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Call to Worship
Sunshine Cathedral is a different kind of church
where the past is past
and the future has infinite possibilities!
This is the day our God has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad in it
Opening Prayer
Almighty God, give us true faith, and make that faith grow in us day by day. And give us hope and love, so that we may serve our neighbors according to your will… now and forever. Amen.
Based on a prayer found at https://www.christianity.com/wiki/prayer/prayers-for-hope.html
The Lessons
The Wisdom of Thomas Cathcart
“Not only does one’s relationship with the Spirit not rely on doctrine, but the creed writers had difficulty even making it into doctrine…[The Christian path that is relationship with what Christians call the holy Spirit] is one path in which the use of existentialist language, the language of subjective human experience rather than doctrine, feels totally natural.”
A Reading from the Fourth Gospel (John 20.19-22)
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the authorities, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As I was sent, so I send you."
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit.
Reflection by Rev. Dr. BK Hipsher
Click Here for Audio of "Jesus Empowered by Spirit"
In the church calendar we are still celebrating Easter, the resurrection of the Christ. And today in the Eastern church they are celebrating Easter for the first time. So it is even more important that we center ourselves back in the resurrection today to be in solidarity with those Eastern Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and elsewhere who are celebrating Easter today.
This Sunday for me is usually a bit of a letdown after the six weeks of Lenten preparation, the anticipation of Holy Week and the glory of our Easter Sunday celebrations. So it is yet more important that we remind ourselves that we are still in the season of Easter in our own tradition, still focused fully on resurrection and hope.
I find myself reflecting more seriously than usual this particular year on why I continue to identify myself as a Christian. By fundamentalist standards I would not even qualify as a Christian based on their beliefs. If I’m honest I simply do not believe some of what the creeds refer to as the doctrinal beliefs of the “church.” But I have never bothered myself very much about creeds and doctrines. I have been, from my earliest memories, much more focused on my personal relationship with God and how I can share that love I feel from the source of all goodness with other people on this earthly journey through life.
As we consider the role of the Spirit in our physical and faith lives today I am more convinced than ever that my childhood understanding of God and my role in sharing that understanding is more and more true than anything I’ve ever discovered in adulthood. I’m reminded of the story a friend of mine told me 40 years ago. He said he was sitting in a chair listening to music one day when his three year old daughter crawled up in his lap and said, “Daddy, I’ve almost forgotten what God looks like.”
I admit that Easter fills me with hope for the future. Every year it’s the same. Maybe because in the Northern Hemisphere Easter coincides with the arrival of Spring. The beauty of the budding and blooming trees and flowers sweeps away the depression and dread of winter. Even these past three springs it has been the same, even when there was so much pain and death in the world the story of the resurrection kindles the fire of hope within us once again.
As we read the sacred words of the Fourth Gospel today the risen Christ says to us, "Peace be with you. As I was sent, so I send you." If we follow the way that John the Baptist established and the teachings of Jesus then we know some things about what we are sent to do.
First we must clean our own house regularly and repent of our short comings. We may never rid ourselves of some of our more glaring character defects but that must not dissuade us from trying to live a more gentle and loving life.
Next we must read and learn the ways that Jesus taught us, particularly by the example of how he lived.
- Loving our neighbor as ourselves.
- Treating others as we would like to be treated.
- Welcoming the stranger as if they were our own family.
- Caring for the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned.
- And always giving God’s goodness the glory rather than claiming it for ourselves.
Of course, our great help in attaining these goals is reading the sacred texts and learning the stories preserved in our tradition, continually trying to find the lesson that allows us to apply the essence to our daily lives today in a very different context.
Yes friends I do have hope today, not because I can see it in the news of the day but because I see the image of the risen Christ, victorious over death in all its many forms. I feel the energy of the Spirit moving within me encouraging me and giving me the words to bring to you today. I am not immune to the horrors of what is happening in this world, far from it. I was repulsed by the image of Vladimir Putin making the sign of the cross in an Easter service today, the very epitome of blasphemy.
But I know that the evil of this world will not prevail just as the darkness cannot prevail against the light. I know this at the depth of my soul. So I keep preaching, I keep praying, I keep donating to those who are working to feed and clothe and house the refugees. And I keep believing that good will win this war of hate and destruction.
The world needs the message of Easter now more than ever. Let us carry that message of hope in everything we do and say this week. Ken Yehi Ratzon Let it be so. Amen
For a list of music suggested to meditate on for this service click the link below: