We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Commentary

Meditation for March 16, 2020

Meditation for March 16

In Psalm 80, the psalm appointed for today, the psalmist prays, “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.” To “restore” something is to return it to its original state; to renovate something old to a good state of repair.
The psalmist’s petition reminds us that in all things, God is the One who can and will restore and save us. And the light of God’s face is shining all around us. But sometimes, in our own blindness, we miss the light. This week, open your eyes and look around. Look for the light of God’s love shining in the faces of the people who love you. Look for the light of God’s love shining in the beauty of this early spring season. Look for God’s love shining in the ways that people are determining their actions based not on their own needs, but on the good of the community. Look for God’s light shining in the sacrificial work of those on the front lines of our health care system. Look for the ways that God’s light is shining in new possibilities and ways of being the church, to fully restore us to our mission of loving God and our neighbor here and now, under these new circumstances. God’s light IS shining, and we SHALL be saved.

Prayer based on Prayer for the Absent in The Book of Common Prayer
O God, your merciful and compassionate love reaches around the world: We humbly ask you graciously to behold and bless those we love, even though we cannot gather as one body to worship you during these uncertain times. Defend us all from the dangers of soul and body; and grant that we all, drawing nearer to you, may be bound together by your love in the communion of your Holy Spirit and in the fellowship of the saints, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy Week: Where it Happened

In this video conducted by 206 Tours, you will see sites of Holy Week in Jerusalem, including the route of Palm Sunday, the site of the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, the Kidron Valley, the site where he was sent to the High Priests, the dungeon where he was kept as a prisoner in complete darkness, the house where he was taken to Pilate, the site where he carried the cross, Golgotha and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of the Resurrection.

Easter, Year C

I.Theme –   Easter celebrates the  reality of Jesus’ resurrection in all its many aspects.  Hope, Transformation, Evangelism and a new life.

In all the accounts (different from the other Hellenistic accounts of the day) Jesus is VERY present at the Resurrection. He is not a ghost. He is not an apparition. Jesus is very real and very present. The second detail is that the resurrection accounts do something. They make real the covenant community of the disciples. They are about to be sent; they are about to become apostles through the power of the Holy Spirit. The disciple community is formed. One might even say is birthed and bound together by the experience of this very real present Jesus.

John’s Gospel, one of the longer accounts of the Resurrection, shows the ability of the risen Christ to bring transformation and hope into the most difficult situations of human pain and grief is powerfully and movingly highlighted. With this encounter, John ‘leads the reader from the empty tomb to that which is the real meaning of the resurrection – the creation of a new relationship between Jesus and those who believe in him.’

Luke’s Gospel is known for the role of the women. The fear of Mark’s women is not present here, but rather a sense of purpose. The “men” however have a new purpose for the women – that they relate the news of the resurrection to skeptical disciples, and the remembrance of Jesus’ description of his fate. The women “remember” what the disciples see as an idle tale. Once again, the women tell the disciples but the disciples do not understand. However, the key word for Luke is “amazement.” In Luke’s account, Peter seems to question and wonder what has happened, as opposed to Matthew and Mark.

The Corinthians reading is the oldest of all testimonies to our Lord’s resurrection from the apostle Paul. Indeed, the point at which 1 Corinthians 15 stands closest to the Gospels is the identification of Simon Peter (Cephas: verse 5) as among the first to whom the risen Lord appeared (cf. Mark 16:7; Luke 24:34; John 21:1-8). At this point, Paul’s list omits the most obvious part of all the gospel resurrection narratives, when his account is set next to them — where are the women? Paul’s writings precede the writing of the Gospels. It is historically impossible to know what kind of information Paul received from others about the resurrection.   The point is that while Paul was late to the Church, Paul senses God’s presence and grace and that Jesus dies to save sinners for all.

The Acts reading emphasizes the broader nature of the resurrection spreads the message of Christ to all and in particular the Gentiles.  It is Peter’s missionary speech to Cornelius, a Gentile centurion, and his household. The conversion of Cornelius marks an important turning point in the understanding of God as impartial and consequently the outreach of the Church to Gentiles. Many “circumcised believers” (11:2) rejected and feared the possible inclusion of Gentiles in the Church, but Luke makes clear that Peter himself (even before Paul) began the mission to the Gentiles under the direction of the Holy Spirit (1:8) because his idea of God had changed.

