Easter Is a Season!

When we arrive for worship this weekend, it still will be Easter! Easter is a season, the Great Fifty Days from Resurrection of the Lord through Pentecost. For fifty days we sing lots of Alleluias, hear lots of brass, and celebrate God’s victory in Jesus. No single day can express the joy of our conviction that life triumphs over death. So don those soft soled shoes and dance to the music of resurrection. Those who prefer not to dance can try these ideas.

Follow the example of the women, who discovered the tomb empty, encountered the risen Jesus, and spread the word. Surely we have a co-worker, neighbor, or friend who would benefit from worshipping with us or participating in another of our ministries. What better time to ask than the season of Easter!

During Easter we celebrate the victory of light over darkness. Human beings did their worst to Jesus and sealed his body in a tomb. Yet, life broke out of that tomb and the risen Jesus continued to proclaim the light of his Word. We can celebrate by bringing light into darkness by helping someone in need: hand a weary traveler a gift certificate; offer a few hours of childcare for an overburdened parent; or help to prepare a meal for a Spouse Abuse Center (Call the church to learn how to participate). Do something anonymously, if desired. Light shines even when we do not know its name.

During Easter we celebrate God’s triumph in Jesus, whose ministry welcomed children. We can honor Jesus and continue that ministry by spending extra time with a grandchild, volunteering in our nursery on Saturday or Sunday, helping in a Sunday School class, or making a donation to our Hunger Ministry (A disproportionate number of the hungry are children.). Children know how to celebrate. Let’s join them!

Our Easter celebration will include these highlights during worship:

April 30 – Celebration of Chuck Land’s Ministry with ConnXions;

May 1 – Baptism of Triplets during 11 a.m. Worship

May 7 – Pizza Party following ConnXions

May 8 – Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion at 11 a.m.

May 15 – A Favorite Anthem in Both Services and Psalm 150 at 11 a.m.

May 22 – Recognition of Graduates at 9:30 a.m. and Queen City Bronze in the

Afternoon

May 28 – Our Own Vicki Abend Preaches (ConnXions)

May 29 – Our Own David Warner Preaches (Sunday)

June 5 – Choir Offers Bach’s Christ Lag in Totesbanden to God during 11 a.m.

Worship

Our celebration extends beyond these highlights because we want to give thanks to God for the blessings of life in the risen Christ. The more we celebrate, the more people will want to know about the good news. May it be so, to the glory of God!

Grace and Peace,

LP

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Triduum Prayer - 2011

As we approach the Triduum, I offer this prayer. May God bless our final days of Holy Week and celebrations of the Resurrection of the Lord.

Grace and Peace,

LP

Merciful God, our creator, companion, and guide, the path is long and steep but Jesus continues his journey in Jerusalem. We know where the road leads. That wearies us. We understand that fidelity to you means turning from paths less demanding and discipleship comes with a cost; yet, we confess that we find it hard to make our discipleship a priority. We face so many needs, temptations, and difficult decisions.

Jesus keeps walking. Help us to keep our eyes on him and remind us that he must continue. Jesus must keep walking because we are weak and need the benefit of his conviction that you travel with us and never forsake us. He must keep walking because we focus on ourselves and need his ministry in which life finds us as we offer our lives to you. Jesus must keep walking because our ways are not yours and we need the forgiveness, reconciliation, and new beginnings you extend in and through him.

We confess, God of grace, that we lack the strength to stay with Jesus and the determination not to betray or deny him. May we at least have the faith and the longing for faith to bear witness to him. In a world infatuated with physical prowess, help us to work for transformation not by submission forced from the outside in, but by love flowing from the inside out. In a world in which we often stand safely behind our resources to care and provide for our children, help us to take our children on our knees as Jesus did, sit with our youth as he would, and share ourselves with them. In a culture devoted to pleasure, gratification, and security, help us to empty ourselves more completely that we might live more fully in him who gave everything that we might have life abundantly.

We know we do not walk with Jesus alone, so we pray for those who travel with us. We pray for those who help us find the path, those who give us strength, and those who have found their home in you, whose presence remains in us. We pray for those most affected by recent storms, those whose storms are more internal, those who hunger of body, those who hunger of spirit, those who have lost their way, those too weary to travel, and those whose names and concerns weigh heavy on our hearts.

