God’s flock wage war to end national Easter lockout

Washington Examiner ^ | 4/10/2020 | Paul Bedard

[madison10]

On Good Friday, Christianity’s most solemn day, lawyers for religious freedom are expanding their war on governors and mayors who have ordered an Easter church lockdown and ban on drive-in services due to the coronavirus.

Notable cases in Kansas, Virginia, Kentucky, and Mississippi argue that the orders violate the First Amendment and religious freedoms that the country was founded on.

And in Washington, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has strongly urged opponents to drive-in services to drop the ban. In a letter to Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, a ban fan, the Kentucky senator urged, "Religious people should not be singled out for disfavored treatment."

He added: "The government should not flatly prohibit religious gatherings that comply with CDC guidelines unless it has no other choice to stop COVID-19. And given that the government permits gatherings of people in vehicles in parking lots for commercial purposes, I believe the government has means to stop the spread of COVID-19 short of a flat ban on gatherings of people in vehicles for religious purposes."

In the latest case, a Virginia family of 12 has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court challenging Gov. Ralph Northam’s ban on groups larger than 10, including in houses of worship, and to declare churches "essential," just as doughnut shops are.

Becca and Mariano Diaz-Bonilla of Vienna, Virginia, argue that their rights are being violated because their family is big, with 10 children, and thus they aren’t allowed to attend mass as a complete family or even to have their Catholic priest come to their home to conduct a Mass.

The family, which has promised to practice safe social distancing and other rules to block the spread of the virus, said in the court document posted below: “Especially during a challenging time, plaintiffs rely on prayer to God and access to the Sacraments for grace. Plaintiffs’ rights as practicing Christians will be irreparably harmed if they are prevented from celebrating the Easter worship services, starting with Good Friday services on April 10, 2020.”

Diaz-Bonilla told Secrets that the Bill of Rights declared freedom of religion essential and that the governor couldn’t challenge that.

He also dismissed virtual services as unfulfilling. “Sacraments online is no more a substitute for receiving the sacraments in person than would be me showing a starving child a picture of steak and potatoes,” he said.

In Kansas, lawmakers have removed the governor’s order limiting church gatherings.

And in Mississippi and Kentucky, the national religious freedom legal foundation, First Liberty Institute, has pleaded that officials drop their rules against drive-in services, practiced by many churches nationally as an alternative to indoor meetings, including in Virginia.

In its letter to the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, for example, the group said the city’s ban was “unlawful because it treats houses of worship less favorably than similarly situated entities. For example, the prohibition does not apply to restaurants that provide drive through or take out service. Nor does it apply to establishments such as Walmart, where far more people park with more contact and less oversight.”

And in its defense of pastor Charleston Hamilton and King James Bible Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, Liberty special counsel Jeremy Dys noted that police have been ticketing church drive-ins. He provided Secrets with a photo of Hamilton preaching in a parking lot where the well-spaced cars, windows up, were outnumbered by police cruisers.

Hamilton also posted videos of the drive-ins, including one that showed police in a cluster outside of their cars.

[lightman]

The Resurrection is Against the Law

An excerpt from Bill Wylie-Kellermann’s classic Seasons of Faith and Conscience (1991).

The sealing of the tomb is, I believe, notoriously misunderstood. I grew up with a Sunday School notion that to seal the tomb was a matter of hefting the big stone and cementing it tight. The seal, in my mind’s eye, was something like first-century caulking–puttying up the cracks to keep the stink in. Not so. This is a legal seal. Cords would be strung across the rock and anchored at each end with clay. To move the stone would break the seal and indicate tampering.

The event conspicuously echoes the story of Daniel sealed in the den of lions. “And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel” (Daniel 6:18). As there, this is a legal lock on the tomb door–not air tight, but politically tight. To move the stone and break the seal is a civil crime. The resurrection is against the law.

The seal is also a recurring theme in the book of Revelation. Remember the scroll of history sealed with seven seals? Only One is worthy to break them and look upon or unveil the truth: that One is the Lamb who was slain. The seal is a claim of ownership and authority. Its meaning in Revelation is at least that God in Christ reigns sovereign over all history and in all events.

Caesar, in Pilate, on the other hand, violently disputes the claim. He has set his seal of approval on Jesus’ death, and now he guarantees it with troops. Secured by security forces. When the seal is broken in the resurrection, it stands among the signs that the power of the powers (death in all its forms) has been broken. The dominion of political authority–especially inflated, aggressive–and imperial authority has been cut to the heart.

[Honorary Serb]

Some of us (at least Greeks and Antiochians) are hoping to celebrate Pascha on the Leavetaking of Pascha—Wednesday, May 27—if things open up by then.

The original moving of Pascha:

https://www.thetorah.com/article/why-did-king-hezekiah-celebrate-his-inaugural-passover-a-month-late

I cannot see a full Serbian Pascha—with a spit-roasted lamb/spit-roasted pig feast, and no one sick from coronavirus— after Divine Liturgy anytime soon. Dear Lord, prove me wrong!!!! In any event, the MAIN thing to eat for Pascha is Holy Communion!!

[lightman]

In any event, the MAIN thing to eat for Pascha is Holy Communion!!

The Paschal Sermon of St. John Chrysostom
Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople

The Catechetical Sermon of St. John Chrysostom is read during Matins of Pascha.

If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefor. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.

And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second.

You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free.

He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions.
It was embittered, for it was abolished.
It was embittered, for it was mocked.
It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.
It took a body, and met God face to face.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.
O Death, where is your sting?
O Hell, where is your victory?
Christ is risen, and you are overthrown.
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen.
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice.
Christ is risen, and life reigns.
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.
For Christ, being risen from the dead,
is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages.