Archive for March, 2008

Eastertide (The Easter Season): Viewing Easter as more than a single day

March 27th, 2008

img_6023.jpgIt came to my attention – just this year in fact – that Easter is not a day. Easter is actually a 50 day season of the church calendar starting at sundown on Holy Saturday (starting at the Easter Vigil) and ending at the day of Pentecost, when the church remembers and celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit. This year Eastertide lasts until Sunday May 11th (Pentecost).  

It seems right to me that Easter should be longer than a day. It is (or should be) the central focus of our Christian walk. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! And with Him we are risen as well from death to life – not just in the age to come but in the here and now. We were dead but now we live. We were lost but now are found. We have life and hope that cannot be taken from us. Our God is not dead and buried – He is alive and well and active in our lives. And remembering that and choosing to live in that should create joy. Thus, the season of Easter should be a time of celebration, a time of feasting, a time of pure joy.

May the coming days of Eastertide be days of joy for you. May they be days filled with play and celebration and laughter and delight in knowing that God delights in you, He has given you life – life to the full! May each day of Eastertide build on the day before until we come together to Pentecost and with equal joy remember that God is with us, that He has given us His very Spirit and has sent us out with purpose and mission.

Rejoicing in the journey –
Beth Stedman

Photograph by Beth Stedman

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He is Risen!

March 23rd, 2008

img_5886.jpgFrom the Anglican Book of Common Prayer:

Almight 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 out Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirity, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

May this Easter be a season of resurrection and new life for each of us – the old has past the new has come.

He is Risen!

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

Photograph by Beth Stedman

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Holy Saturday

March 22nd, 2008

img_4465.jpgHere is a prayer for Holy Saturday from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. It struck me this morning and has become my prayer for the day.

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 May you eagerly wait with God today for the coming resurrection and new life of tomorrow.

Rejoicing in the journey -
 Beth Stedman

Photograph by Beth Stedman

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Good Friday

March 21st, 2008
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Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

Photograph by Beth Stedman

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Solemn Reproaches of the Cross

March 21st, 2008

 O my people, O my church, what have I done to you, or in what have I offended you? Answer me. I led you out from the land of Egypt to make you free, but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

What more could I have done for you that I have not done? I planted you, my chosen and fairest vineyard; but when I was thirsty, you gave me vinegar to drink and pierced my side with a spear.

God, have mercy upon us.

I went before you in a pillar of cloud, and you have led me to the judgment seat of Pilate. I gave you a royal scepter, and the keys of the kingdom, but you have given me a crown of thorns.

God, have mercy upon us.

My peace I gave, which the world cannot give, and washed your feet as a sign of my love, but you draw the sword to strike in my name. I offered you my body and blood, but you scatter and deny and abandon me.

God, have mercy upon us.

I sent the Spirit of truth to guide you, and you close your hearts to Him. I pray that all may be one in the Father and me, but you continue to quarrel and divide, and you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

I grafted you into the tree to my chosen Israel, and you turned on them with persecution and mass murder. I made you joint heirs with them of my covenants, but you made them scapegoats for your own guilt, and you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

I came to you as the least of your brothers and sisters; I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. And you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

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