Christ Episcopal Church
	Riverton, New Jersey
	The Great Fifty Days June 2006 After the sorrows of Holy Week and the resurrection joy of Easter, there is often the sense of “it’s all over”. Even among the clergy, the first couple of weeks after Easter can almost get away without much notice. But Easter is a season, not just a day, and the full impact of the Lord’s resurrection is made manifest during this time, known as the Great Fifty Days. The lessons and liturgy of the season emphasize the presence of the resurrected Christ, and the witness of his followers to the reality of his being raised from the dead. Each Sunday offers a different aspect of this witness. On ‘Thomas’ (or ‘Low’) Sunday, one week after Easter Day, the second of the season, we confront doubt in the guise of St.. Thomas, who does not believe those who have witnessed the resurrected Jesus. When Jesus appears, Thomas believes, and our Lord promises, ‘How blest are they who have not seen, and yet have come to believe’. The Third Sunday of Easter (“Breaking of the Bread Sunday), the disciples recognize the resurrected Christ as he breaks bread – offers the Eucharist, the communion, which reminds us of where we can experience his life also. Good Shepherd Sunday (Easter 4) reminds us that our living Lord watches over us still, and cares for us as a shepherd cares for the sheep, helpless and clueless as they may be. He is good for he calls them all by name and lays down his life for them, as he gathers them (us) into his flock. The theme is love on the Fifth Sunday of Easter: God’s love for us and our love of God as reflected in our relationship with Christ Jesus and our fellow Christians. On Rogation Sunday (Easter 6), we rejoice in the new life of spring, where resurrection is manifested in the whole creation breaking out in bud and leaf and flower. It is the church’s Earth Day, and even now in rural areas of England, the priest and congregation process around the parish’s boundaries praying the Litany and asking for a bountiful harvest. Crosses are also blessed and placed in fields and gardens as further assurance of God’s oversight of all living things. The Seventh Sunday of Easter is that after Ascension Day. Our Lord is said to have returned to his heavenly home 40 days after his resurrection, and this Sunday is a day of waiting and praying for the church’s ‘clothing with power from on high’ by the Holy Spirit. The Day of Pentecost: the Fiftieth Day of the Great 50 Days. Pentecost (the word means 50 in Greek) is the third most important feast of the Christian year after Easter and Christmas. Pentecost is known as the birthday of the church, because Jesus’ followers, previously gathered around our Lord’s physical presence before their eyes, burst forth from their isolation, and embrace the world, empowered by Christ’s spiritual presence in their hearts. On that day they (and we) discover and recover Jesus’ promise that his resurrected existence would be present with those who follow him always. Sure it is springtime, and the weather is getting nice again. There are things to do and places to go during Easter season. This gives us all the more reason to seek and see God’s purpose in all this new life bursting around us. For the one through whom all things were made, our Lord Jesus Christ, he who was raised from the dead and who brings to us life and immortality seeks to show himself to us. He offers his hands and side, he breaks the bread and shepherds us, he appears through his creation and returns to his Father to intercede for us. Finally we receive and are renewed in his Spirit, his own first gift to believers, so that resurrected life may live in us, and make us aware of that life. A Great Fifty Days indeed! For Christ is Risen, the Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.