Generations past were faced with far fewer distractions than generations present, allowing a more focused gaze upon the cross and its meaning.

As the previous posts have noted, the parallels between Passover and Easter are deep and profound.

Johann Sebastian Bach updated a sixth century verse to give the Lutheran Church a treasured hymn entitled “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing.” 

This same hymn is found in most Catholic hymnals. 

Others??? Leave a comment if you know.

Here is this great hymn, in both organ and piano.

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/t/atlambhf.htm

http://www.missionstclare.com/music/pascha/at_the_lambs/at_the_lambsc.html

Blessed Pascha!!!

So why do the Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter seven weeks later than Catholics and Protestants this year???

A great question.  Note that the Orthodox have celebrated Easter in the same week as the Jewish Passover.

This question was one of the hottest of topics 1000 years ago.  Now it cannot hold a candle to a discussion of the latest television mini-series or sporting event.

It is difficult to explain why the dates differ.  It has to do with phases of the moon and the spring equinox.  Suffice it to say that the Eastern Church marks “Pascha” in a fashion that well preserves the crucial connection between Passover and the Death of Jesus Christ, and for that we all owe the East a great debt of gratitude.

This brief comment showed up in a Florida newspaper this weekend: 

— JAMES D. DAVIS

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flortho26sbapr26,0,4309705.story

Here’s some press coverage on Eastern services across the world from our British cousins:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7369960.stm

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own
unless it remains on the vine,
so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
will be thrown out like a branch and wither;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire
and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

John 15:1-8

The Institute looks to the Lord Jesus Christ to answer its prayers to bear much fruit for the Kingdom in the location where the fruit of the womb was stolen away by the evil one for 28 sorrowful years.

Please pray with us that the Lord’s Will be done, and that our current projects in the Michael, Gabriel and Raphael Division – as well as the ongoing renovations of the building so that it can be useful for God’s Work — are blessed by God. 

Please consider coming to the Institute Saturday, April 26 between 7:30 and noon to help out if you can.

Call (800) 399-4620 for more information about the Institute and to pray with us regarding our most important projects. 

Thanks.   

Bryan

Artwork above borrowed from www.christ-4-u.org/OurMessage1.htm

A page maintained by St. John’s Lutheran Church, Plato, Minnesota.

Call (800) 399-4620 for prayer requests and daily updates starting today, April 21.

With Spring finally in the air here in the Fort, and with the hope that the big Midwest earthquake is not just around the corner, we will turn toward getting this old storefront ready for Christian activism over the next eight weeks.  Here is the plan for those who wish to jump right in and help out . . .

April 26, 2008              Donegal Corridor work day:  Saturday pastry breakfast at 7:30 a.m.

                                    (all invited)

                                                   General cleaning, organizing, readying for painting outside

April 27, 2008              Sunday meeting of Gabriel Division core at 5:00 p.m. (Sunday

                                      afternoon) at King Gyros.  Orthodox Easter celebrated at www.archangelinstitute.organd in music on DC soundsystem.       

May 3, 2008                Donegal Corridor work day:  Saturday pastry breakfast at 7:30 a.m.

                                    (all invited)

May 10, 2008              Mother’s Day weekend:  Saturday pastry breakfast for Raphael Division at the Institute at 7:30 am  (Discussion of Mother’s healing programs, women only)

May 17, 2008              Donegal Corridor work day:  Saturday pastry breakfast at 7:30 a.m.

(all invited)

May 24, 2008              Donegal Corridor work day:  Saturday pastry breakfast at 7:30 a.m.

(all invited)

May 31, 2008              One year anniversary of ArchAngel Institute: Saturday pastry breakfast for all Divisions and supporters at the Institute at 7:30 a.m.  Special Memorial Day prayer service at local cemetery to follow.  (all invited, family friendly)

June 7, 2008                Anniversary of D-Day:  Saturday pastry breakfast for Titanic Brigade at the Institute at 7:30 a.m.  (Men only:  Core team to present master plan for the Titanic Brigade)

June 14, 2008              Father’s Day weekend:  Saturday pastry breakfast for Raphael Division Committee at the Institute at 7:30 am  (Discussion of Father’s healing programs, men invited to meet Raphael core)

June 21, 2008              First day of Summer:  Summer calendar for ArchAngel to be posted on website with announcements of meetings.

April 21 we pause to remember Anselm of Canterbury, one of the greatest scholars of Church history.  He was also a man of faith, courage and action.