 

“Noli Me Tangere” (Touch Me Not)

– Correggio (1534)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Isaiah 25:6-9

Psalm – Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Page 760, BCP

Epistle- Acts 10:34-43

Epistle- 1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Gospel-  John 20:1-18 Gospel – Luke 24:1-12

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Holy Week Links, 2025

1. Dennis Bratcher’s Holy Week article

2. All About Holy Week

3. Family Activities During Holy Week

4. The Events of Holy Week for Children

5. Facts about Crucifixion from a physician

6. What are Stations of the Cross?

A. Virginia Theological – Video, reflection guide

B. Stations of the Cross – Mary Peterman. Art

C. Stations of the Cross – Creighton University

7. Hot Cross Buns recipe

8. Passion Prayers

"Inspired by the St. Matthew and the St. John Passions of J.S. Bach, which interweave scripture texts with commentary, I gathered hymns, prayers, and art as responses to the text of the passion according to St. Mark. I chose northern European paintings of the 15th and 16th century, focusing on details to prompt the imagination toward completing the mood and event. Perhaps I meant the pictures to be like day to day impressions, shards of reality which carry complete truths. – Suzanne Guthrie

9. Holy week in two minutes (Youtube)

10. Praying Holy Week – Brothers of St. John the Evangelist

11. Holy Week with Jesus – TryTank This resource asks for your mobile phone number. “This year, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, you’ll receive text messages in real-time so you can walk with Jesus during his final days. When we say ‘real-time’ we mean it! Some text messages will arrive early in the morning or late at night as we truly walk with Jesus and experience the events leading to His death and resurrection. As you read the texts, our hope is that you’ll live the Easter story as if it were happening in the moment.”

12. Ideas to celebrate Holy Week

13. Holy Week, an Introduction Holy Week and Easter Explained using a video.

Luke’s Passion Narrative

Overall Themes

1. The passion narrative is part of the Journey
These are aspects of Luke’s Passion Narrative that are special or exclusive to him. Together with Jesus’ predictions of his own death, the death of a prophet – 9:31, 51; 12:50; 13:32-33; 17:25, it forms the climax of a journey to the cross upon which Luke has taken us. It must end in Jerusalem, for as Jesus says, where else could a prophet be killed than in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is, for Luke the centre of God’s purposes still. Jesus was proclaimed Messiah and Saviour in Jerusalem first when he was a baby. At his Bar Mitzvah held in Jerusalem, he took upon himself the adult task of ‘being in His Father’s House, he has been greeted at a king by the crowds in Jerusalem a week earlier. He will die, rise and appear in Jerusalem. His disciples will say goodbye to Him in Jerusalem, before settling down to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit, which they will receive in Jerusalem. The church will start in Jerusalem. The gospel will then go out from Jerusalem to all the ends of the earth.

2 Jesus dies an innocent man, a victim of injustice. Pilate states three times that Jesus is innocent, or has done nothing wrong. The thief on the cross declares that Jesus has done nothing wrong. Finally, in one of Luke’s most interesting redactions, the centurion at the foot of the cross declares that Jesus is innocent (as opposed to being the Son of God, as in Mark and Matthew).

The Jesus who is accused before Pilate by the chief priests and scribes of ‘perverting our nation’ (Luke 23:2) is one whose infancy and upbringing was totally in fidelity to the Law of Moses (2:22, 27, 39, 42). Similarly, the Jesus who is accused of ‘forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar’ is a Jesus who has only recently (20:25) declared concerning the tribute: ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s’. All of this casts light on the affirmation made by various dramatis personae in the passion that Jesus is innocent (23:4, 14, 22, 41, & 47).

3. Jesus is in control of his fate , accepting it and triumphing in it as opportunities for forgiveness and renewal of those He came to save arise. However healso says his death fulfils scripture

The Jesus who calmly faces death is one who had already set his face deliberately to go to Jerusalem (9:51), affirming that no prophet should perish away from Jerusalem (13:33). In the Lucan account of the ministry, Jesus showed tenderness to the stranger (the widow of Nain) and praised the mercy shown to the Prodigal Son and to the man beset by thieves on the road to Jericho; it is not surprising then that in his passion Jesus shows forgiveness to those who crucified him.

And, of course, Jesus’ death and the manner of it fulfils Scripture. In his account of the last supper, Luke (alone) has Jesus quote Isa 53, identifying himself with the suffering servant, who is counted as a criminal (numbered among transgressors) although he is innocent, for his sheep. The risen Jesus explains that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer all of these things in order to ‘enter into his glory’. And old Simeon’s prophecy to Mary is fulfilled as she suffers the pain of seeing her child on his cross, pain like a sword entering her heart.

