Easter Letter to Nativity Congregation
by Reverend Gerry Bennet, Assisting Priest, April 2004

Thank Goodness Lent is Over

Dear Family and Friends of Nativity:

"Thank goodness Lent is over; I can get back to ..." How often we hear words similar to these to express what Easter means. For too many of us it only means the end of a painfully penitential season where we are "forced" to give up something we enjoy.

I am reminded of the words from the Book of Common Prayer found in the Ash Wednesday liturgy:

... it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.
     I invite you therefore, in the name of the Church ... to make a right beginning ...

As you can see from the above passage, I have left out words from the charge of Lent in order to stress my point that the end of Lent is but a beginning to be accomplished by all in the name of the Church. We are commanded (and commended) to prayer, fasting and learning. But to what end: to declare when the Easter season begins that we can return to things as they were?

The reason for the season of Lent and Easter

There was a reason for the season of Lent, and a reason, too, for Easter. In this greatest of festivals, in this time of joy and happiness, we are required to follow the lessons learned in Lent. The hours spent in reflection, in retrospection, in patient searching for understanding are lost to us if we return to "business as usual." If we blot out the suffering of our Lord's Passion and fail to hold on to the Way of the Cross, then Easter means the end of winter, a time to gather family for a special dinner, an encounter with a colored-egg-delivering rabbit and a brief vacation from work.

Easter is not Business as Usual

Easter is not business as usual. Easter is the promise of the future based on events of the past, seen in the present. Easter is the realization of firmer faith because of our Lord's suffering, faith gained as we begin to see that even suffering can be part of God's plan for salvation, and not just an accident of human sinfulness. Easter is hope and joy and promise and love and peace and rememberance, too. For if we were not there when they pierced Him in the side, not when they laid Him in the tomb, then we are not there when He rose from the dead anad ascended on high. And we tremble, indeed!

I sincerely hope, as Easter dawns bright and fair, we can arise with Christ and not return to "business as usual."

This season is particularly significant in the life of Nativity, for we are embarking on the process which will end in a new Rector for Church of the Nativity. I remind you once again to not dwell on the past, but rejoice that there is healing, and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel: Jesus the Christ. The process of search is long and costly; therefore, I urge you to be generous in your Easter offering. May our new rector, when called, find a congregation and parish ready to serve, with no encumbrances on parish nor people, except those our Lord places upon us.

For the Vestry and Wardens, Millie and I wish all a Blessed Easter as we celbrate the Resurrection of Our Lord. TUAN EUANGELION — This is the Good News!

Your in Christ,
Gerry

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