Dear friends,
Greetings from Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY, where a group of Trinity folks are enjoying a time of prayer, discussion, and renewal before Holy Week and Easter. While we have primarily been discussing the Gospels for Holy Week, our conversation has also included the lessons and sermons we have heard in worship with the brothers. Today we observed the Feast of St. Joseph, one of two major feasts that falls during Lent – the other is the Annunciation on March 25. Today’s sermon began with a mention of the Thanksgiving for the Birth or Adoption of a Child in the Book of Common Prayer, a short liturgy to give thanks for a newborn baby or to give thanks for the adoption of a child at any age. In the case of adoption, the priest presents the child to his or her parents, saying, “As God has made us his children by adoption and grace, may you receive N. as your own son (daughter).” The service then continues with the Magnificat, the Song of Mary.
In Jesus Christ, God configures our relationships in ways that transcend biological heredity. St. Joseph is, of course, a model of this kind of relationship, acting as an adoptive earthly father for Jesus. But each one of us is adopted as a child of God through Jesus Christ our brother. God doesn’t stand at a spiritual or physical distance from us. Rather, he takes on our humanity and names each one of us as beloved children. In doing so, he also gives us to each other as chosen family – chosen by God from before the foundation of the world. As we prepare to walk the way of the cross, there is no better time to contemplate the Church as a family in Christ, a family constituted even from the Cross itself. In St. John’s passion narrative, we read:
‘Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.’
We often think of Pentecost as the birthday of the Church, but here on Good Friday, at the very foot of the Cross, Jesus knits his followers together. May we walk these days of Holy Week knowing that we are so much more than a loose affiliation of church members, we are family to each other in a very real sense.
Yours faithfully in Christ,
Kara+
PS On March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, Archbishop Sarah Mullally will be enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral. While the service won’t be available live due to BBC restrictions, you can watch it here after the broadcast.