Our Quest for Faithful Presence
Dear St Luke’s,
Our Lenten journey comes to an end this weekend. Forty days of journeying with Jesus from the relative safety of his home base in Capernaum to the temple in the big city. Forty days of watching Jesus make the costly choice to love others. Forty days of watching Jesus flip the tables on unjust practices which exclude and alienate. Forty days of putting himself at great risk to raise a dear friend from the grave. Forty days of watching Jesus wash his friends’ feet.
Friday night at 7:00PM we gather for a Holy Friday service. Holy Friday is the day we remember the unjust execution of God in the flesh. God, who loves all of creation so much that God becomes human to show us what life and love can look like. The variety of responses to Jesus still abound: some become disciples, others are outraged by Jesus’ openness and generosity. Some desert Jesus, and others stay by Jesus’ side. Some wash their hands of Jesus, others carry Jesus’ cross. Some mock Jesus, and others stand in awe… “Truly this was God’s Son!”
Saturday is a day of liminality. On Holy Saturday we find ourselves caught between crucifixion and resurrection… between death and life. Of all the days in the church’s calendar, Holy Saturday may very well be the day – that symbolically – most reflects our everyday experience. Living in the now but not yet of God’s jubilee, of all things being made new. On Holy Saturday Hope lies in the tomb. Our loss and grief are real. Yet, friends, we know Sunday is coming.
This Sunday we gather with our siblings in faith throughout time, from every corner of the earth; in every language and culture; every orientation, ability, gender, color, age, tradition, etc. to celebrate the deepest truth of reality… that God is making all things new. That life is stronger than death. That God is the God new life, and of hope. Yet God’s hope is not escapist optimism, rather God’s hope looks like Jesus praying at the Mount of Olives… “not my will by Thine be done.” Resurrection hope is the kind of hope that is a dare inviting us to move toward the very the that is most needed not because we know we will succeed as the world thinks about success, but because we know Holy Spirit is with us and God’s mission is abundant life for all and everything. “Because Christ lives I face tomorrow.”
Easter service is at 10:00AM followed by an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids and Coffee and Cinnamon buns for all.
BTW – As you may know our quilters have help us raise funds to support those deviated by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria by raffling a quilt. We held the Quilt Drawing last weekend and Pam Anderson was the lucky winner. To date we have raised roughly $1,200 for earthquake relief.
FYI – I am planning to participate in a “Table Turning” event on Holy Saturday (4/8). At 1:00 PM. A group of ecumenical followers of Jesus will gather at the immigration detention center in Tacoma to hear stories of our siblings currently being detained, to pray for liberation, and to flip some tables …literally. You are welcome to participate in this table turning or find your own way of intentionally joining others who are experiencing oppression.
As we move toward the end of our Lenten journey, please remember, that you are loved and you are not alone.
Peace, dwight
