Alleluia! Christ Is Risen!

Dear Friends,

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN!

THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!

We have recently concluded the journey of Lent, and have celebrated Holy Week and Easter Sunday. This has been one of the best Lenten seasons that I have experienced in all my years as rector of St. Alban’s! The Lenten course Simon Peter: Flawed But Faithful Disciple; the inspiring services of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Day with a full church and several visitors were truly encouraging to me, and I hope to you as well.

We have now come to the most wonderful season of the Christian year – the Great Fifty Days of Easter. If I could have been alive at any time in Biblical history, this is the period I would have chosen – when our risen Lord appeared to his Disciples at various times over a forty day period, assuring them that He has triumphed over the power of sin and death, and preparing them to proclaim His message to the world.

The Gospel accounts of the Disciples’ reactions to the Resurrection are remarkable in that there is no attempt to downplay the questions, doubts, or fears of these earliest Christians. It took time for these men and women to comprehend the fact that Jesus had truly risen from the dead, and of how that truth would transform their lives. I love the different ways that Jesus chose to reveal Himself to them – in the Upper Room; on the road to Emmaus; at an early morning breakfast by a lake. In each of theseappearances, Jesus sought to assure His followers that He is alive and will be with us forever.

Easter is the greatest message of hope and promise that we could ever imagine. The Good News of the risen Lord continues even today. May we come to him just as those first Disciples did, with all of our questions, doubts, and fears ... and may we also experience the renewing grace of our Savior this Easter season.

I hope you will join us for church on this festive day, and every Sunday at St. Alban’s!

See you in church!