Christ is Risen!
Just a few things:
1. Vespers at 5:00 p.m. this Saturday.
2. Divine Liturgy: Hearing of confessions and the reading of the hours at 9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.
3. Mother’s Day is fast approaching. In honor of that, Holy Cross will be collecting baby layette items for new mothers in need for the Thelma Wynne Project located in Winnipeg. The Thelma Wynne Project has been in existence in one way or another for over 50 years. For much of that time it has been located within St. Matthew’s church building. Dedicated women from Anglican churches in the city make or collect items and then prepare layettes for newborns. The layettes are distributed through social agencies in the city to new mothers who need them. The project has evolved somewhat over the years but originally was started by Thelma Wynne after whom it is named. The items are to be new and include: diapers, blankets, sleepers, caps, booties, baby soap, lotions, etc. Holy Cross will be collecting these items for the month of May until May 30. You can bring your donation to Holy Cross on Sundays or you can contact either Fr. Evan or Sylvia Kitzul at 256-8370 and we can arrange a pick up.
4. So, driving home from my banjo lesson, I passed by a church and the message it had on the outside announced the upcoming Sunday’s sermon topic: “Encounter Christ – Walk away changed”. It got me thinking as I was driving home and thankfully took my mind off the fact that I did not play the “Stitches in my britches” polka very well. Although my banjo instructor said I played very well. His words of encouragement were, “You have improved Evan. It doesn’t sound like you are hurting the banjo anymore.”
If one encounters Christ, do they walk away different? Does something change?
The answer, at least from a scriptural point of view, is yes. Take a look at the Sundays that follow the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
St. Thomas Sunday - Thomas won’t believe until he can physically see and touch Christ. Once he does, he is changed.
Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women - They encounter Christ as they make their way back from the empty tomb. They get to share the good news of the resurrected Christ with the Apostles. These women, after encountering Christ, their lives are changed.
Sunday of the Paralytic - The man encounters Christ and is healed, his life is changed.
Sunday of the Samaritan woman - She encounters Christ at the well, and she comes to realize that she has met the Messiah and she shares that information with her fellow people. Her life and the lives of those around her are changed by their encounter with Christ.
Sunday of the Blind Man - A man who had been blind since birth, encounters Christ, and his sight is restored. His life is changed.
Anyone who encounters Christ in Holy Scripture walks away changed. Every healing Christ did changed a life. Every sermon He gave changed a life. Every parable, every action, all of these encounters changed lives.
In each of these Sundays listed we can find ourselves. We are like Thomas who doubts. We are like the myrrhbearing women who walked with fear and uncertainty of the unknown. We are like the paralytic when we become paralyzed by sin, by fear, by anger. We are like the samaritan woman who did not understand why this man she encountered at the well would talk to her, a “second class citizen”, that she believed herself not worthy. We are like the blind man, except our blindness to God’s love and mercy is a result of us looking at everything else instead of God.
But in each case, an encounter with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ changed all that and it can be the same for us if we truly open our lives to God’s love, to God’s commandments, to the teachings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Doubt is erased. Fear is overcome. The spiritual, emotional, and mental paralysis as a result of sin on our part is healed. We learn that in God’s eyes, we do have a value, we do have worth.
I sometimes wonder if we try and avoid Christ. We try to do everything in our power to not encounter Him. Get lost in the crowd, hide away at home, try to avoid where He will be. Truth is, we can’t hide from Christ. We can choose to ignore Him, close our eyes and pretend He is not there, close our ears and not listen to anything He says, but the reality is that we are just fooling ourselves. We can’t hide from Christ. And the awesome thing about that is that it is a good thing. We are so loved by God, that He sent His only begotten Son among us for the sole purpose that we would encounter Him and we have the evidence of what the results of those encounters were like.
Make that effort to encounter Christ.
Answer to last week’s question:
What sin was Jesus condemning in His parable about the Pharisee and the tax-collector? Pride
This week’s question:
True or false? Jesus was sold into slavery by his brothers?
See you in church.
In Christ,
Fr. Evan
