April 2007 A Section of Anglican Journal
"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you...” John 17:1 who still see in a glass darkly, a wonderful mystery, but one which speaks to the mystery within us. The heaven Jesus has opened to us by his death and resurrection is our homeland, the banquet of the blessed, Jerusalem, Softness, and peace, and joy, and love and bliss, Exalted Manna, gladness of the best,… The milky way, the bird of Paradise, Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood The land of spices; something understood. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Bishop’s Easter Message from The Right Reverend Anthony Burton, Bishop of Saskatchewan Behold, I show you a mystery. The resurrection of Jesus Christ occurred very quietly and very much in contrast to his death which was a spectacle. He was tried and executed in public, before crowds, as a condemned criminal among condemned criminals. When he gave up the ghost, the sky darkened, there was an earthquake and the curtain hiding the Holy of Holies in the Temple ripped suddenly from top to bottom. After all that drama, there was suddenly silence. He was taken down from the Cross by his followers and he was laid to rest. Following all that drama, everything went quiet. The resurrection would happen silently and in secret. There was nothing private, silent or secret about Jesus's teaching ministry after he rose from the dead. (He would subsequently appear to 500 people on a variety of different occasions over the next seven weeks - even to the doubting Thomas, who would insist on putting his hand in Jesus' side before he would believe). But the resurrection itself happened in the tomb behind the great stone, and the event was seen and at first experienced by God alone. The same day at evening, when they (the disciples) were in hiding, the doors barred, Jesus appeared to them and spoke these words: “Peace be unto you.” Jesus' own Easter message was that we should know and embrace the peace of God. While there were witnesses to Jesus' birth, there were not witnesses to his conception when God took human flesh into himself. The conception had no witnesses and it had to be announced, even to Mary. Paralleling this, the resurrection of Jesus is similarly not witnessed. It happens behind the great rock which sealed the tomb. And in that sense the Resurrection, like the Incarnation, are mysteries of faith. There is a side to us, I suppose, which would like to have had a video crew from National Geographic, filming the event inside the tomb. Doubting Thomas obviously would have found that satisfying. Jesus himself, in that upper room on that first Easter evening, recognizes that it is human nature to want to quantify and experience things in order to believe them. “Peace be unto you,” he said, and immediately, he showed them his mangled and pierced hands and the wound in his side. But some things, like the very thing Jesus gave the disciples that day,
The Right Reverend Anthony Burton, Bishop of Saskatchewan “peace”, cannot be measured or quantified or handled or seen. The same of course is true of much of our lives. Even people we have known well for many years remain mysteries to us: the human soul is like an iceberg in that much lies beneath the surface. Even St. Paul acknowledges that he is a mystery to himself and a disappointing one at that, “For the good that I would do, I do not: but the evil which I would not do, that I do” The hope that is within us cannot be itemized like a shopping list or fulfilled by a political program. It is only the mystery of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that can fulfill the mystery of you and me. The fulfillment of the longing and love that is within us, the healing of the grief and disappointment, the restoration of the people and things and dreams and years and youth and health we have lost, cannot be achieved by anyone but God. “Behold, I show you a mystery,” says St. Paul, “we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, shall be changed!” For all that we are mysteries to ourselves, the greatest and most wonderful mystery of all lies with God, the one person to whom all hearts are open, all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid. The greatest and most wonderful mystery is something unique to the Christian Gospel, and unknown in any other faith, what St. Paul calls the salvation of the ungodly. (Rom 4:5-6) “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” It doesn't matter how little we may deserve it, or feel we deserve it, God loves each us so much that he gave his only begotten Son to save us. And we have only to place our lives in his pierced hands to enter into the new life today that finds its fulfillment in the world to come. Heaven itself is a mystery to us
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
along the Lake of Galilee. They are miles from town. There are no fast food restaurants. Jesus turns to Philip and asks “What is there to eat? What do we have to feed all these people?” Miraculously, the 5000 people are fed and there is food left over. Jesus continues to feed people in the resurrection life. In Emmaus Jesus breaks bread with two of the disciples. He walks with them to their hometown. When they get there, they invite him in for a meal. Jesus takes bread and breaks it. They recognize that it is him. He has come back to them. Death cannot constrain him. On the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus instructs the 'Peter and John Fishing Company' to throw their nets over the other side of their boat. They do so and fill the boat to overflowing! There are so many fish that Peter has to jump overboard and wade to shore. On the shore he finds Jesus, risen from the dead, sitting by a charcoal fire, a few fish already on the grill. Jesus says “Come and have breakfast.” (John 21:12). Jesus says this to us too: “Come, and I will feed you.” We can relate to a God like this: on the beach, a warm fire, fresh fish, bread, some good friends. Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, an event which changed the whole course of human history, the event which draws us to church on Easter day. When we come to church we will be fed with the Word of God and the sacrament of Holy Communion. May God give you a happy and holy Easter. + Rodney
The Right Reverend Rodney Andrews, Bishop of Saskatoon
Bishop’s Easter Message Bishop’s Easter Message from The Right Reverend from The Right Reverend Gregory Kerr-Wilson, Rodney Andrews, Bishop of Bishop of Qu’Appelle Saskatoon Most, if not all, countries on this plan“Please tell us about the Diocese of Saskatoon.” I love questions like that. I can go on for a long time about our churches, our people and the ministry we share. Just ask me! I often begin the conversation by saying “We feed 1500 people every Sunday.” Our statistics reveal that about 1500 people attend churches across our diocese on any given Sunday. I would be delighted if that number would double or triple this Easter Day! People come to church for many reasons, but all come to be fed. We want to 'get something out of it' and that is valid. God has something to give us. We are fed by the scriptures, the sacraments, the music and the liturgy. God feeds us in so many ways. Feeding people is important to Jesus. Think of the story of the little boy with the loaves and fishes. Jesus teaches and preaches all day, a very long day in the hot sun. Five thousand people follow him
et have defining stories of their origins or of events early in their histories, which deeply affect their self-understanding and identity. Sometimes they give rise to slogans, such as “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” or “peace, order and good government.” Sometimes they define values, fundamental principles about what is right and good or about how right and goodness are determined in the life of that society. They become pivotal moments which get highlighted in story and retold in successive generations until they are so deeply accepted that they wield hidden power over choices, priorities and actions. Individual people have the same dynamic at work at the personal level of their lives. Sometimes it will be a single experience in which they “learned their lesson” and now adhere, sometimes wisely and sometimes unthinkingly, to a particular way of being or doing in the world. At other times it will be a particular environment lived