, and injured at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Finally left the hospital near midnight, and yet the staff and patients were still sharing the Easter greeting. The hope of the Resurrection is palpable here even in the midst of so much human suffering.
If everyone could spare a thought for us here in West Central Texas, we’d appreciate it. We’ve been enduring massive wildfires for the past few weeks and exceptional drought but today we’re having very severe thunderstorms, up to softball-sized hail, and several tornados in the area. Very scary. Please pray that no one is killed or seriously injured on this holy day.
After the 10am Mass at St. John’s Detroit http://www.YouTube.com/StJohnsEaster my wife, three sons (14, 13, and 10) as daughter (5) had a lovely late brunch at the Detroit Athletic Club. The afternoon afterwards was spent playing outside with the kids and now we are winding down and thinking of bedtime soon.
Celebrated at St. Andrew’s, Bessemer City, NC, at 10:30, then back to Deerfield in Asheville for brunch, and in the evening to daughter Sarai’s for family celebration. My sermon is posted at prayerbookcatholicnc.blogspot.com.
Trinity Anglican Church Erie, PA: Easter Vigil last evening at 8:10pm wonderful service! This morning at 11:00am we had a full house for Easter Day.
Spent a restful day with just my husband.
I spent a marvelous Easter with the people of St. John’s Parish, Maadi Cairo and their rector and associate Paul Gordon Jones and Ben Robinson. Easter afternoon was a glorious celebration of baptisms and confirmations at the Anglican Cathedral with the anticipated joyous and deeply emotional worship and dancing. Archbishop Mouneer preached and celebrated and we had in attendance the new Sudanese Ambassador. Very promising time for the Sudanese and evident joy and satisfaction for the children and adults being baptized and confirmed. When I passed through Midan Eltahrir the square was quiet but there had been demonstrations on Good Friday over some arrests as I was told. Back at the Anglican guest house we enjoyed light hearted Easter good feelings and some superb chocolates and African chai as several of us broke seriously onerous fasts.
Hope in the face of hard times was the general message tied to belief in the truth of the historical resurrection.
I spent Easter at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Smyrna, Tennessee, where we baptized ten of our members in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. I spent Easter Monday in Charleston, South Carolina, where I saw my grandson, Jackson LeGrand Saunders Cooper born at 5:18 p.m.
Thanks be to God!
Noon Mass (Sung), Holy Spirit Catholic Church, Annandale, VA with my wife. Last Easter for the old translation of the Ordinary Rite.
I just returned from the Easter vigil service at St. John the Divine in Houston, and will be joining my daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons for dinner later. very likely then going to an Easter Eucharist with the folks from Houston’s Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal). Since the loss of their building, they have been worshiping in space provided by the ELCA Church of the Redeemer in the same neighborhood.
This Holy Triduum has been an especially intense for me, encompassing great blackness and great grace. The blessing is that our blackness, while not always removed, is *always* drawn into our Lord’s passion, and made one with His, to the end that we, and I, are to be drawn, not only into His resurrection, but into His exultation.
Wonderful music this morning, ranging from the chant of the Exsultet, to several R. Vaughan Williams settings, to two arrangements from Betty Pulkingham, mixed together with Jacobus Gallus “Haec est dies†It was glorious to have the spectrum of music written to the Glory of God so represented as one, and not cut up into separate rooms at separate times.
I was immensely glad to be among this body of Christians proclaiming the victory of God, and worshipping the One we proclaim. A great day!
Greetings from London. We baptised one adult and received three at the Easter Vigil last night. There was a full church, and a sea of glittering candlelight. At our 10 am family Mass great crowds to standing room only, and again a full church for the Latin Mass at 11.30 am where the choir sang Byrd for five voices with rich resonances. This Easter I have been struck by the sheer graciousness of the people. They work hard at their jobs, they give themselves to their marriages, they put their children first in everything. They have so much pressure on them but they find time for God and for the gathering of the Christian community. Of course there are things that go awry – but looking at them I could feel only respect and a sense of something profound running through them, and I can only call it the life of the Spirit. I hesitated to say that because I don’t want to seem to be making any special claims for my parish – we are ordinary people – but it is to us ordinary people that the risen Christ comes. Alleluia!
I attended the Vigil at Church of the Heavenly Rest, Episcopal, here in Abilene, TX. Very, very beautiful and, has been my experience in my tenure as an Episcopalian, woefully attended. Easter Sunday is always bursting at the seams and I expect that it is today, as well.