Merciful God, our creator, companion, and guide, we thank you for the journey: for dreams worthy of our lives; visions that stretch our faith and imaginations; and for judgment that holds us accountable and inspires us. We thank you for baptism. Help us to follow Jesus, so that we may be found in you. We pray in the name of Jesus, who lives with you in holy relationship, one God, Mother/Father, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Walk with Jesus this Holy Week

Once again we approach the end of our Lenten journey, Palm/Passion Sunday and Holy Week. This weekend we enter a week of contrasts, juxtapositions of conflicting thoughts and actions that challenge us, if not force us, to see ourselves as we are. Members of the crowd that wave palm branches and shout, “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday later that week exclaim, “Crucify him!” and taunt a dying man. The disciples begin the week cheering Jesus and standing with him as he teaches in Jerusalem; then end it betraying, abandoning, and denying him. The Gospel narratives become even more distressing when we note who moves closer to and farther from Jesus as his last week unfolds. Watch Jesus’ movements as well. He begins the week atop a donkey, falls to his knees in anguished prayer in Gethsemane, stands before the authorities and Pilate, stumbles beneath the cross he carries through Jerusalem, is lifted high on a cross to die, and is laid lifeless in a borrowed tomb. As we follow him we enter the sunlight of his procession into Jerusalem, the darkness of Gethsemane, the torch-lit homes as authorities question him, the firelight of Peter’s denial, the daylight of the crucifixion, and the darkness of death. All power in this story appears to belong to the religious and secular authorities; yet, Jesus never bends. He kneels and stumbles, but never bends. During Holy Week true Power waits until others do their worst before offering the best.

We need our Holy Week journey because Jesus’ story belongs to us. It is our story not simply because Jesus calls us to follow him but because it reveals who we are. It is the story from which our faith emerges and in which our life converges. Like the crowds, our passions often run hot and cold, depending on which proves popular and convenient. Like the disciples, we experience moments so joyful that even stones seem to sing and moments scarred by failure when we most want to remain faithful. Like everyone in this story, we know sins so heavy that only grace can bear their burden and death so real that only new life can overcome it. The blessings of Holy Week impress the goodness of life on us; the bitterness points to life’s preciousness.

During Holy Week, please don’t simply watch Jesus. Walk with him. Experience the light and fullness, and the dark emptiness with him. Travel with him long enough to experience anew how much we depend on God for everything that matters. That, by the grace of God, prepares us for an Easter feast.

Grace and Peace,

LP

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Lenten Opportunity: Ecological Stewardship on Good Friday!

On most mornings Nancy and I take a walk through our beautiful neighborhood. Along with the songbirds, whatever flowers are in bloom, and rising sun, we also see litter left by lazy and inconsiderate people. That doesn’t ruin our walk; but it adds nothing of value to it. While Nancy drove to work one morning this week she watched workers picking up trash along the highway, filling bag after bag with trash, most of which someone tossed onto the highway.

Why mention this? This year Earth Day, April 22, falls on Good Friday. In 1970 Gaylord Nelson, a Democratic senator, and Pete McCloskey, a Republican congressman, collaborated to heighten awareness of air and water pollution. Twenty million Americans joined them in activities supporting better care of our environment. That was the first Earth Day, which helped to prompt creation of our Environmental Protection Agency. This year some Christians will focus on caring for our environment while meditating on Jesus’ crucifixion. 

Why mention this? Let’s start by observing that a psalmist declared, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it” (Psalm 24:1) and Paul proclaimed, “The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God ... in hope that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:19, 21). I claim not that Jesus was an environmentalist, but that following Jesus and caring for the earth are compatible. According to Matthew, Jesus noticed lilies, fields of grain, birds of the air, the color of the sky, fruit bearing trees, mustard shrubs, and at least one fig tree. We depend on the earth from which, according to Genesis, we were made. We glorify God as we follow Jesus and as we practice good stewardship of the earthly home God provides.

In keeping with our Lenten challenge to “pick up” a ministry rather than “give up” something to eat, let’s do something “green” along with our acts of discipleship in preparation for Easter. The theme for Earth Day 2011 is “A Billion Acts of Green”®, personal and corporate acts of sustainable living. We can express our gratitude for Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection by doing something for our earthly home. That need not be our only act of Lenten discipleship; but it’s not a bad one. Let me save a few folks the trouble and confess that I drive a pick-up truck, have some clothing dry cleaned, and live in a larger home than I need (among other sins). I planted twelve trees this spring and plan other acts to remind myself of God’s call to faithful stewardship. I write not as someone sinless, but as one who grieves my sinfulness. Only God can cleanse me, but I can say thank you by participating, even if only in small ways.

On Good Friday, as our choir proclaims the gospel through John Rutter’s Requiem, I will continue my Lenten confession of my sins that add to the brokenness of humanity and prayers for God to lead me in new paths. This year I will also reflect on my impact on the earth and pray for God to lead me into more faithful ecological stewardship. Care to join me?

Grace and Peace,

LP

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