A letter for Holy Week 2015
Dear Friends,
It’s about us!
This Easter when we gather at the Cathedral of St. Philip, and in Christian churches across the world, we will hear again the scriptural stories of new life. But the stories will not all be about Jesus. We will hear the creation stories of Genesis. We will hear Ezekiel’s story of dry bones being slowly re-assembled into life. Of course, we will hear about Mary, the disciple of Jesus who was the first to discover resurrection. We will hear about Peter and John running to the empty tomb.
But the Christian Church is careful, in our Easter drama, to remember that stories of new life are not limited to those about Jesus. Throughout God’s relationship with earth and humanity, God has always been bringing new life out of the old. What is dead is resurrected. Alleluia!
This year, I hope that we do not simply hear about Easter in the past, but that we experience Easter in the present. When scripture comes alive for us, we realize that God can still act today in the way that God acted in generations before us.
Have you experienced death in the past year? Some among us have indeed known loss in the past year – a lost loved one, a lost job, a lost opportunity. Some among us have suffered. Maybe something inside of us has just died.
Easter is the claim that suffering and death are not the last word. No matter the severity of those losses, Easter is the claim that we can live again. Indeed, we can even live in joy and hope again.
I invite each of you to walk the way of Christ with us at the Cathedral this Holy Week. You will find the schedule of our Holy Week services on the back of this letter. In our drama, we will remember Jesus’ triumphal entrance to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We will remember his Last Supper and New Commandment of Love on Maundy Thursday. We will remember his death on Good Friday. Then, having walked with Jesus throughout the week, we will remember his resurrection on Easter Sunday. What a day that is! We will gather on Easter Sunday to witness, to claim, new life and hope.
I also urge you to participate this Easter with your financial offerings. When you give to communities, you are making yourself part of their story. So it is with the church. Your gift to the Cathedral of St. Philip marks you as a believer in resurrection. When you give to the Cathedral, you are saying that the resurrection did not happen just once, long ago; it continues to occur, in this community, over and over again. It’s about us!
Please give generously. The resurrection is about us.
Yours in hope,
The Very Rev. Samuel G. Candler
Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip
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