Blessings to all for this Easter season! HE IS RISEN is proclaimed for the full fifty days in this season of celebration and it echoes with the ringing of ALLELUIA thoughout the year. It is not coincidental that Easter correlates with the spring rebirth, and as our yards and trees green up and flowers push forth from the earth, it is a reminder of the constant renewal that takes place in all of our lives.
It was wonderful to get our hands dirty in the garden on Saturday the 11th in preparation for planting in May. Our fruit trees are blossoming, the ground is tilled and the pathways are made for readying our garden for its ministry to Episcopal Social Services. Many thanks go to Karen Woods and Fr. Marshall Scott, plus the ten or so others who came out to help get us ready for this wonderful ministry. Even the bees are ready, as they were seen swarming around the beehive behind the garden. A special thanks to Ron Cooper, Linda, Kristen and Bob Kendall for tilling the garden in preparation for further work and planting. Even though machines do most of the work, it is not easy for the operators. Someone has to guide and control the tiller. Many thanks to all for this great ministry!
Spring also brings some important programs to help raise money for our parish. The Flower and Plant sale through Johnson Farms will benefit our youth programs, ministries and mission support. Please support our youth with your generous purchases. You can still purchase vouchers after service and please contact Anet Stevens if you have any questions. Living in a leased home, Debbie and I we will take this opportunity to "spruce up" our yard.
The annual "All Church Garage Sale" on Saturday May 2nd here at the church proves to be a major event with another great opportunity not only to gain from the sale of many treasures and "finds", it also will be a great time for all of us to clean house and purge our spaces of items that just aren't being used or that are no longer needed to adorn our homes, garages or yards. Let us know if you need help getting donations to the church.
I would like to formally thank all those who helped to make Holy Week and Easter so wonderful here at St. Mary Magdalene. Our acolytes stepped up on several occasions through the week to serve in additional services. Lexie Barling has done a wonderful job coordinating and preparing them for their duties and service. You may have recognized that they have been vested in black cassocks and white cottas for the Easter Vigil and Easter services. These are gifts from St. Peter and All Saints. Additional vestments are needed for the future as many of our older vestments are wearing out. Thanks goes to Linda Kendall for repairing and cleaning many of the acolyte vestments before Holy Week.
The "behind the scenes" work, done by the Altar Guild and especially Donna Parker, allowed for all the liturgies to be presented with beauty and style. Changing banners and altar paraments, moving chairs and tables, preparing candles, flowers, managing all the logistics, especially for Maundy Thursday, with the stripping of the Altar and then setting the church for the Great Vigil and Easter morning does not go unnoticed.
Many thanks goes out to all who contributed to our Easter flowers with special thanks to JoAnna Cooper for getting them, and her helpers for arranging them in the church.
Thanks also to Regina Berens, Ron McGee and Anet Stevens and others for the treats and reception goodies following our services. Anet's work in preparing the garage sale, coordinating receptions for the concerts and other special occasions is so appreciated. Thanks to Denise Koch and the Sunday School teachers for the Easter Egg Hunt and other festivities for our youngsters not only on Easter but throughout the school year!
A very special thanks to Arnetta Johnston and Kary Mann for their varied and continued support in preparation for church every week. The bulletin doesn't just happen each week, and Arnetta burned many an evening's oil to prepare the bulletins, newsletters and flyers for our services and many other programs that surround the routine and special offerings of the church year. Through Lent and Easter, Arni has put up with a new priest and his requests for changes and new ideas that have impacted the services and offerings that we experienced and enjoyed. I am grateful for her perseverance and guidance through these many "first" experiences for me as your new rector. Kary, while engaging in seminary, teaching as a professor in the KC Missouri and Kansas Community Colleges, schedules and provides her time and talents caring for our campus, the church and the House of Grace. We are fortunate and grateful for all she does to keep the church property safe and ready for church each week.
To our music team of singers and instrumentalists, we are forever indebted to the time and hard work displayed in each of our services. The special music that began on Passion Sunday and carried through Tenebrae, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, The Great Vigil and the wonderful prelude of organ, voice and instruments on Easter Day, is for us the definition of "ALLELUIA". Thank you Jennifer for your leadership and wonderful preparation that glorifies our liturgy and worship! Our music is truly a hallmark of our parish.
For fear of leaving someone out of this list of thanks, I would be remiss in not saying thanks to all who contribute their money, time and talents to the work and beauty of St. Mary Magdalene parish! Your contributions allow all of us to worship God in the beauty of Holiness.
Easter is our time of rebirth and gratitude for God's creation. In Jesus Christ we are made whole through our baptismal covenant. It is also very appropriate that during Easter we engage those who are looking for a deeper understanding of their faith. There are seven people engaged in preparation sessions for confirmation and reception as Episcopalians. On Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings between now and May 10th, our program of catechesis is preparing them on their journey to understand their role as people of faith in the tradition of the Episcopal Church.
We are continuing our Wednesday Basic Anglicanism classes with a light supper, and hour of learning more about our church and our faith traditions as expressed in the Nicene Creed and other statements of faith, and culminating each evening with the celebration of Compline in the church as the last office of the day. I invite all who are interested and able to attend, to come for these Wednesday evening programs, to be nourished and fed in the learning of who we are and what we are as Episcopalian-Christians.
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus
Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of
everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the
day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN!..... the Lord is risen indeed! ......ALLELUIA!
Blessings, Fr. David+