Readings and Reflections

  "Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of the fire. "

 — Gustav Mahler   

 

 "You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending." — C. S. Lewis 

 

2026 Easter Message

to the Diocese of the West

“Because upon the first glad Easter day,

The stone that sealed His tomb was rolled away;

So, through the deepening shadows of death’s night,

Men see an open door…beyond it light.”

Ida Norton Munson

I would encourage you to take a few moments to consider just what is that

“light beyond”. What was it, what is it, and what could it be?

Initially, that light meant to the disciples that Jesus had triumphed over death. He had survived the brutal journey to the cross. They had witnessed his death. They had experienced the end of their hopes and dreams, a complete destruction of their ideals and religious certainties.

And yet, at their darkest time, from the garden came the almost unbelievable

news: THE LORD IS RISEN!

The most amazing news is that we, too, may witness and experience His triumph in our lives when each of us commits unreservedly to Him. When we begin to share in His light, that wondrous victory of Easter, we can find the strength and courage to daily embrace Him and live in that “Peace which passeth all understanding”.

HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!

May God Bless you this Easter Season with the joy of His Resurrection.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

The Right Reverend Robert M. Hammond

 

 

Trinitytide

 

Second Sunday after Trinity
 

The Collect

O LORD, who never failest to help and govern those whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love; Keep us, we beseech thee, under the protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

For the Epistle1 St. John 3:13

MARVEL not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

The Gospel St. Luke 14:16

A CERTAIN man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall. taste of my supper.