 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Monday, May 2, 2022 Sunday at St Alban’s   To remind you of the gospel – here are pieces of it – the parts I want to remember right now. That statue is in Spain, near Estella, on the Camino. I share it because, although this theme of Jesus being recognized “in the breaking of the bread” is all over the gospels, I have never seen another sculpture of the risen Lord offering bread. It isn’t maybe the greatest art, but it does depict the reality that we know. We recognize him when the bread of life, which is himself, is given to us in Eucharist, and in our ordinary daily encounters. And others receive him when we give them the Real bread – of our hearts and of our hands, in worship and in service.And this IS how we “follow” him. John 21:1-19 “Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberius; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples… “ “Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that itwas Jesus. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it and bread…” “Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.”        Sunday at St Alban’s If you are not attending Ryan Williams’ class on Sunday at 9:30 I strongly urge you to do so. The book is really good and important and a great basis for understanding what the Episcopal Church is – and what it is not! Meanwhile, some of the little trees we planted where snapped off low to the ground in last week’s hail. But many survived that intact, and are showing lots of green leaves! The lettuce that was planted on a whim in the large cement pots in front of the church is thriving. There are hundreds of tiny plants. In another week or two you may begin to harvest some. Take only the largest, carefully, to thin the beds. You don’t have to wait till they are huge, Little leaves are the tastiest!  Other photos from yesterday and a comment. The little ones were loud and happy yesterday, and I was a little anxious that one of our people (who doesn’t always come because of out of town travel,) might have been off-put. So I spoke to her. She said that when she was younger she was taking four children to church, and that it “wasn’t like this.” And she said how much better it would have been if it had been. So do not freak out if your tiny one is eager to come play around the altar, even if they are laughing out loud. It isn’t offensive to me, or to God. I hope you also saw them carefully looking at and touching the butterflies on the Alleluia! banner. They know they are welcome. They know they belong. They will never wonder if they are “good enough” or important enough to be in the presence of God. And if they ring their bells, well, they are supposed to! It is still Easter. And late last night I got a text from a person who follows us on facebook. She asked, “Why don’t you ever show the REAL congregation, you know, all the old people?” “I laughed out loud. We just had a whole day to celebrate our oldest, Larry Lewis! We do have a few, of course, and I am among them. But I invited her to “come and see.” Of course, she won’t. But it did make me realize again how special you all are – to me, and to the whole Church.   |
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