A Letter from the Rector - Easter 2007
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

My dear Friends,

      On Easter Eve and Easter Day we will fill St. John's with that shout of praise! The church will be decorated magnificently, the music will lift us to participate with all the cosmos in giving praise to God, and we will share the peace among us with a new sense of overflowing joy and delight.

      At its most basic, our celebration is about having come through the difficult times of Lent, with its emphasis on self-denial, about having followed Christ through Gethsemane and to the cross, and about having been rescued from darkness and death. In itself, that is quite sufficient to cause us to raise the roof with shouts of praise.

      But there is more. Notice that the shout, “Christ is Risen!” is always in the present tense. Our celebration is about the fact that Christ's resurrection is happening now in our own experience, in our own lives, in our own time. In the maturing of our own relationships we find depths of fulfilment we would never have imagined possible. In the deepening of our loves we find joy in giving up priorities which we once thought were more important than our love. After long sorrow or long anger, we come to a place of peace and acceptance. In all these ways we experience resurrection happening in the present tense, and at Easter we will affirm that experience as we shout for joy, “Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!”

      And there is still more. We are still well aware that there are many places, in our personal lives and in our global community, in which the resurrection has not yet happened. Our usual response, either to our own limitations, or to the sorrows of the world, is to hope that one day the peace of Christ may prevail there, too. But such hope is passive and vague about the resurrection, and is not really hope at all. After all, it is the cosmic Christ who is risen, the Christ who is at the centre of all reality. If Christ is risen, then the resurrection is about to happen everywhere. And that makes all the difference.

      If the resurrection is about to happen everywhere, then it's not up to us to make it happen in our lives or  in the global world. That's God's work. But it is up to us to proclaim that resurrection is about to happen. Proclaiming that resurrection is about to happen in our lives and in the global world is to be provocative. Much of what we think about ourselves and about our planet's community simply assumes there will never really be resurrection.

      Does the war in Iraq and Afghanistan seem to go on forever, with its own dreadful internal logic? Then we are to pray for Afghans killed and to mourn with their families no less than we do for Canadian soldiers who have died and their Canadian families. In caring for Afghans who have been killed no less than for Canadians, and in praying that Muslim Iraqis and Afghans receive eternal rest and enter into light perpetual, we proclaim that resurrection has already taken place - in our own attitudes - and we provoke our society to change its attitudes toward those who are different, and thereby to embody the resurrected Christ.

      Does the enormity of the threat of dire climate change threaten to incapacitate us with fear? But who does the world belong to, anyway? Not us. The world belongs to Christ. Our work is to claim that Christ's resurrection is about to happen for the planet, too! The first signs of that resurrection will be in our more responsible use of God's creation in our congregation. And if resurrection is about to happen on our planet, then we at St. John's will find ways to be provocative in challenging our society to claim the resurrection of creation by enacting new social norms for responsible and Godly use of energy. It's not up to us to change the world, but it is up to us to proclaim that the resurrection of creation is imminent, and to shout “Yes!” to that proffered resurrection.

      Join your Christian brothers and sisters at the celebration of Jesus' communal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (with Elijah the donkey present), at the daily services during Holy Week, at the Agape supper and mutual washing of hands on Maundy Thursday evening, on Good Friday at the family service, at any part of the three-hour vigil during Christ's time on the cross from noon to 3.00 p.m., and at the dramatic service of Tenebrae that evening, on Easter Eve in darkness for the lighting of the New Fire, and on Easter Day for the glory of our Resurrection celebrations.

      In shouting,  “Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!” we proclaim Christ's new life already at work in ourselves, and we empower one another to provoke the world into participating in the resurrection. Our lives, and the life of the world, depend on it.

      I enclose a special Easter envelope though which you may wish to help make possible St. John's continuing proclamation of the resurrection in ministry and service.

Sincerely yours in the Risen Christ,

Harold Munn

The Rev. Canon Dr. Harold Munn

Rector

P.S.  I draw your attention to three particular events, in addition to those listed in the spring calendar enclosed

• A deeply centring experience of wholeness – “The Gifts of Sabbath: An Oasis in Our Busy Lives” – a weekend led by Sarah Donnelly.
• Aremarkable opportunity to hear about the ministry of planned giving with a national figure, Lorna Somers.
• Anglicanism 101 and Christianity for Adults - preparation for adults wishing confirmation, re-affirmation of baptismal vows, reception from another communion, or blessing by Bishop Cowan Trinity Sunday June 3rd.

Since registration is required for each of these three events, please contact the office.

Several other events are of special note:

• A special vestry following a 10:30 service on April 15 to consider a motion relating to same-sex blessings.
• A “special” 10:30 eucharist on April 22nd, in less structured form, in relation to Earth Day.
• A six week series I will lead at Queenswood, “Singing the Lord's Song In A Strange Land” starting April 26th about why church-going is no longer popular. Register through Queenswood Centre: 477-3822
• A “special” 10:30 eucharist celebrating Pentecost with the Gaia Mass on May 27th.
• Commissioning of Bruce and Gerry Melville to teach as volunteers in Tanzania.  Sunday School recognition.
• Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan teach “Using the Bible in Today's World” June 15-29, Portland Oregon.