Here is how one website describes this very fine role model:

Anselm, like every true follower of Christ, had to carry his cross, especially in the form of opposition and conflict with those in political control. Though personally a mild and gentle man and a lover of peace, he would not back off from conflict and persecution when principles were at stake.

 http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/saintofday/

The following is a transcript of Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks at ground zero:

O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths and traditions,
who gather today at this site,
the scene of incredible violence and pain.

We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to all who died here –
the heroic first-responders:
our fire fighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel,
along with all the innocent men and women
who were victims of this tragedy
simply because their work or service
brought them here on September 11, 2001.

We ask you, in your compassion
to bring healing to those
who, because of their presence here that day,
suffer from injuries and illness.
Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families
and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy.
Give them strength to continue their lives with courage and hope.

We are mindful as well
of those who suffered death, injury, and loss
on the same day at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Our hearts are one with theirs
as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.

God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.
Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost here
may not have been lost in vain.
Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.

A solemn time of prayer and reflection was had in the ArchAngel Raphael Division tonight.  Our order of service in the former procedure room was as follows . . .

Closing Prayer: 
Psalm 113  – the beginning of the Great Hallel being prayed in synagogues all over the world tonight . . .

Praise the LORD. ^[a]
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
 praise the name of the LORD.

 2 Let the name of the LORD be praised,
       both now and forevermore.

 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised

.  4 The LORD is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.

 5 Who is like the LORD our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,

 6 who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?

 7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

 8 he seats them with princes,
 with the princes of their people.

 9 He settles the barren woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.  Praise the LORD

Come the the Institute tonight, Saturday April 19 at 8:15 p.m. to celebrate the onset of Passover.  This is a tradition from Holy Scripture that starts all the way back in Genesis (when our Creator clothed Adam and Eve), is fully expressed in the Exodus and was completely fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The ArchAngel Institute finds it more than fitting to mark this sacred “moon” by readings from the Old Testament, New Testament and early Christian leaders.  The readings will begin at dusk tonight. 

All are welcome, even those who disagree with us on Christian morality.  Passover is all about God’s Grace to us.  Without that Grace,  which Jesus bought with His blood on the wood of the cross, no one could stand before our Creator.  We celebrate that Grace tonight. 

We hope to see you at 8:15 tonight inside the first floor of 827 Webster Street.  Our readings and reflection will take place inside a former “procedure room,” where the blood of the innocents was shed for 28 sad years.  Our prayers will include prayers that God’s rich Grace be fully extended to them, to their wounded parents and to those who took part in their slaughter.

In the post at April 15, 1912 Remembered  a great American of a century ago asked us, in the wake of the Titanic disaster, “if this ideal [of Christian manhood] was to survive and prevail in our civilization or not?”

Somewhere between 1912 and post modernity this ideal appears to have passed away.  Possibly in the trenches of WWI?  Possibly while entire cities were bombed to dust in WWII?  Possibly in the napalm, ”freedom” and sexual revolution that followed the horrible wars of the twentieth century?

Before we can re-capture what was lost we must first miss what we have thrown away.

This poem by Harvey F. Thewl (written within months of the sinking of the Titanic) should help us miss Christian manhood. 

AI Director Barb Budzon read it during our somber tribute to the chivalry found on the deck of that great sinking Lady of the Sea last Monday.  Read it and weap for an age lost, an age that valued true manhood.  Read it and pray that the men of our present social order will determine it best to rescue manhood from its seeming demise . . . 

Where Manhood Perished Not

Where across the lines of forty north and fifty-fourteen west
there rolls a wild and greedy sea with death upon it’s crest.
No stone or wreath from human hands will ever mark the spot
where fifteen hundred men went down, but manhood perished not.

Old ocean takes but little heed of human tears or woe.
No shafts adorn the ocean graves, nor weeping willows grow.
Nor is there need of marble slab to keep in mind the spot
where noble men went down to death, but manhood perished not!

Those men who looked on death and smiled,
and trod the crumbling deck,
have saved much more than precious lives from out that awful wreck.
Though countless joys and hopes and fears were shattered at a breath,
’tis something that the name of man did not go down to death.

‘Tis not an easy thing to die,
e’en in the open air,
Twelve hundred miles from home and friends,
in a shroud of black dispair.
A wreath to crown the brow of man, and hide a former blot
will ever blossom o’er the waves,
where manhood perished not.

By: Harvey F. Thewl

We interrupt our week of celebrating the courage on the Titanic to invite one and all to 827 Webster Street Saturday, April 19 at dusk to observe Passover, 2008.

