At the Cross
A Newsletter of Holy Cross Anglican Church
Easter, 2008
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From the Archbishop
An Easter Message of Hope and Courage in the Midst of a Troubled World of Fear
This is the holy week. This is the week that goes from hosannas to crucify him, from shouts of "messiah" to shouts of hatred. The week that starts with a procession of palms and ends with a cry from the cross: "Eli, Eli, lema sabach thani," – "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!"
It is the week that we meet the suffering of Jesus in the midst of our own suffering.
On Friday after noon, February 29th, after celebrating Mass and the Way of the Cross in Mosul, Iraq, the Chaldean Catholic Bishop of Mosul, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was kidnapped. His driver and two body guards were killed. I responded immediately with my friends at the Vatican in the Congregation of Oriental Churches. My communication of pastoral support and mutual concern was sent on to the Perfect, Leonardo Cardinal Sandri, and the Secretary, Archbishop Veglio, and on to Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly. They greatly appreciated the “solidarity” with them in this time of distress and concern. Last week, Canon Andrew White of Baghdad was the first to inform me about the death of Archbishop Rahho, which was in our news later in the day. Archbishop Rahho was a great man of God and a wonderful shepherd of his flock in the midst of most difficult persecution and suffering. He has finished his serve among us here and his example of persistent ministry in the face of great danger remains a modern example of those who preceded him in giving their lives for our faith and with whom he has now joined.
There are times when I read the current news and list to the media reports of all of the difficulties and problems in the economy, violence, disastrous storms, etc., it is easy to be hopeless. In the midst of a wonderful meeting with the bishops and clergy of the Anglican Communion Network in Canada two weeks ago in Vancouver, British Columbia, with all the news about how they are progressing out of the most difficult times they have been having, we were briefed about the many court cases and the newest attack on the Reverend Dr. J. I. Packer (85 years old), long time Anglican theologian, who was served with papers by his Anglican Church of Canada bishop in an attempt to take his license away and silence his voice of orthodoxy! Yet in the midst of our two days together, we discovered the rich joy of community and fellowship in Christ. We shared in a powerful mutual support, in part due to a two and a half hour opening worship service focused on the “Anglican Awakening” that is sweeping North America and the world. Yet we discovered that first that in repentance and reconciling forgiveness that we had to come together to heal “the broken altar in our midst” as we gathered to celebrate the Eucharist—broken through years of mistrust, criticism, schisms, pride, and competition, and the like. It was in Christ’s Spirit that our hearts were quickened. It was a fitting message and enlightenment in the midst of Lent.
Sometimes I feel that I am like Mary Magdalene, standing in the entrance of the empty tomb and feeling only death. "They have taken away my Lord out of the tomb and I don't know where they have laid him. (John 20:5?) And this is part of our crisis in this country and elsewhere around the world, an empty tomb creates empty faith and thus leads us to empty life. As we stand with Mary Magdalene outside the tomb, we see bad news and that Jesus – and the faith of so many Anglicans and others – are dead and gone.
But, this is the time to bring Easter eyes into the empty tomb and see beyond the death. The empty tomb of Easter doesn't stop with hopelessness and death, but leads to the only true hope there is. This empty tomb revives us, creates within us the power of hope and tells us, "As I live, so also will you live."
It is our role as a Christian Church to proclaim this call beyond fear and death, beyond the problems we face, into new life. The Church has survived for 2000 years, not because we wallowed in the absence of God. We survived because we honestly carried and embodied the suffering and the Biblical story yet still experienced the Risen Lord. We survived because we remember and believe in the Risen Lord and his words; "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you."
What matters it that the church has not survived 2000 years since the First Pentecost because we were optimistic, pessimistic, realistic or idealistic, but because we are witnesses to the Resurrection. We have experienced the Light and we try to walk as people of the Light, understanding that God uses us to be witnesses for life in this blessed, but often what may seem to be, battered situations. We say not, I am realistic or pessimistic or idealistic or optimistic, but I have hope.
Hope is something you participate in, not because it makes sense or will make you a profit or will make our parishes grow, but because it is part of who we are and what we believe. Restoring right relations, building up the Body of Christ and of humanity, preaching the Gospel and celebrating the Sacraments, taking one step at a time, is the right thing to do, and, eventually, one day, it will tip the scales.
Everyday – even in the midst of the daily tasks and work, of the news of gloom and doom, of the fear and the suffering - small bursts of community, hope and reconciliation are happening through extraordinary people. Yes, we are extraordinary people of God!—Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
May the God of the Resurrection, lead us all, we pray, out of the tombs that entrap us, the hate that embitters us, the despair that paralyzes us and the fear that holds us hostage. Open our eyes and soften our hearts to help us see your Face in the eyes of the other; make us the church You meant us to be, the people of faith and courage You call us to be, bridge-builders, healers, ministers of reconciliation. Deliver us from Friday's darkness and Saturday's fear into Sunday's light of hope, so we can walk as raised, risen and reborn Easter people on the road. Amen.
May the blessing of Almighty God, in the name of the Father, and of the Son (X), and of the Holy Spirit, surround you, prepare the road before you upon which you walk, open the hearts and minds of those you encounter, and bring the message of Christ’s salvation and healing to all you meet. Amen.
++Bob Parlotz, OHS
