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Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed!

The Prayer Book doesn’t use exclamation points, but it should. I mean really, how can you say, “Alleluia” without an exclamation point? The word is an exclamation point! And we could say, “Christ is risen” without an exclamation point, but I don’t think we ever should, any more than we should say, “The Lord is risen indeed” without an exclamation point.

So, during the Easter season, we will start each service by saying, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” and you will respond, “The Lord is risen indeed!” I hope the exclamation points will come naturally to you, be impossible to suppress, because you find that you just can’t say it without excitement.

Note that we don’t say, “Alleluia! Christ has been raised!” or, “Alleluia! Christ was raised!” We say, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” “The Lord is risen indeed.” The reason this proclamation is so exciting as to demand an exclamation point is that we are not just commemorating something that happened two thousand years ago. We are not just recalling a past event. We are making the bold, audacious, ridiculously hopeful claim that Christ is risen, now, today, in my life, in your life, in the world. God’s work of reconciliation, of hospitality, of atonement (“at-one-ment”) continues even now, cannot even now be defeated by the forces of death and estrangement, and will, we are assured, even now prevail against all the odds, even now when it seems impossible, even now when in so many ways it seems that the stone is in front of the tomb.

What a bold, daring thing to say. It seems to me that there can be no middle ground, no tepid response. You either believe it, in which case it is clearly the most important thing in the universe and requires of you simply everything, or you don’t believe it. If you don’t believe it, don’t say it. But for those who do believe it, how could anyone say it without enthusiasm?

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord was raised has been raised is risen indeed!

And now, on to another matter. I am sorry to report that Carol McGittigan, our Parish Administrator, may be leaving us. Carol is a very faithful member of her Methodist church in Douglasville. That church has recently been traumatized by a pastoral crisis, and Carol wants to be available to work in her church at this time. As I write this, we are still sorting this out, and it may be the case that Carol can stay here on a more limited basis or come back after a leave of absence. Whether she is leaving permanently or not, this is a good opportunity for me to express my thanks to her for her high-quality work among us, for her wise council, and for her good friendship. I am grateful to have worked with her, and I will miss her. I also ask you to keep her church in your prayers. No need to name it; God knows.

They will be fine. I know through Carol that they know the Lord. You know — the one that is risen.

The Youth have again been invited by Bill Mercure (our resident pilot) for airplane rides on1st. We will car pool right after the 10:30 service to the airport and have a BBQ and then airplane rides, so bring your outing clothes.

On April 24th, we will make a decision to have or to cancel this event This decision will depend how many have signed up by the 24th. The forms will be provided the day of the event. See Robbin Iddins if you have questions.

Each of us has our favorite hymns, don’t we? I know I do. Whether it’s those you grew up hearing (or singing), or that special one they played at your wedding, or those that trigger significant memories, we each have our favorites-and maybe those that we don’t like as much, too. But did you ever wonder how the hymns are selected? Well, I posed that question to the Rector recently, and I’d like to share his answer with all of you.

“Jon Marc and I sit down together with lots of resources and try to pick the music for about two months at a time. For each Sunday, we consider the theme of the readings and the season. Sometimes there is a hymn that directly relates to the readings for the Sunday, sometimes the closest we can get is a general reference to the season. Hymns are not picked at random, nor are they picked merely because everyone knows them. We try to stick to hymns that are "singable," but want the parish to expand musical horizons, so we teach new hymns occasionally. We do not want the parish to have a "top twenty" list that merely gets recycled. We try, however, to mix less well known hymns with "old chestnuts." It is also a fact of church life that a hymn that one parishioner grew up with (in the Episcopal Church or elsewhere) is brand-spanking new to another. It is also a fact of life that a hymn that one person loves will be distasteful to another. We cannot please everyone all the time, but there is a method, and a good deal of thought and effort go into hymn selection. So next time you're in church, ask yourself, "Why would they have chosen this hymn on this Sunday?"”

And then SING!

The Legal Aid Society and Georgia Legal Services Program have developed a public access legal web site. The web site has been expanded to provide over 1,500 resources to help Georgians represent themselves.

For questions regarding your rights, court forms, help in finding a lawyer, and community help go to, <http://legalaid-ga.org/>.

There is a lot of information on links page on the website (http://www.afm2005.org/). Please take a moment to look them over. You can also contact one of the chairs of the Commission on Congregational Growth and Development: The Rev. Jim Pritchett (rector of St. John's, College Park, 404-761-8402) or the Rev. Trawin Malone (rector of the Church of the Atonement, 404-252-3324) or The Rev'd Canon Alicia Schuster Weltner (Canon for Congregational Ministry) 404-601-5320 aschusterweltner@episcopalatlanta.org .

Saturday, April 30, 2005

8:00 am—4:00 pm

The Loudermilk Center, 40 Courtland St.

Guest Speaker: Dr. H. Westley Clark,

Director Center for Substance Abuse Treatment

Workshops & Roundtable Discussions

Access to Recovery

HIV & Hepatitis C

Restoring Citizenship

Recovery @ Work

Celebrate Recovery

For more information call Ms. Cassandra Collins at

404-370-0123

As I am sure many of you know by now I am planning to leave St. John’s. This decision has been made with many prayers and much consideration. It did not come easily. It has been a wonderful experience working at St. John’s. I’ve learned about the Episcopal church and made some very good friends.

Special thanks to all the weekly and monthly volunteers who have helped me along the way. The work of the church could not be done without you! 

It has been a pleasure to work with Jim and Ruth. I appreciate how supportive they have been with my decision to leave.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve in ministry at St. John’s!

Help Victims of Tsunami:

Episcopal Relief & Development Responds

To support families devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in South Asia, donate to the South Asia Relief Fund at www.er-d.org  or call 800/334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to: Episcopal Relief and Development, c/o South Asia Relief Fund, Box 12043, Newark, NJ 07101.  You can also click on the blue Tsunami icon on our home page of stjohnscollegepark.com.