Holy Communion Anglican Church
East Greenwich, RI – Standing Firm on Biblical Truth and Christian Tradition
Do you wish to grow closer to Jesus? Do you want to strengthen your faith in Him? Then follow Him to the cross this Holy Week. Ponder the depths of His suffering and the weight of your sin, so that you may know the wondrous glory of His infinite love.
The Apostle Paul tactfully used the technology of his day to preach the Gospel all over the world, even as the Romans transformed the world around him. Yet he did so fearlessly because of his confidence that nothing could separate him from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. For ministry in our modern age, digital media represents the new Roman roads.
Yes, we look forward to the Easter holiday, with all the celebration, colors, and the Easter feast. It is good to do so. And a Lenten discipline makes us appreciate them all the more, but we must place the focus on what is truly important. Lent is for preparing our hearts for Easter, not preparing our stomachs for the feast. Likewise, we cannot prepare for Easter over a weekend. It is a pilgrimage in Christ’s footsteps, to follow His ministry and His Passion.
Beloved, let the Christmas tree stand as a reminder for us that the Nativity cradle cannot be separated from the Cross. For that humble, innocent baby lying in a manger would one day bear our sins in his body on a tree, that first Christmas tree which stood on Calvary’s hill.
Advent is our reminder that God’s plan for our lives is infinitely greater than what we face in our present moment - an opportunity for us to look ahead to the second coming of our Lord and say with the Blessed Virgin at His first, “My soul magnifies the Lord.”
Our circumstances are constantly changing, but our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ is constant, rooted in the promise of the God with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. This is why if we limit our gratitude to that which is shallow, such as our possessions or our own personal accomplishments, then we will quickly be uprooted when the storms of life hit us.
Disquietude is not a word we hear every day. It refers to a state of anxiety or uneasiness. Understood this way, we pray for eyes of Faith to behold the Transfigured Christ, in light eternal, to transport us from the anxieties and trials of our daily lives, the darkness of our temporal world.
This is not season for discouragement, but season for hope, a season for optimism. We are not alone; we are accompanied by the Triune God and all the heavenly host, as well as all the angels and saints praying for us in heaven and working beside us here on earth. The harvest is ripe, brothers and sisters - what a time to be alive! We know that many people today are hurting, and the only thing that can heal their wounds is the love of Christ.
Eighty men accepted a mission to launch from an aircraft carrier deck, knowing they could not return to the ship. This is the same fortitude it takes to choose to follow Jesus.
Beloved, the victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken away from us. Let Lent be a reminder to us that there is a much higher purpose that exists beyond our mortal pain, as we march on to the joy of our Easter Vigil in this life, and eternal reward in the next. O happy fault!