Auspicious


Auspicious
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life:
Grant us so perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to be the
way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow
his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through the
same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth
with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
1 John 5:1-5. Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (RSV)
Some faiths and some people look for propitious times or days, favorable moments, windows of blessing. In C. S. Lewis‘ Chronicles of Narnia story The Magician’s Nephew, Polly and Digory find themselves in a sleepy woodland filled with pools. Exploring, they discover that the pools open into other worlds, each pool into a different universe. One pool they enter takes them into eerie darkness, a silent place where there is no light at all. Gradually, from the distance they hear a song being sung as light slowly begins to dawn. It is a beginning as Narnia is sung into being by Aslan the Great Lion, the Word and Son of the Emperor-Over-the-Sea. Propitiously having entered this one pool, they are uniquely present to the wondrous creating power, imagination, promise, and love of God. 
We are in the Easter Season of the Church, an auspicious time for realization and blessing, perhaps even more so than the Epiphany Season. Not at all a spiritual person, I am nevertheless open to the possibility of hearing a word from God this Easter. Maybe the sense this morning that our Collect for last Sunday, our First John lesson for next Sunday, and our Collect for next Sunday form a conjunction of sorts is a word of some kind. My pentecostal friends might say a word of knowledge, others might say an epiphany, others would say what nonsense. My thought is to be open to the possibility that I or someone dear to me might need to hear God’s promise of better things ahead, a promise that dawns with Easter: in the darkness, light, the song of God.       
Sixth Sunday of Easter
O God, who hast prepared for those who love thee such
good things as pass man's understanding: Pour into our
hearts such love towards thee, that we, loving thee in all
things and above all things, may obtain thy promises, which
exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
TW+