Rector's Rambling - May 16, 2010

Eastertide has now come and gone, and in a few weeks we will be back in the ‘green’ of ordinary time, also known as Trinitytide.
Easter is certainly the primary feast of the Church calendar. It is by Jesus’ death and resurrection that we have the price of our sins paid, and death conquered by Jesus himself.
Ascension Day, which was last Thursday, is the culmination of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Jesus takes his human body, resurrected, with Him back into the Godhead to intercede for us.
Today we are between times. Like the disciples we are preparing for the promise of the coming of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. We have been praying since Friday a Novena for the gifts of the Holy Ghost, just as the disciples spent those 9 days between Ascension and Pentecost in prayer. You are most welcome to join this novena—there are forms for it at the back of the Church, and it is being sent daily to the St. John’s Email list.
Sunday, May 24th is Whitsunday, also known as Pentecost. In this day we celebrate the birthday of the Church by the coming of the Holy Ghost to empower the followers of Jesus to continue His work and propagate the Gospel.
The following week we have Trinity Sunday, when the Rector feebly tries to explain this vital dogma about God being 1 God in 3 persons. Trinity Sunday this year is also our baseball outing Sunday.
The following Thursday, June 3rd we have our festive celebration of Corpus Christi—the Body of Christ. We rejoice and give thanks that Jesus feeds us with his own body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. We will have a guest preacher this day (to be announced soon), and the grandest liturgy we have. It will be followed by a torchlit reception in the Garden.
The following Sunday is our last hurrah for the white vestments before getting into the long green liturgical season.
So even though Easter is past, we still have several weeks of exciting, important Sundays to come.