Frontpage, April 4, 2021

Back in the Church on Easter!

Caption – top to bottom, left to right – congregation of 40, St. Peter’s exterior on Easter Sunday, communion without using rails, lilies (and calla lilies in the windows), glistening Rappahannock river, Paschal candle comes out during Easter

April 4, 2021 – Easter Sunday

• Description
• Easter photos
• Easter videos
• Easter content from Holy Week

April 4 – 11:00am, Easter Sunday, Morning Prayer – Join here at 1030am for gathering – service starts at 11am Meeting ID 834 7356 6532 Password 748475

April 4 – 7:00pm, Compline – Join here at 6:30am for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 878 7167 9302 Passcode: 729195

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April 5 – 6:30am – Be Still Meditation group in a 20 minute time of prayer Meeting ID: 879 8071 6417 Passcode: 790929

April 7 – 10:00am – Ecumenical Bible Study through Zoom

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April 11 – 11:00am, Second Sunday in Easter – Join here at 10:30am for gathering – service starts at 11am Meeting ID 834 7356 6532 Password 748475

April 11 – 7:00pm, Compline – Join here at 6:30am for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 878 7167 9302 Passcode: 729195

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 We are in Eastertide until Pentecost, May 23

Eastertide is the period of fifty days, seven Sundays from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. Easter is not a day but a season and it is one to examine the Resurrection, more broadly and deeply.  There are a number of questions.

Is Resurrection just about death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54-56) ? Is Resurrection of Jesus is a precursor to your own resurrection (1 Corinthians 15) ? Does it say something about our own ability to expect to see Jesus (Luke 24) ? How does the new Christian community begin to function making Christ the central part of daily life ? (Acts 2)

Jesus physically appears in Easter 2 and 3 making the Resurection tangible. The shepherding part of his ministry is explored in Easter 4. From Easter 5-7, Jesus must prepare the disciples for his departure. He is going to leave them. Jesus prepares his disciples for continuing his ministry without his physical presence.  Themes explored include the holy spirit, the Prayer of Jesus and God’s glory through His Son and the church.

Christ ascends on the 40th day with his disciples watching (Thursday, May 14th). The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit.This fifty days comes to an end on Pentecost Sunday, which commemorates the giving of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the beginnings of the Church and its mission to all  peoples and nation.  Note that the Old Testament lessons are replaced by selections from the Book of Acts, recognizing the important of the growth of the church.

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 Lectionary, April 11, Easter 2

I.Theme –   Joining resurrection faith with experiences of community

 “Incredulity of Thomas” –  Duccio, di Buoninsegna (1308-1311)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Acts 4:32-35
Psalm – Psalm 133 Page 787, BCP
Epistle –1 John 1:1-2:2
Gospel – John 20:19-31

Commentary by Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell:

As we enter into the season of Easter, we read from the Acts of the Apostles, remembering how the early Christians fared in the days after Jesus’ resurrection. We hear the beginnings of the early church, the house-meetings, the agape love feasts, the witnesses and martyrs, and all of the disciples of Jesus.

Acts 4:32-35 recalls the beginnings of the church as also described in 2:42-47, but the message is even stronger that in the early church, the believers held all things in common–there were no possessions. The community’s purpose was to give testimony and witness to Jesus’ resurrection, and they lived out the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. For centuries since, we the church have attempted to recreate this fellowship and have fallen short. Our desire for what others have limits our relationships and comes into conflict with the desire of Christ, that we be one body, one church family, and that there be none among us in need.

The psalmist sings in 133 about they wondrous joys of being together in community, of being part of God’s family. God’s blessing is life forever, a life that is in communion with all of our brothers and sisters. Indeed, our practice of God’s family on earth is preparing us for the heavenly home we hope for–a home in which we are in fellowship, in community, with all those who have gone before us, with our brothers and sisters.

John 20:19-31 tells the familiar story of Jesus appearing the disciples after his Resurrection, and how they did not believe until they had seen. And there is the story of “Doubting Thomas.” Thomas is not unlike his brothers, he just was not present when Jesus showed his scars the first time. Perhaps Thomas is like most of us–we want to believe, but there are some things beyond our comprehension, things that blow apart the very understanding of how our world works: Jesus continues to turn the tables on our thinking, even in the resurrection.

The lectionary follows much of 1 John in the season of Easter. In this first portion, we are reminded that Jesus is the Word and the Light, and that through Christ we have forgiveness. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, as Paul reminds us in Romans 8; however, we also need to recognize that we all sin. If we say we are without sin, we are lying to ourselves. To walk the Christian path, we have to give fully of ourselves, and that requires our honesty. We need to recognize that we are all sinners, that we still sin, and that through Christ we are forgiven. We need to constantly recognize our need to turn back to God, for God is the light of the world, and what is hidden in darkness will be revealed in the light.