Passover has special meaning to the ArchAngel Institute for multiple reasons.  One, because it points in clear and uncertain terms to the Lord Jesus Christ and His great sacrifice.  Two, because it ties the Old and New Covenant together.  Three because the former abortion clinic fell into pro-life hands at 3 p.m. on Passover, 2007.   (See Fly the Corridor, above for more on that story.)

We will read from the Old Testament, read from the New Testament and read from Church Fathers Saturday evening at dusk in the former abortion clinic.  We will then take time to pray, asking our Risen King to grace us to serve Him in the new year that dawns with Passover. 

I Corinthians 5:7 For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

We hope that you can join us, if not in person then at least in spirit. Say about 8:15 p.m.?

Postscript:

The Ghent alterpiece, painted in 1432 by Jan and Hubert Van Eyck.  Entitled “The Adoration of the Mystical Lamb.”

This famous painting by Jan Van Eyck can be seen in the Saint Bavo cathedral of Ghent (Flanders, Belgium). It is considered to be one of the artistic masterpieces in Belgium. It also is considered one of the most influential and beautiful painting of the Middle-Ages and the Flemish painting school. The actual dimensions of the painting when closed are 3.75m x 2.60m, when opened 3.75m x 5.20m.

Pictured:  the middle panel:The adoration of the lamb. The lamb can be seen standing on an altar in the middle of the panel. In front of the altar is the fountain of life. To the left there are twelve prophets, the patriarchs, the holy bishops and the confessors. To the right are the twelve apostles. Barnabas, together with other saints and martyrs are in the background. A group of holy virgins is walking towards the altar. The landscape shows a treasure of plants, flowers and trees with such detail that to his day herbologists can determine their names.

Source:  http://www.trabel.com/gent/gent-mysticlamblowercenter.htm

Monday, April 14, as I finalized the work for the Monday evening informational presentations and marking of the 96th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, a young man with dred locks repeatedly walked past the Institute.  He then sat for  a spell in the little park beside the former clinic.  Handel’s Messiah was then playing on the external speakers.

At one point I looked up from the computer to see him standing on the porch looking in at me.  Tears streamed down his face.  I went to the door and asked if I could be of help.  “This was the, the place where, ah …” he stammered through a cracking voice.  “Yes, I replied, this was the abortion clinic, but no longer.”  “You have done a very good thing, you are doing the right thing,” he blurted out.  The tears began rolling down his face once again.  “We have people who can help you,” I offered.  “Jesus forgives and heals, and I can set you up with an appointment to come in here and talk with someone who can help you find peace.”  He shook his head and explained that he was not yet ready for that.  “I have been here twice now, I just sit in the park” he explained.  He then turned, waved and walked away, and I once again pointed him toward the Ultimate Source of forgiveness, assuring him that I, too, had drawn from that font of healing and hope that he would as well.  “Jesus can help you!” I assured him as he headed back toward the benches in the park.

As he sat on the bench in deep sadness ArchAngel Director Jim Leeson prayed for him from inside the Institute.  We hope that he finds the healing that only Jesus can deliver.

This young modern man is suffering from having not put women and children first.  The young modern man is suffering as a victim of a culture that fails to put women and children first.

Yesterday’s post was Dr. Van Dyke noting that “only through the [Christian] belief that the strong are bound to protect and save the weak because God wills it so, can we hope to keep self-sacrifice, and love, and heroism, and all the things that make us glad to live and not afraid to die.” 

This young, sad, modern lad is the victim of an industry that puts the playboy first, puts women last and renders children a mere commodity to be scrapped for profits.  From the image of God to the coins of Caesar.  Thirty of them to be exact. 

Please pray for this profoundly sad young man.  We will call him “Rasta.”

Tomorrow’s post will celebrate heroism on the Titanic once again.  That sad tomb was made glad, in the long run, because many of its men were activist, Christian men. 

To again quote the good Presbyterian Van Dyke, “It [takes] a catastrophe like the wreck of the Titanic to bring out the absolute contradiction between {the Christian} ideal and all of the counsels of materialism and selfish expediency.”

“Without {this Christian moral code}, no doubt, we may have riches and power adn dominion.  But what a world to live in!”

Indeed.  Rasta may be more wealthy thanks to the abortion clinic.  He may be free of economic support orders.  He may have asserted his dominion.  But what a sad world he now lives in!  Materialism and selfish expediency always leads to the same sad place.

May God Rescue Him  — and us all!