 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri This Sunday, May 21, 2023 7th Sunday in Eastertide Two High School Graduations this Sunday afternoon Sarah Elizabeth Cox and Olivia Shae Cox On Sunday after church there will be cake…   Eve Woosley just won a writing award at Bolivar Intermediate School! Congratulations, Eve!  7th Sunday of Easter Ascension Day was actually yesterday, Thursday, May 18. But it isn’t easy to gather people on a weekday, so the Sunday liturgy also repeats the Ascension day theme. And so will all our hymns. While much of the church has overlooked the Ascension, it is actually one of the four most important Christian feasts – along with Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. And it is sometimes a mystery to others that Amish and Mennonite stores are closed on Ascension day. I know it surprised us when we moved to Dunnegan several years ago and lived in an Amish community. But they remember what we have mostly forgotten! Pentecost is the culmination of the Easter cycle, but it is preceded by this feast – the “going up” of the risen Lord into heaven – the removal of the earthly Jesus from our midst. And once again, it took two angels to let the confused disciples know what was happening, and what to do next, just as it did on the day of Resurrection! In that case it was “two men in white robes” – but there are angels all around us – people who are sent as messengers of the good news of God’s care for us, to assure us that even absence and stress work towards good. Watch for them. They aren’t always the ones you expect – and they aren’t always where you expect to see them! And a birthday this week. Alice Hecht turned 10!  |
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