This week we observe the last week in the holy season of Lent.
Spiritually and psychologically it is a slow, meditative walk uphill, a
time to think thoughts you don’t usually think about, thoughts about
your life, your faith, your church, yourself, your self. It is,
historically, a time to change your behavior, to begin or deepen a
spiritual discipline, to do something more engaged in serving the
community and world, to reflect on what you don’t do so well and resolve
to do better. Lent is thinking and talking and praying about the
reason Jesus turns his footsteps to the long walk uphill in Jerusalem:
human sin and evil of which we are all part. It is the last grey days
of late winter before spring really arrives.
So why? So why “do” Lent?
To be ready for the next act of the cosmic drama: Holy Week. Lent is
pre-season practice, it is chopping up the vegetables before cooking, it
is turning the pieces over before doing the puzzle, it is tuning up or
warming up before playing. It is getting ready for the big thing.
If you don’t “do” Lent, you don’t really appreciate the Biblical story
of Holy Week, nor can you really appreciate the psychological and
spiritual “mood swings” that accompany our holy journey. Being inside a
dim building (or inside your own head!) and stepping outside makes you
blink in the bright sunlight. That shock of light flooding the world is
exactly what Easter is!
So I encourage you to put
the worship services here on the calendar on your refrigerator, on your
office wall, on your computer, on your phone… on your mind, and
participate in the whole drama of Holy Week. We will begin with the
triumph of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday at morning
worship. We commemorate the Last Supper and hear the scripture of the
last words in the darkening sanctuary on Maundy Thursday at 7:30 pm, and
the tale of the Passion on Good Friday at 5:30 pm. Then we gather for
the Sunrise Service on Easter morning at 6:30 am at Lakeview, and have
the two celebrations of the Resurrection at 9 and 11 am, with time to
share fellowship.
Why have we “done Lent?” To
rejoice in the Easter tidings, “He is risen! he is risen indeed!” Come
join us in the joy of new life in Christ Jesus our Savior!
In Christ,
David
Texts For Sunday Worship:
Isaiah 43:16-21
Philippians 3:4-14
*Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
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