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Dear beloved of St. Michael’s,
A blessed Holy Week and Easter to one and all. As we approach this most pivotal moment in the church calendar, I am struck by just what a mixed bag we are all obviously facing at this particular moment.
In individual lives I have heard of and witnessed so much in our midst these past several weeks. Birthdays and anniversaries have been celebrated. Grandchildren have been born. Others have faced severe health challenges or lost loved ones. Occasions of joy, despair, and everything in between have been occurring in all of our lives.
The same holds true in broader circles. Our congregation stands on the brink of calling a new Rector and ushering in an exciting new season in its life. St. Michael’s Episcopal Day School has called a new Head of School, we have had the opportunity to meet her and her family, and the upcoming season seems to hold a great deal of promise. And yet there are also many challenges and headwinds we continue to face trying to be Christ’s Body in our little pocket of Carmichael, California.
And of course global affairs are also a mixed bag. The situation in places such as Gaza and the Ukraine continues to be appalling. But there is also news of people and communities all around the globe behaving with incredible courage, wisdom, and grace.
It is in the midst of such a mixed bag that the message of Holy Week and Easter is one to which we need to direct our utmost attention. On Good Friday, we recognize the absolutely incomprehensible notion that God died in fleshly form. The infinite Source of all that is visited us in human form and died, thoroughly and completely. And then, scarcely three days later, this dead divine Man rose, having had his mortal body infused with new and immortal life.
In this great divine drama we see two essential things at play. There is no depth of despair to which the incarnate God did not descend. He was abandoned, humiliated, and tortured. And he died. Hence there is no depth to which we are capable of sinking where Christ has not been. And in the Resurrection we see the other side of the coin. There is no height to which Christ has not risen, and hence we too have the infinite heights and limitless joy made available to us.
Please remember this as you travel through these weeks. If you are struggling, God in Christ has been there, is there with you now, and you simply cannot sink so low as to be beyond the reach of His loving embrace. And when you rise, at any time and in any form, the resurrected Christ is right there with you, rising as well, and leading you on to greater and greater heights, with no upper limit.
This is the Good News of Holy Week and Easter. May it be your personal Good News this week and always.
In Christ,
Andy+
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