Author: Father Stephen

Father Stephen started serving as the rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on January 10, 2020. Prior to that position he served as priest-in-charge in Miles City and Forsyth, Montana. He is originally from West Virginia and has experience in youth ministry, mission work and more.

Easter Message from Bishop Marty

Light from the Darkness

This Holy Week seems to be a dark place, where political pundits suggest that the war in Ukraine could easily expand into a world war with nuclear weapons being used and that the United States could fall from civil discord into civil war.  The COVID-19 virus continues to evolve and harm people.  The change in our climate is already causing distress among our ranchers, farmers, and our forests.  It is as if we have been standing in the Temple, watching the curtain tearing itself into two.  Or perhaps we are one of the crowd watching Christ die on the cross, wondering if Jesus’ words were just that, words.  

Br. Keith Nelson words from a sermon earlier in April are, “Love is a crucible that dismantles the self we have cherished.”  So much of the work that we do in “the Way of Love” seems so straightforward and so kind and so very obvious.  But that false sense of love is easily destroyed by bombs, by poison gases, by hatred and by indifference.  If what we preach is destroyed in the crucible of human sin, then it is not the love of Christ.  That true love in Christ will dismantle our false selves that can be easily destroyed.  It is what is offered to our true selves by Christ. What Christ offers us in his act of breaking bread, in washing his disciples’ feet, in his stumbling under the weight of the cross and in his crucifixion is the true “Way of Love.”  The crucible of life only refines who we are called to be if we open ourselves to the humility and open-heartedness of Jesus’ teachings.  I should point out that Jesus knew who would betray him and who would deny him.  Both Judas and Peter partook of the institution of the Eucharist, and both had their feet washed by Jesus.  Jesus’ Eucharist and his washing of his disciples’ feet was a crucible of Love.  Over the centuries, that crucible would both break and form the leaders of the Christian faith.  

So where in this darkness of Holy Week and in our world, do we find Light?  It is a question that each one of us must seek to answer for ourselves over and over again.  The Psalmist writes of the blessing of the righteous, “They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright.”   The Way of Love is the way of righteousness.  Not of being politically right or theologically correct, but of seeing the path that Christ calls each of us on and taking it.  Righteousness is listening intently for Christ’s call, acknowledging the sins that we cherish, and opening ourselves to that Love that will transform us. It is in that transformation that we will become a light, not only for the upright, but for the world.

Jesus’ followers would walk into a world filled with darkness.  In the crucible of the resurrected Christ, they would become the Light for the world.  May we walk through our Good Friday into our Day of Resurrection.

Blessings for Easter!

Bishop Marty

Easter Sunday & Holy Baptism

“Woman, Why Weepest Thou?” by Fritz von Uhde, ~late 19th century

Join us in-person or online on Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 10 am

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Churchy Term of the Week – Paschal Candle

A large candle that symbolizes the risen Christ. It is often decorated with a cross, symbols of the resurrection, the Greek letters Alpha and Omega, and the year. The term “Paschal” concerns Easter or Passover. At the Easter Vigil, the Paschal candle is lit from the new fire. It is carried by the deacon, who pauses three times and sings or says, “The light of Christ,” and the people respond, “Thanks be to God.” The Paschal candle is carried by the celebrant if there is no deacon. 

After it is carried to the chancel, its flame may be used to light candles held by members of the congregation. This symbolizes the spreading of the light of Christ into the congregation and the world. The Exsultet is sung or said after the Paschal candle is placed in its stand. It is customary for the Paschal candle to burn at all services from Easter through Pentecost (BCP, pp. 285–287). After the Easter season, the Paschal candle is typically placed near the font. It should burn at baptisms, representing the new life in Christ that we share in baptism. The newly baptized person may be given a small baptismal candle that is lit from the Paschal candle. It may also be carried in procession at burials and placed near the coffin as a symbol of resurrection life.

Adapted from Don S. Armentrout’s An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: A User-Friendly Reference for Episcopalians Church Publishing Inc., 2000.

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