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Showing posts from April, 2011

The Second Sunday of Easter - 1 May 2011

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The Second Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Psalm 16 I Peter 1:3-9 St. John 20:19-31 El Greco - Saint Luke                                                                                         BACKGROUND: Acts The first reading through all of Eastertide is from the Book of Acts.   I thought a bit of background might be helpful.   Acts is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke, and as such describes two great missions: 1. The Mission in Palestine, and 2. The Greater Mission to all the Earth.   The author, surmised to be Luke of Antioch, was a some-time companion of Paul, and as such he pictures the Pauline mission (or at least a part of it) from the viewpoint of a companion, but also that of an “outsider”, not a part of the Pauline entourage.   His devices are effective.   First he positions Peter in a series of acts that recall the ministry of Jesus.   Having established Peter as primus he then affords Paul the same opportunity.   The stage then is Paul’s.  

Maundy Thursday - 21 April 2011

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Maundy Thursday Exodus 12:1-14 Psalm 116:1, 10-17 I Corinthians 11:23-26 St. John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Watanabe - Jesus washes Peter's feet                                                                                         BACKGROUND: Maundy Thursday With this day we enter the Triduum (the Three Great Days – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter).  The liturgies on these days are not three separate liturgies but rather a single service that extends from Thursday to the Great Vigil of Easter.  The services before the Vigil will not end in a blessing, but rather silence; the blessing being deferred until the Great Vigil.  The name, Maundy Thursday, comes either from the Latin mandatum (command) in which Jesus asks his followers to “love one another”.  The name also might come from an old English word maund , which means to beg.  The tradition in England is that on this day the sovereign hands out bags of money to poor, perhaps as an example of loving one anoth

The Sunday of the Passion (Palm Sunday), 17 April 2011

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The Sunday of the Passion (Palm Sunday) The Liturgy of the Palms St. Matthew 21:1-11 The Liturgy of the Passion Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Saint Matthew 26:14 – 27:66                                                                                         Rouault - The Crucifixion BACKGROUND: The Sunday of the Passion Within our lifetimes there has been a great deal of movement and change regarding this Sunday.   Prior to the liturgical changes coming out of Vatican II (which influenced Anglican and Lutheran usage), the whole of Lent seemed to focus on the Passion of Jesus, and the penitential nature of the season.   With the renewal of liturgies in the 60s, churches began to see Lent as a time of introspection and catechesis, preparing both church and candidates for the baptisms at the Great Vigil.   Old Palm Sunday soon became The Sunday of the Passion, and the color of vestments changed to the Crimson of Sarum Usage.   These reforms focus