EASTERTIDE

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April this year brings us to the Christian season of Eastertide. This season lasts seven Sundays. It begins with Easter Sunday and ends with the day of Pentecost. The Sundays are referred to as Sundays after Easter. The liturgical color is white, which is the color of Christ and represents His purity.

The exact date of Jesus’ resurrection is known and was well remembered. It was the fourteenth day of the Jewish month of Nisan. However due to the change from the Jewish calendar based on the lunar month (movement of the moon) to our modern calendar based on the solar year (movement of the sun) it is hard to known exactly what that date now is. Scholars agree that it falls somewhere between March 29th and April 3rd.

The church soon recognized the importance of gathering on the Lord’s Day to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. For awhile they rested on the Jewish Sabbath, the last day of the week, and worshipped on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week. As more and more gentiles joined the church, the importance of Sabbath observation decreased and the importance of Sunday worship increased. Soon Sunday celebration became the norm and Sunday was seen as the most important day of the week.

So rather than celebrating Easter on the same date each year, as we do Christmas and our birthdays, which means a different day of the week each year, the church set the Sunday nearest Nisan fourteenth as Easter. Soon trouble developed. Some people wanted the Sunday before the date to be recognized as Easter while other insisted that the Sunday after the date was the “true Easter.”

So in 664 A.D. the Synod of Whitney fixed the date of Easter permanently. This really was a great compromise as it involved both the lunar calendar folks and the solar calendar people. Easter s: the first Sunday after the first Full Moon (lunar calendar) after the Spring Equinox (solar calendar). It can fall anytime between March 22nd (if the Full Moon and Equinox both fall on Saturday March 21st) until April 25th. This year Easter was in March which is fairly early.

So remember that each Sunday as we gather we are celebrating a “little Easter” as we remember the Lord’s resurrection and the fact that we serve a “Risen Savior.” Hope to see you in church not just for the Sunday of Eastertide but each and every Sunday of the entire year.

Richard

WHAT IS THE CHURCH?

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Have you ever really wondered just “What is the church?” The Greek word is ekklesia and is derived from a word that means “a calling out.” It is used over sixty times in the New Testament, but only three times in the Gospels. All three of these references are found in Matthew. They are; Matthew 16:18,and twice in Matthew 18:17. Probably the best known of these is Jesus’ response to Peter’s affirmation that he is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus then said: “And I tell you, you are Peter (Petros or Rocky in the Greek) and on this rock I will build my church.” [Matthew 16:16-18] Just what did Jesus mean and what is our understanding of the church?

Many of us think of the church as a building. We equate the church building with the church. The idea of sacred space is important. I admit that many times I go into the sanctuary to pray. I feel closer to God at the altar than I do anywhere else. Yet I know the building is not the church. I believe there is a thin line between caring for the building as we should and allowing the building to become an object of worship. When we are more concerned that the youth might scuff the floors, that the children might dirty the walls, that no outside groups can use the church because they might not treat it as well as we do, we have elevated the building to what is most important. We need to realize that the building is just a building and not “the church.”

Some of us think of the church as it organization, structure and form. In our denomination we think of Districts, Annual Conferences, Bishops and all the ministries that the United Methodist Church does. Let me say that I am proud to be a United Methodist. I believe our doctrine, structure and polity to be biblically based. In a practical sense our connectionalism allows us to do ministry in a much greater scale than any one congregation could possibly do. If you doubt this just check the number of missionaries, hospitals, collages, nursing homes, retirement centers and homes for children United Methodism supports world wide. Yet the church is more than that.

For me the question of what is the church may best be answered by an exercise I learned as a child. Put your hands together interlocking your fingers on the inside near your palms. Repeat after me “Here is the church.” Now extend your pinkie fingers upward and touch them together, saying, “Here is the steeple.” Now turn your hands over, after you have interlocked your pinkie fingers again, wiggle your fingers and say: “Now open the door and see the people.” The church is the people! Those “called out” of sin to be in communion with one another and with our Lord and Savior is indeed the church. More important than the building, more important than the structure and form, is the fellowship, care love and support of God’s people. That truly is the church!

I was privileged and bless to once more experience that love and support first hand during this Christmas Season. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love, gifts, prayers, cards and all the other expressions of support I received. It was a great Season and again I say “Thank You Church” and may God bless you is my prayer.

Richard

AUTUMN IS HARVEST TIME

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