Coming Up Sunday, March 16

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, which is the beginning of Holy Week, and the service will reflect this. I believe that Holy Week is a time of sacred remembrance for the church, as we remember more fully Christ's willing and loving sacrifice for our sakes. In accordance with the legacy of our Christian forefathers and foremothers, we will observe Holy Week by walking along side Jesus during his final week.

Sunday we will celebrate his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, where the crowds greeted him with loud shouts of "Hosanna!" amidst the waving of palm leaves. As our voices quiet, however, I hope we will begin to look at the longer road that Jesus is travelling. During the sermon, I will speak on "The Prophet's Road," drawing upon Matthew 21:1-11. During this, we will consider the entirety of the road that Jesus traveled over the course of his life on earth, from a humble birth in Bethlehem to his crucifixion and resurrection in Jerusalem.

By the end of the Sunday service we will look down the road that Jesus walked this final week, leading to a final time of teaching and fellowship with his disciples in an upper room, to an anguished prayer in a garden called Gethsemane, to an arrest and a sham trial, to an execution at Calvary, to an unexpected empty tomb nearby. There is hope at the end of "The Prophet's Road," but only after a period of deep darkness.

Too often we gloss over the darkness. We remember a crowd acclaiming Jesus as he entered Jerusalem and then we celebrate an empty tomb. But the empty tomb means little without better understanding the darkness that came before it.

So before we gather for Easter worship, we will gather for worship three more times on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

On Thursday, we will commemorate the last time that Jesus gathered with his disciples. That evening he gave them -- and us -- a great gift, the promise that he would use his own self to sustain us in our lives. He symbolized this promise in the breaking of the bread, which we as Disciples of Christ celebrate each time we gather. After we share communion this night, however, we will continue the story. As the darkness descends upon us, we will remember how the darkness descended upon Jesus that night, when he faced arrest, persecution, denial, and conviction, all unjustly.

On Friday, we will gather to hear Jesus teaching to us from the cross. We will reflect upon the seven last statements that Jesus made, as recorded in the gospels. It is a somber time, as we reflect on the reality of Christ's untimely death.

On Saturday, we will gather to await Christ's resurrection in a vigil. Unlike our forefathers and foremothers, we will not keep watch from sundown to sunup, but we will embrace their celebration as our own. We will celebrate the returning of the light that Jesus' resurrection represents for us, coming in the aftermath of his death. We will hear the stories that have been told for centuries, explaining God's careful and continued involvement in human history, beginning with the creation of our world and culminating in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. We will celebrate our participation God, both remembering and affirming our baptisms and celebrating the Lord's Supper with the risen Christ.

And then Sunday we will gather again, celebrating the resurrection of Christ, symbolized first by an unexpectedly empty tomb, and then by Christ's appearing to his beloved followers.

It is a long week. For me personally, it will be a draining week. But it is an important week for us spiritually, which is why I feel it is so important for us to observe it. Through these services, and through our observation at home, we will connect with God and with our brothers and sisters in Christ, deepening our faith. I do not know how you or I will be touched this week; but I know that we will, some of us deeply.

So as you look at a crowded calendar, I hope you do not get discouraged or overwhelmed. Instead I hope you embrace this opportunity for spiritual development and personal growth. Our God is faithful to us, and I know that whatever efforts we expend on God's behalf, God supports us and blesses us even more fully.