Easter III- John 16:22

The Gospel for this Third Sunday after Easter is from John 16:16-22. This is one of several selections during Eastertide from the “Farewell Discourses” where Jesus gives some final instructions to His followers before the crucifixion. In all likelihood, He may have repeated similar instructions during His forty days with them after Easter.

A key verse in the passage is John 16: 22: “ And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” Joy is a major of Easter and the following season, but we are tempted to ignore its great importance. The joy of Christ's living presence should remain in our hearts and minds. 

Jesus Christ rises from the dead. He wins an eternal victory over Satan, sin, and death, and He offers us true joy. This joy of Christ goes beyond passing earthly happiness. Christian joy is a spiritual gift. It transforms the sorrows of this world. It comes from the grace of God embodied in Jesus Christ. As believers, we still have both sorrows and joys, but there is one joy that surpasses our earthly circumstances. We still have bad times in this life, but the joy of Christ can remain through our worldly sorrows. Since this joy comes from our Lord, no one can take it from us. We can forget it or ignore it, but the gift is still there. So in faith, we should reclaim joy if it fades and abide in it. This is the great joy of knowing that the presence of the risen Christ is with us, in this world and the next!

Thanksgiving Day- Matthew 6:25ff

The giving of thanks to Almighty God is a deep and perennial aspect of the Judeo-Christian heritage. Thanksgiving is a recurring theme and practice in the Old and New Testaments, and various autumnal thanksgivings developed in Christianized Europe.  In the Anglo-American colonies, there were early services of thanksgiving at Berkeley Hundred in Virginia in 1619 and at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. Over the year various observances arose, but the core religious element was emphasized in American Books of Common Prayer, 

In the Epistle for the day, James 1:17 reminds us that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights..." Since God is the giver of every good gift, a thankful response is always appropriate for believers.

In the Gospel from Matthew 6:25 ff, Jesus exhorts us not to be anxious about basic material needs. In general, divine providence watches over and supplies the natural needs of even the birds and the flowers. Certainly, His care for human beings, especially those seeking His kingdom, is even greater, So believers should not be overwhelmed by anxiety; we should trust in God and gratefully seek His will.

With such a Scriptural background in mind, we can sincerely pray-

O most merciful Father, who hast blessed the labours of the husbandman in the returns of the fruits of the earth; We give thee humble and hearty thanks for this thy bounty; beseeching thee to continue thy loving-kindness to us, that our land may still yield her increase, to thy glory and our comfort; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Trinity XII

In looking over the "propers" for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, I was struck by the distinctive but meaningful themes of the Collect. Epistle and Gospel. The Collect for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity comes from the early Latin church and was found in the Leonine and Gelasian Sacramentaries of the seventh and eighth centuries. The present English phraseology dates from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The words emphasize that God is the center of prayer. Sometimes we discuss prayer like it is all about us, but we are inconsistent and weak in prayer as in other areas. So we need to focus more on God. He is always ready to hear, extend His mercy, and give good gifts which He determines through Jesus Christ.

The Epistle for this Sunday is from 2 Corinthians 3:4-9 and includes some of the Apostle Paul's insights about ministry. Of course, he has his own apostolic ministry in mind, but much of what he says can apply to the service of any Christian, from the saintliest bishop to the simplest struggling believer. In particular, let us notice verse 5: "...not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God...." Regardless of any natural gifts or lack of them, our service for the Gospel must not be focused upon ourselves; rather we must focus upon God's grace that can empower us to do what is needed.

The Gospel from St. Mark 7:31-37 is about the healing of a deaf-mute. This miracle takes place in the Decapolis, a region east of the Jordan that had both Jewish and pagan Greek-speaking inhabitants in the first century. This location suggests the universal significance of Christ's ministry for all people, and healing a deaf-mute of unspecified origin points to the fulfillment of Messianic prophecies (Isaiah 35:5 and Ezekiel 24:27). In a different way, the Gospel passage, like the Collect and Epistle, underlines the importance of divine mercy and grace through Jesus Christ.