4. Jesus also dies for the thieves on the cross and for those who crucify Him, although only two of them understands this. In one of the most famous sayings of Jesus reported only in Luke, he asks His Father to forgive those who are crucifying Him, on the grounds that they do not understand what they are doing. To the thief who takes pity on Him as He hangs, an innocent man, on the cross, the promise is greater. ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise.’ Jesus’ authority to forgive penitents has been a theme throughout the gospel -see the story of Zaccheus – and reaches it’s climax here.

As Jesus is dying he prays for his executioners (above), promises paradise to the penitent thief calls God ‘Father’. This is exclusive to Luke, and reflects the intimate and trusting relationship that Luke protrays between Jesus and the Father, seen most strongly in the words of Ps 31:5 quoted at 23:46 ‘Father into your hands I commit my spirit’ – a prayer said by Jews (and many Christians) as they settle down to sleep

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“The Chosen” depicts Palm Sunday in Season 4, 5

Palm Sunday straddles Season 4 and 5 in “The Chosen”. In 2025, Season 5 has only been released to the theaters

1. “He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey” – The Chosen Season 4 Ep 8

2. Jesus Prepares to Triumphantly Enter Jerusalem & the Crowds Prepare to Welcome Jesus- Season 4, Episode 8

Link

3. The Chosen Season 5, Episode 1. Preview

Lectionary-Palm Sunday, Year C

 Lectionary, April 13, Palm Sunday

I.Theme –   “Strength is concealed in humility, pain is hidden in triumph, victory, in defeat, life, in death, God, in human form” -Diedrik Nelson

“Palm Sunday” – Giotto (1305-06)     “Betrayal & Arrest of Christ” – Fra Angelico (1450)

The lectionary readings are here or individually:

Old Testament – Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm – Psalm 31:9-16 Page 623, BCP Epistle –Philippians 2:5-11 Gospel – Luke 22:14-23:56

“Borg and Crossan (The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Final Days in Jerusalem) imagine not one but two political processions entering Jerusalem that Friday morning in the spring of AD 30. In a bold parody of imperial politics, king Jesus descended the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem from the east in fulfillment of Zechariah’s ancient prophecy: “Look, your king is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Matthew 21:5 = Zechariah 9:9). From the west, the Roman governor Pilate entered Jerusalem with all the pomp of state power. Pilate’s brigades showcased Rome’s military might, power and glory. Jesus’ triumphal entry, by stark contrast, was an anti-imperial and anti-triumphal “counter-procession” of peasants that proclaimed an alternate and subversive community that for three years he had called “the kingdom of God.”

This week has two liturgies – Liturgy of the Palms and Liturgy of the Passon.

“The church is called to reckon with paradox on this week: triumph and rejection, death and rebirth.” So writes Melinda Quivik in Working Preacher. The week begins with Jesus triumphant arrival and by the end of the week he is killed.  Next week we trace the path day by day.  God is sacrificed by those he brings life.

“Strength is concealed in humility, pain is hidden in triumph, victory, in defeat, life, in death, God, in human form” -Diedrik Nelson

The theme is established by the first lesson. The servant is disciplined by suffering so he may bring strength and refreshment to the oppressed, but there are those who oppose him. Willingly he submits to those who torture and humiliate him. But God is his helper, so he is not disgraced or shamed. God vindicates him, no one can convict him.

The servant willingly suffers humiliation at the hands of his adversaries. He is not disgraced or put to shame because Yahweh vindicates him and helps him; no one can declare him guilty.

The servant of the Lord is opposed (Isaiah), is obedient to death (Philippians). He is betrayed, tortured and crucified by those who should have listened to him, and is seen as an innocent man by a centurion (Luke). He will be vindicated (Isaiah), exalted by God (Philippians), and honored by the unexpected one of the criminals- (Luke).

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Palm Sunday 2025

Palm Sunday 1891

We are nearing the end of Lent. Lent proper began on Ash Wednesday and ends on Palm/Passion Sunday, a day that in turn inaugurates Holy Week. 

While Palm Sunday marks Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem,  the events of that day set in motion Jesus’ death 5 days later before the Passover begins. Zechariah had forecast “Zion’s king” coming “righteous and victorious” on a donkey. It looked like Jesus was proclaiming himself King of Israel to the anger of some of the Jewish authorities.

Palm Sunday has two liturgies – the Liturgy of the Palms where we consider Jesus arrival in Jerusalem from Galilee and the Liturgy of the Passion, a foreshadowing of Holy Week.   

Palm Sunday is the hinge between Lent and Holy Week. Lent has been the 40 day season of fasting and spiritual preparation intended to understand in practices, ritual and disciplines critical to living in the way of Jesus and Holy Week. Holy Week is a time of more intense fasting, reading and prayers in which we pay particular attention to the final days, suffering, and execution of Jesus.