Every year, the Church Catholic (universal) observes the most sacred period from Holy Week to Eastertide to journey alongside Jesus prayerfully and liturgically in the final days of his life—the days leading up to the Paschal Mystery celebrated in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Now, in unabashed thanksgiving for the fact that God makes the impossible possible with our Lord’s victory over death, the baptized are called to be the Body of Christ in ways that bring change.
The Resurrection of Jesus is the Christian belief that life, not death, is the final answer. Hope overcomes despair. Good overwhelms evil. Love always wins. All shall be well for those trusting enough in the God who graciously gives life and endless abundance. “Easter living” tasks us to stop, pay attention, create sacredness, care for others, choose compassion, do justice, and love foolishly, all in the name of the One raised from the dead that we might have life.
In being the Body of Christ, we purposefully live as a community intrinsically designed to both nurture and empower the faith that abides within each of us and act in the name of Jesus. The Church is a collective engagement and experience of worship, formation, music, congregational life, in-reach, outreach, social justice, and giving (time, talent, money) that supports our mission and vision. In Eastertide, we reflect on and respond to the wisdom of Teresa of Avila: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
Life at Grace-St. Luke’s (GSL) is rich with opportunities to help our “Easter living” and blessed with resources made possible by individual and household stewardship to stay focused on the Church’s mission to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. This mission informs the GSL vision to be a thriving community of hope, belonging, and healing through worship, parish life, and service, and who rejoices in the love of Jesus to transform the world.
I believe that the people of God everywhere need much of what the Church can offer: hope. Our hope is in God who has manifested in Jesus to show us the way of love and how to be as his followers. With God’s help and together by life at GSL, let us practice what it means to be the Body of Christ, which means in the words of the Rev. Samuel Wells “to be dwell in the freedom Christ brings—freedom from the prison of the past and from the fear of the future.”
Eastertide blessings and many thanks for your gifs to our journey,
The Rev. Ollie V. Rencher, Rector
901-252-6320 | orencher@gracestlukes.org