Easter Letter from the Rector

Dear people of Trinity,

When Steve Jobs served as CEO of the Apple Corporation, he was known for his revolutionary new product launch events. He wasn’t just there to introduce the latest model of MacBook or iPad, touting their features and benefits; he was there to make the launch of this next generation of technology a memorable thing. He wanted everyone in that audience to not just buy the product, but to carry with them the feeling they had when they first heard about it, because that feeling is what carries the story forward. And the story is what brings new people to Apple, creates new disciples.

Jesus has been with his disciples for 3 years. They’ve heard him preach, they’ve witnessed him heal, they’ve seen who he eats with, and they’ve alternatively cringed or cheered inside as Jesus took on the religious establishment. They’ve come to understand the Jesus “brand”: love God and love neighbor; everyone is your neighbor; the kingdom of God is at hand; put down your plow, give up everything, take up your cross, and follow me. They know all this; they’ve heard it a thousand times.

But one night—the night of Holy Week we call Maundy Thursday—Jesus launches a revolutionary thing. Because soon he wouldn’t be with them in the way he had been, it was about to become their responsibility to tell the world about God’s kingdom and love and grace and forgiveness, and who’s a neighbor and why the letter of the religious law matters not one whit if the spirit of love behind the law isn’t honored. The revolutionary thing Jesus pitches is that while the person they’ve known will go away, they—and all who follow them—will become the Body of Christ.

And so Jesus makes the launch of this new, revolutionary thing memorable. It couldn’t just be a concept that the disciples thought about or carried around in their heads; it needed to be in their bodies, in their hands and their mouths and their feet. Jesus tells them, commands them, to love one another as he has loved them. He gets down on his knees and shows them what love looks like by washing their feet. As he does so, he talks about servant ministry, about spending yourself, sometimes in uncomfortable ways, to show someone who may not know it or believe it to be true that God loves them, and that God came into the world in human form just to make sure they knew that.

Then Jesus took bread and wine into his hands and broke it and shared it and had them eat and drink, to show that that’s what being the Body of Christ means. That we break and share ourselves. That the way we are nourished and sustained is by and through each other. That if we don’t break and share ourselves—if we hoard and withhold and wait for someone to prove themselves worthy—then we all starve.

This Holy Week, I invite you and your family and friends to enter into this revolutionary story, hear it with fresh ears and open hearts, and be inspired to carry the message of love and service into a world that hungers for this life-changing Good News. You’ll find the complete schedule of Holy Week and Easter services, and ways to participate in this most holy, wholly remarkable time of our church year. If you’re able, I invite you to participate financially, as well, by making a contribution to our Easter Festival Offering.

In faith and confidence in the One who spent himself completely, and rose again to show us that death never has the last word.

Alleluia; Christ is risen!

Elizabeth+

The Rev. Elizabeth Molitors
Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church
emolitors@trinitysb.org