An Easter Message
ECF President Donald Romanik is currently in Abilene, TX celebrating Holy week and Easter with his family. In this video, he shares Easter greetings in conversation with his son Rev. David Romanik, Rector at Church of the Heavenly Rest in Abilene, Texas. Blessings for Holy week and a hopeful Easter to all of you, from everyone at ECF.
Video Transcript:
Donald Romanik: Hello, my name is Donald Romanik, and I am president of the Episcopal Church Foundation. I'm here in Abilene, Texas, with my son, David Romanik, who's rector, and my wife and I have the privilege and joy of spending Easter with our family and especially our granddaughters. And I know many of you will not have that opportunity after a very long, difficult year during the pandemic, but we must realize that it is Eastertime. And Easter is a time of hope and joy and new birth. Things are getting better. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we still have a lot of work to do. And Easter is about working for the kingdom and a new way of being and doing. David, why don't you share some of your thoughts with our friends at ECF?
David Romanik: So in the Easter Vigil, the celebrant addresses the congregation with these words, or similar to them: "On this most holy night, the church invites her members scattered throughout the world to gather in vigil and prayer." And I've been really interested to meditate on that experience over the last couple of months, this dynamic of being gathered, but also scattered at the same time.
Central to our identity as the church is this experience of being dispersed, this experience of being exiled, this experience of being separated from one another. And yet every year, every Easter, we are called to gather together in whatever way we can to celebrate once again the promise that God has defeated the power of sin and death through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I am so excited that I get to gather with my parents for the first time in a long time for Holy Week and Easter this year. But I pray that you are able to gather in whatever way you can to celebrate a central assumption, a central truth of our faith, that the God we worship has the power to raise the dead to life and to make this world the place that God wants it to be.
Happy Easter and blessings to you.
Donald Romanik: Please know that we at ECF are with you, walking along your faith journey and supporting your local faith communities. He is risen indeed. Hallelujah.