Sermons

EASTER 2011

Dear friends,

Easter Sunday invites us to accompany  the women to the empty tomb.  There we receive word that the Lord is no longer there; that we must seek the Living One not among the dead, but among the living.  Celebrating Easter is to go again to the tomb and see the risen Lord, maybe even without recognizing him: in the welcome embrace of the community, in the songs of praise, in the waters of baptism, in the story told and boldly proclaimed, in the bread broken and wine poured out.  To celebrate the entire 50 days of Easter is to proclaim with all our hearts that we have tasted and seen how good the Lord is.  We have seen the Lord: he is risen even as he said!

The risen Lord has walked among us in so many ways in our life together this past year.  Through bread broken and wine poured out; through lives celebrated and births proclaimed; through the waters of baptism and the oil of anointing; through words of comfort spoken and tears silently shed; through trust built-up and sorrows and disappointments borne, we have encountered the living God as we’ve made our way along the “road to Galilee” where the Risen One promises we will find him waiting.  It is along this road — in the day to day travel of life lived in community — that we find our ministry of reconciliation; our ministry of bringing people to know the living God through the life of Jesus Christ as manifested in our words and deeds.

As we celebrate 50 years of ministry, we are reminded that it is not a ministry of any one individual — clergy or lay — but a ministry of a community of believers whose mission is “…welcoming, accepting, nurturing and serving all people…”  Like the women at the tomb and the countless faithful through the ages, the Good News of Jesus Christ and of this Body of Christ, St. Catherine’s, is not our story alone but a story to be told to all whom we encounter along our individual and communal journeys.  It is good for us to remember that in each Gospel the Easter message has some variation of these words, “Now get on your way.  Go tell my brothers and sisters, ‘He is Risen.’ ”

I invite you to again celebrate the new life of the Risen One and of this community of faith at our Easter services on Saturday, April 23 at 7:30 PM (Vigil) and on Sunday, April 24 at 6:30 (Sunrise), 8:45 (Family) and 11:15 AM (Choral).  Breakfast follows our sunrise worship and receptions follow each of our 8:45 and 11:15 services.  Our Youth Group will sponsor an Easter Egg Hunt for our children immediately following our family worship at 8:45 AM.  As is our custom, our 2011 Easter offering will be distributed in its entirety to MUST Ministries, Inc., The Extension and the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund.  Please be generous.

I pray that this season of Easter will bring joy and new life to you and your families as well as to St. Catherine’s.

I remain your servant in our Risen Lord’s Name,

(The Rev) Jim Nixon, Rector

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Musings From MacMahon 2010
Father Jim’s summer chaplaincy at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church, MacMahan Island, Maine