03/25/2013
An Easter Message from Bishop Holloway
We make the spiritual journey, following the footsteps of Jesus across the biblical landscape this Holy Week. An increasing number of people in our culture have little or no idea why we make this journey, who Jesus is, or how taking the journey itself can be as important as its outcome. It is a strange and foreign enigma to the world. But we look at it through the eyes of our confident hope that Jesus was not only the Word made flesh and fully God, but that his words to us are true.
We commemorate the gift of Divine love and sacrifice, the consequence of our sin being released on the cross and on the floor of the empty tomb. We remember and celebrate God’s promise that we are not forgotten; that we are loved and remembered; that we are saved, not by our act, but by the divine love marked by the birth, teachings, suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord …purely through God’s love.
My hope is that this week our people will continue to engage Jesus in Word and Sacraments.
My hope is that this week our people will be changed by their faithful “re-visitation” with the life, death, mercy, forgiveness, and new life they encounter along the path of this journey.
My hope is that beyond this week our people will be fed for the longer faith-journey we make/take everyday in our homes, at our work, among our friends, in our own pain and joys, and the suffering of the world.
My hope is that our people will find more ways of recognizing that we exist for the sake of the world and must take advantage of engaging others, inviting them to know and to join the Lord of all. If we are Easter people, how can we not set our ministry within God’s Mission for the sake of the world?
I hope that we will again renew our effort to roll away the stone that blocks others from knowing our Lord, finding justice, celebrating REAL life, and trusting Jesus. We can roll away the stone that separates us from one another as brothers and sisters.
May our Holy Week and Easter proclamation bring others to the threshold of Divine Hope…and may we enter God’s portal with them.
May our Spirit-led Faith Journey this Holy Week call us to faithful witness in the world as we invite others to join us in devotion to Jesus and to new life as his disciples … as Easter people.
Cal
Cal Holloway
Bishop, Southern Ohio Synod