"This is what hope looks like…"

Dear Friends,

I read about a preacher who had a birdhouse for bluebirds to nest in.  He put it in his yard on a wooden post.  All the neighborhood cats climbed up the wood and turned the new nest, chicks and all, into a grave.  So, he replaced the wooden pole with a metal one.  The bluebirds came back and rebuilt the nest, made some babies, and took turns protecting the chicks or hunting for food.  As he watched the process, he concluded: “This is what hope looks like, stubborn hope…like the bluebirds making space for life in the midst of death.”  He writes: “The hope of Easter is that not even crucifixion can put an end to God’s work of making space for new life.  God turns a grave into a place of new birth.  God is stubborn for hope and…life.”  “The Christian life is all about nesting, about creating a home for the gospel, a shelter for hope, joy, and all good things.”  

What leads to this Easter faith is following Jesus to the cross and participating in the remembrance of the gift of the Resurrection.  Beginning Maundy Thursday, we will celebrate the last meal Jesus had with his closest disciples.  On Friday, we will live the story and the prayers leading to Jesus’ death on the cross.  Then, on Saturday, we’ll celebrate the first service of Easter with the Great Vigil beginning at dusk.  On Sunday, we continue to celebrate with Resurrection services at all hours of the day in each of our 87 parishes.  I invite you to find a place to worship where God is calling you.  

For many years, on Good Friday, our offerings across the Episcopal Church have supported the vital work and ministries of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.  The needs in the Holy Land today are greater than ever before.  Our gifts this year will support a hospital in Gaza, St. George’s Church in Baghdad, an eye clinic in Yemen, and All Saints Episcopal churches in Damascus and Beirut.   As we continue to pray for peace, please join me in supporting the ministries that bear witness to the power of hope and love amidst suffering and despair.  To make your gift, please visit https://www.episcopalchurch.org/good-friday-offering/

As always, I hope I see you at church somewhere very soon.