March 2008 A Section of Anglican Journal
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34, King James Version .
The Easter Garden Staff REGINA - Margaret Nicholls has arranged her Easter Garden in the narthex of St. Luke Regina where it will greet parishioners as they enter the church on Easter Day. The Garden will remain there throughout Eastertide until the Feast of the Ascension. The whole garden is built with artificial flowers which gives the effect of spring and enhances the story of the Garden of Joseph of Arimathaea. This year marks the 39th time that Margaret Nicholls has created the Easter Garden using the symbols of the death and resurrection of Jesus and the waving of palms on Palm Sunday. In 1967 Margaret Nicholls discovered the joy of an Easter floral display in St. Mary, Saffron Walden, in the Diocese of Chelmsford, England, where her husband, Fr. Derek Nicholls, was a curate in the parish. photo Derek Nicholls This exposure led Mrs. Nicholls to pursue the creation of an Margaret Nicholls displays her Easter Garden at St. Luke Regina. Built with artificial flowers the Easter Garden in the congregations where her husband served. Garden gives the effect of spring and enhances the story of the Garden of Joseph of Arimathaea. Mrs. Sometimes the garden would be placed on a small wooden chest Nicholls has built her gardens in many churches where her husband, Rev. Derek Nicholls, served in front of a free standing altar and sometimes, such as at St. beginning in 1967 at St. Mary Saffron Walden in the Diocese of Chelmsford, England Matthew Regina, it was placed within the space in the altar created when the altar was reversed. The largest display was at St. Mary Regina, which took up the landing on the Montague Street entrance to the church for the ten years her husband was incumbent. Margaret Nicholls' wish is to bring to life the Easter story in a similar way that the Christmas crib does in most churches. She hopes that her story might inspire parishioners in other congregations to create their own Garden this Eastertide. Ideas can be discussed with Margaret Nicholls by calling her at 306-949-8690.
Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge-to the great amazement of the governor. Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him." But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered. "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify him!" "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!" All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. Matthew 27: 11-26 NIV
Easter Message from the Right Reverend Rodney Andrews, Bishop of Saskatoon
The Right Reverend Rodney Andrews, Bishop of Saskatoon “Tomorrow morning we will carry a cross through the Old City of Jerusalem on the same path Jesus took on his way to Calvary. The street is called the Via Dolorosa.” I check the list to see which group I have been assigned to. “5:15 a.m. - Andrews, Rod”. The list contains the names of twenty other pilgrims. I think to myself. “If they can get up that early, so
can I.” I should have thought “If Jesus carried his cross and died for me, it is a small thing for me to get up in the middle of the night to carry a symbolic cross along the same route”. There is light rain as we move out from St. George's Anglican College in the darkness. We take turns carrying a large cross. We stop at fourteen stations for scripture readings and prayers. For the first few stations in the ancient City of Jerusalem we hear a rooster crowing. “Then Peter began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment the cock crowed.” (Matthew 26:74). By dawn we are close to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional place of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. As we read the story of the crucifixion a tractor pulls up beside us and workmen toss garbage into a trailer. Then some soldiers walk by carrying machine guns. These powerful symbols of the crucifixion were real, just as they were real on the day of crucifixion two thousand years ago. St.
Mark records (chapter 15, verse 22-24 “Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha . . . . And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.” The words of the Scottish divine, George MacLeod, came to me: “I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroad so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek . . . at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where he died. And that is what he died about. And that is where Christians ought to be, and what Christians should be about.” We walk a little further and stop to read the resurrection scripture. As we begin greeting one another “The Lord is risen” t
he bells of the great church, perhaps the central church for Christendom, ring out calling worshipers to the first mass of the day. As we walk into the church, the great organ fills the church with majestic music. I sit by the tomb, the empty tomb, and say a prayer for each parish and each clergy person in the Diocese of Saskatoon. I finish with a prayer for “the whole church of God.” The empty tomb is full of meaning. From this tomb, hewn in rock, we Christians draw all of our faith and hope for the world and for the kingdom to come. At the empty tomb we find the Christ of eternity alive in the here and now. From this chasm, a symbol of death and defeat, comes victory and life itself. Christ's tomb is the earthen fissure through which God's love pours out upon our world. May God give you a happy and holy Easter. + Rodney