From Brother Curtis Almquist of the St. John the Evangelist Society in Cambridge, MA (our fair city)...a message of hope in the Resurrection! I had the pleasure of spending time with Br. Curtis in a few different settings over the years, and find him to be just a wonderful presence, and natural evangelist of the Gospels! Read his Easter Sermon!!
~The Rev. Peter M. Carey
Experience the Resurrection! – Br. Curtis Almquist
Posted on March 27, 2016 by Br. Curtis Almquist
6
John 20:1-18
Jesus greets Mary Magdalene in the garden near his tomb. He has come back from the dead, alive, resurrected, and yet he is very Wounded. Jesus’ body is still wounded by the scourgings that preceded his crucifixion, and the horrific piercing wounds to his side and to his hands, hanging from the cross. None of these wounds is healed. And Jesus’ heart is also wounded by the betrayal and abandonment of his closest friends, the disciples who literally left Jesus hanging. The women, who were there when their Lord was crucified, witnessed it all, a horrific experience. And this surely leaves the women wounded by the trauma. Meanwhile the disciples are hiding – hiding in their own fear, sorrow, and shame – and this, too, shows a wounding.[i] No one can hurt us like we can hurt ourselves, when we become our own worst enemy. On this day of resurrection, everyone in the Gospel story is not okay. Everyone is wounded, and this is likely true for many of us here. We can simultaneously acknowledge Jesus’ resurrection and, at the same time, acknowledge that everything is not all right in our world or in our own lives. Many of us here today may bear the wounds of life, of one sort or another. Bishop Barbara Harris says, “We are a resurrection people living in a Good Friday world.”
This is why Saint Paul speaks of “the hope of the resurrection.”
Read the rest HERE
