Shoeless Easter Sunday

In a change from our typical Easter sermon, this year our rector sat down, removed his shoes and socks and preached barefoot. This was part of "Barefoot Sunday" an operation mounted by Samaritan's Feet. Their Mission:

"Samaritan’s Feet is a non-profit organization dedicated to changing lives through Shoes of Hope distributions around the world. 300 million people wake up each morning without a pair of shoes to protect their feet from injury and disease. The goal of Samaritan’s Feet is to provide shoes to 10 million of these individuals in the next 10 years by teaching them a biblical story of faith, hope, and love, demonstrating those truths in touching them by washing their feet, and treating them to a new pair of shoes and socks."

A special basket offering was taken up. By the end of the service, that basket was overflowing.

The words of today's O.T. reading came to mind

Isaiah 65:17-25

19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.

Thanks be to God for all the gifts he has bestowed upon us.