Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Mark's thoughts: Pulling it all together: Some reading for the Octave of Easter - White Week

Today we are in the octave of the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord.  An octave is the eight days during which a feast is celebrated.  In many places in the Church during the centuries after it first became legal this was also known as "white week," for during this time those who had been baptized at the Vigil of Easter sat together at the services this week and wore their white baptismal gowns.

You would be hard pressed to find a time in the Church year that is richer in its emphasis on the goodness of God's creation, the significance of the incarnation, the sacramental ways God works in our midst and the hope of the resurrection and the Last Day.  These themes are interrelated with one another in a way that gives a strong coherence to the Lutheran reading of Scripture, and only by recognizing these links are we able to read Scripture in an apostolic and catholic fashion.

I have written an article that sets this forth and if you haven't already, I encourage you to read it.  The article pulls together ten years worth of study and thought.  I wrote it because it is the article that I wish someone had put into my hands ten years earlier.  It is entitled, "Good Stuff!  The Material Creation and the Christian Faith" and it begins on page 245.

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/FeedEnclosure/csl-public.1572099114.01572099121.4487938950/enclosure.pdf

In an earlier post,  I have also developed an aspect of this theme as it relates to the sacraments;

http://surburg.blogspot.com/2013/02/why-do-they-believe-sacraments-are-only.html

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