Welcome to Christ Episcopal Church

Easter Service
9:00 AM
Sunday, April 5

If you come by my office and don’t get distracted by the mess that is my desk and end table, you might see something on my bulletin board. It’s a sheet of paper titled “What Churches Need to Do.” And on it are a number of things I’ve learned – personally, or from others over the years – that I believe churches have to do in order to connect with the people and the world around us. As we approach Holy Week – the time between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday – two of the things on my list are coming to mind for me: “Close the divide between the experience of church and the experience of life”, and “Understand that the biblical story is a sacred story that is to be imagined and participated in, not studied objectively or believed literally.” In my experience, one of the biggest challenges Episcopalians have with our faith is to get out of our head, and into our heart. I’ve often said that if good information and educational programming was enough to draw people to a faith community, the Episcopal Church in the United States would have upwards of 100 million members! But the reality is that while most Episcopalians have a pretty good working knowledge of their faith, we struggle to enter into the stories of Scripture. The stories that are at the heart of our faith. If we’re honest with ourselves, all of us have lived the different parts of Holy Week at one time or another. We’ve felt that we’ve triumphed with God, as Jesus’ followers did when they entered Jerusalem with him to a palm-waving crowd. We’ve known the paradoxical power of humility and service that Jesus teaches his disciples about at the Last Supper. We’ve known the betrayal and abandonment Jesus experiences following that meal. We’ve known the death and despair of Good Friday. And we’ve known the absolute joy and celebration of Resurrection Morning.

Holy Week is one of those times where what we do in worship – our “experience of church” – resonates most closely with our “experience of life”. We walk through the last week of Jesus’ life, feeling the rollercoaster of events and emotions the disciples experienced, and we can imagine our selves in that biblical story. It’s not hard to put yourself in the adoring Palm Sunday crowd, or to shout “Crucify him!” on Good Friday – and feel the emotional whiplash between the two. I’ve participated in the liturgies of Holy Week many times, both as a lay person and as clergy, and each time my soul is nourished and my faith strengthened. Largely because what we do in those moments of worship all feels so real to me. So I encourage you to join us for Holy Week – for part of it or for it all. Come and see. Come and see on Maundy Thursday. Come and see on Good Friday. Come and see at the Easter Vigil. Come and see on Easter Day. Come and see how real it is. Come and see yourself in the story. Come and Blessings, see the one who – in the ultimate expression of God’s love and sacrifice for humanity – died for us and rose again. Come and get out of your head, so that your heart might find again the hope you’ve been looking for.

Thank you for sharing your worship with us. 

May the peace of God fill your heart and mind, and the Blessing of God Almighty—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—be with you, and remain with you, always.