Perhaps this Sunday could be called “Doubters Sunday.” Celebrate the doubts that you have, for doubting is part of the journey of faith. Recognize that at times the whole resurrection story is a bit hard to swallow. Honor the times you have doubted God’s existence when there is so much pain and suffering in the world. Accept that at times the Bible does not seem to make sense. But also recognize that you and me are still sinners. Honor the fact that we need another chance to turn back, to set our lives on right paths again. Accept that we need God, we need Christ in our lives, because if nothing else, Christ shows us the path to be our true selves, to be honest before God and the world. Stripped away of the easy answers given to us in Sunday School and the blind acceptance we may have been taught to hold onto, we are naked before God. We can fake it for others–either our religious sincerity, or our all-knowledgeable ego that says we don’t believe that anymore–but we cannot fake it before the Creator. And if God’s created image is in us, we cannot fake it before ourselves. Before God, everything is stripped away, our doubts and fears, our blind acceptance–we simply come before God as who we are. Christ knows who we are, knows that we have our faults and shortcomings, and continues to love and accept us as children of God.

Read more from the lectionary

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Who was Thomas ?

Thomas’ name has come down to us as “Doubting Thomas. ”  He’s been labeled a “doubter” for his inability to understand Christ’s resurrection from the dead following his crucifixion.  It’s not so much that he doubted the resurrection but that he needed a personal encounter with Jesus to make the resurrection real. His request that he see the wounds on Jesus’s hand left by the nails before he would actually believe that he was speaking to the risen Christ, has provided us with the phrase “Doubting Thomas.”   That makes it appear to doubt is not a part of faith which it is.

National Geographic – “Thomas’s moment of incredulity has proved a two-edged sword in the history of Christian thought. On the one hand, some theologians are quick to point out that his doubt is only natural, echoing the uncertainty, if not the deep skepticism, felt by millions in regard to metaphysical matters. How can we know? That Thomas challenged the risen Christ, probed the wounds, and then believed, some say, lends deeper significance to his subsequent faith. On the other hand, his crisis of doubt, shared by none of the other Apostles, is seen by many as a spiritual failure, as a need to know something literally that one simply cannot know. In the Gospel of John, 20:29, Christ himself chastises Thomas, saying, “Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Loyalty was closer to his character. As one of the disciples, when Jesus announced His intention of going to the Jerusalem area, brushing aside the protests of His disciples that His life was in danger there, at which Thomas said to the others: “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (John 11:7,8,16) If Thomas was pessimistic, he was also sturdily loyal and determined. He wanted to get it right

Before the Doubting Thomas episode, he was honest and sincere. At the Last Supper, Jesus said: “I go to prepare a place for you…. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” Thomas replied: “Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?” To this Jesus answered: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:1-6)

Thomas is mentioned again (John 21) as one of the seven disciples who were fishing on the Sea of Galilee (Sea of Tiberias) when the Risen Lord appeared to them. Aside from this he appears in the New Testament only as a name on lists of the Apostles. A couple of centuries later a story was circulating in the Mediterranean world that he had gone to preach in India; and there is a Christian community in India (the Kerala district) that claims descent from Christians converted by the the preaching of Thomas.

Following Christ’s ascensio, the apostles divided the world for missionary purposes. Thomas was assigned to travel to India to spread Christianity. He objected to this group decision. He said he wasn’tt healthy enough to travel. But he couldn’t possibly be successful there, he told the others, contending that a Hebrew couldn’t possibly teach the Indians. It’s even said that Christ appeared to him in a vision encouraging him to travel to India. Thomas remained unmoved by this revelation as well.

A merchant eventually sold Thomas into slavery in India. It was then, when he was freed from bondage that this saint began to form Christian parishes and building churches. It’s not surprising that to this day, St. Thomas is especially venerated as The Apostle in India. According to legend, Thomas built a total of seven churches in India, as well as being martyred during a prayer session with a spear near Madras around the year 72 C.E.

He is often pictured holding a spear. Paintings of martyrs often show them holding or accompanied by the instruments with which they were put to death.

A recently discovered work called the Gospel of Thomas is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus,

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The Legacy of Thomas in India

The National Geographic -“He traveled farther than even the indefatigable Paul, whose journeys encompassed much of the Mediterranean. Of all the Apostles, Thomas represents most profoundly the missionary zeal associated with the rise of Christianity—the drive to travel to the ends of the known world to preach a new creed.”

“Thomas is said to have raised the first cross in India and performed one of his earliest miracles: When he encountered a group of Brahmans throwing water into the air as part of a ritual, he asked why the water fell back to Earth if it was pleasing to their deity. My God, Thomas said, would accept such an offering. He then flung a great spray into the air, and the droplets hung there in the form of glistening white blossoms. Most onlookers converted on the spot; the rest fled.”

“St. Thomas still stands as the direct link between his converts in Kerala and the founding Christian story on the shores of the Mediterranean, clear across the known world of the first century. Unlike later Christian groups in Asia who were converted by missionaries, Thomas Christians believe their church was founded by one of Christ’s closest followers, and this is central to their spiritual identity. “They are an apostolic church,” Stewart said, “and that’s the ultimate seal of approval for a Christian group.”

“The community was historically united in leadership and liturgy, but since the 17th century have been split into several different church denominations and traditions.

“Historically the Saint Thomas Christian community was part of the Church of the East, centred in Persia.They are a distinct community, both in terms of culture and religion. Though their liturgy and theology remained that of East-Syrian Christians of Persia, their life-style customs and traditions were basically Indian.

“In the 16th century the overtures of the Portuguese padroado to bring the Saint Thomas Christians into the Catholic Church led to the first of several rifts in the community and the establishment of Syrian Catholic and Malankara Church factions. Since that time further splits have occurred, and the Saint Thomas Christians are now divided into several different Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, and independent bodies, each with their own liturgies and traditions.”

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