The Episcopal Church participates in the Revised Common Lectionary – which means we agree to read the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in a three-year cycle with passages from John read in all three years.

We are now in the year of Mark, and Mark’s Gospel is considered the earliest and therefore most primitive of the four Gospels. The original ending of Mark leaves us with the empty tomb on Easter morning. It’s a surprise to the three women who discover it, and they are, to use an old-fashioned word, discomfited, even though an angel tells them Jesus is not there.

We are left free to decide for ourselves what that empty tomb might mean. Being rational people we tend to think there has to be a logical explanation. But surprises defy our logic all the time: people do well when we think they will fail; underdogs win when the odds are against them; and sometimes we are gripped by a feeling of joy for no logical reason at all.

During the Great Fifty Days of Easter we celebrate that surprise that freedom to decide and choose to live as resurrected people. We hope you will join in celebrating at St. James’ and look forward to meeting you.

- Ben Helmer, Vicar