The Rev. Eric Williams, rector     St. Luke's, Jamestown, NY

A lot of what we celebrate at Easter has nothing at all to do with Jesus. The name Easter itself comes from the Anglo-Saxon fertility goddess Eostre who was associated with rabbits because of their famous ability to reproduce.

Jack Marshall, rector   Christ Church, Lockport

The message of Easter is wonderfully varied. Each Christian of every denomination and those who are not aligned with any church can glean the renewal of Easter. The man, Jesus of Nazareth, defeated and destroyed in death finds his life renewed and restored as

by Rob Peterson, member of St. John's Grace

Using death and resurrection as metaphor, we might see how there may be many deaths and resurrections occurring throughout our lives. We might see a firing from employment, divorce, failure at school, moving from an old familiar community to a new one, overcoming a bad habit, conquering an addiction and experiencing the death of a loved one as examples

The Rev. Gordon DeLaVars, rector St. Paul's, Mayville

When I was a boy attending parochial school, I had a bad case of what are popularly called the "scruples." For a time I lived in almost constant fear that I was doing the wrong thing and that God would punish me for my sins. Not surprisingly, I very much dreaded the season of Lent, with its emphasis on repentance and self-discipline.

The Rev. Leon Mozeliak ~ St. Paul's, Harris Hill

I grew up in a branch of Christianity in which young people were regularly challenged to consider whether God was "calling you to be a priest or a member of a religious order." In that context, "the ministry" refers only to those ordained to preach the gospel or under vows of religion. In our Anglican/Episcopal tradition, "The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests and deacons." All of us are ministers.

How do we become ministers?

Dean DeLiza Spangler, St. Paul's Cathedral

The writer Philip Yancey recounts that a colleague of W.C. Fields once caught the self-professed agnostic reading the Bible. "Embarrassed, Fields snapped the book shut and explained, ‘Just looking for loopholes.'" "Probably," Yancey comments, "he was looking for grace."  (What's So Amazing about Grace, p. 35)  

Neither Scripture, nor our faith as a whole, are about "loopholes," about "getting by" with something. Rather, our faith is about moving toward something.

It is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

St. Francis of Assisi

I have known people who completely rearranged their lives to care for a loved one who needed special care of some kind. The made special changes in their living arrangements, career and daily schedule for the specific purpose of caring for someone else. In one case, a person that I know made all of these changes, including moving to a different city, for a total stranger! What is often said regarding this kind of sacrifice is that the giver is generally the recipient of the blessing – more than the one receiving the care. 

I write this as an introduction to a response to the most asked question I receive regarding Lent: What Shall I give up?