This was our first Lent with our new rector, Luke Back, who arrived last fall and we are especially blessed by his ministry. If what I hear is true, that it is difficult to find clergy who are both Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical, then we struck gold with this fine young man. We are blessed to have his father, George, frequently among us and ministering, as well. (He recently retired as dean of the cathedral in Oklahoma City.) In a very short time, this family has brought out the best in our parish and has made it into a larger family who is proclaiming and attempting to live the Gospel.
Personally speaking, at this time, I need to receive and contribute as a family in Christ. That is what has happened this Lent and I pray that our bonds and our mission even further deepen in the months and years ahead.
Happy Easter to all!
(R. Eric Sawyer, is Regan Cocke still serving St. John the Divine?)
Easter Greetings from Tallahassee, FL!
We celebrated with Easter dinner at noon, ham; stuffed zucchini; roasted potatoes and chocolate for dessert. We prayed thankgiving for the Resurrection and blessings for us and our daughter who is away this semester.
After: a relaxing day at home (most of us on computer doing various things) I showed my wife some of the websites that have podcasts of Choral Evensong from England; from Taizé; from St. John’s, Cambridge. Tonight we will attend the 5:00 Easter Service at St. Peter’s Anglican.
And that’s about it.
May the awesome glory of the Resurrection bathe all of us in His transforming grace.
Jim Elliott <><
I attended the Easter Vigil at Trinity Cathedral in Pittsburgh with Archbishop Duncan presiding, and the Easter Eucharist this morning at the church where I was once pastor. Two very different liturgies but the same life-giving message. Holy Week and Easter go by much too quickly for me.
This afternoon, we will have Easter dinner with my wife, my daughter and her two children and my sister. Alleluia Christ is risen – the Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Working…
We Harmons had four of five of us home for the midday Easter meal, with our two daughters, Abigail and Selimah, present. Elizabeth and the girls worshipped at Saint Paul’s, Summerville, South Carolina, while I served at Christ Saint Paul’s, Yonges Island, S.C.
Blessed Feast of the Resurrection to all blog readers.
Sang with the choir for 10am Eucharist, then came home to get dinner ready for family arriving at 2:30. A beautiful Easter
Preached and baptized at St. Alban’s Chapel at Vogelweh Air Force base in Kaiserslautern, Germany this morning. Fr. Carl Wright, Air Force chaplain, was our celebrant. It was a glorious Easter celebration. Spent the remainder of the day visiting with our wounded, ill, and injured at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Finally left the hospital near midnight, and yet the staff and patients were still sharing the Easter greeting. The hope of the Resurrection is palpable here even in the midst of so much human suffering.
If everyone could spare a thought for us here in West Central Texas, we’d appreciate it. We’ve been enduring massive wildfires for the past few weeks and exceptional drought but today we’re having very severe thunderstorms, up to softball-sized hail, and several tornados in the area. Very scary. Please pray that no one is killed or seriously injured on this holy day.
After the 10am Mass at St. John’s Detroit http://www.YouTube.com/StJohnsEaster my wife, three sons (14, 13, and 10) as daughter (5) had a lovely late brunch at the Detroit Athletic Club. The afternoon afterwards was spent playing outside with the kids and now we are winding down and thinking of bedtime soon.
Celebrated at St. Andrew’s, Bessemer City, NC, at 10:30, then back to Deerfield in Asheville for brunch, and in the evening to daughter Sarai’s for family celebration. My sermon is posted at prayerbookcatholicnc.blogspot.com.
Trinity Anglican Church Erie, PA: Easter Vigil last evening at 8:10pm wonderful service! This morning at 11:00am we had a full house for Easter Day.
Spent a restful day with just my husband.
Terri Lynn Hagen
I spent a marvelous Easter with the people of St. John’s Parish, Maadi Cairo and their rector and associate Paul Gordon Jones and Ben Robinson. Easter afternoon was a glorious celebration of baptisms and confirmations at the Anglican Cathedral with the anticipated joyous and deeply emotional worship and dancing. Archbishop Mouneer preached and celebrated and we had in attendance the new Sudanese Ambassador. Very promising time for the Sudanese and evident joy and satisfaction for the children and adults being baptized and confirmed. When I passed through Midan Eltahrir the square was quiet but there had been demonstrations on Good Friday over some arrests as I was told. Back at the Anglican guest house we enjoyed light hearted Easter good feelings and some superb chocolates and African chai as several of us broke seriously onerous fasts.
Hope in the face of hard times was the general message tied to belief in the truth of the historical resurrection.
Richard A. Menees
I spent Easter at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Smyrna, Tennessee, where we baptized ten of our members in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. I spent Easter Monday in Charleston, South Carolina, where I saw my grandson, Jackson LeGrand Saunders Cooper born at 5:18 p.m.
Thanks be to God!