During this Lenten season, we have been taking the Journey of the Stones, following Jesus to the cross. It has been a reflective, penitent journey. Each week at our Wednesday evening worship service, we were given a stone which represented the weight of our sins.
Sometimes, we can get weighed down by our sins, and be left feeling undeserving and unloved. Sometimes we can forget that Jesus bore the weight of all our sins and took them to the cross so that we could be set free from sin and death and set free to serve God and one another!
So on Wednesday evenings this Lent, at the end of each service, we were invited to lay down the weight of our sins by placing our stones at the foot of the cross. It was very moving to see so many people come forward every week and lay their stones at the foot of the ‘old rugged cross,’ trusting that Jesus would take up the weight of their sin.
The weight of sin and death! Gone!
Through Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection! Gone!
Through the sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism. Gone!
Through confession and absolution! Gone!
Because of God’s great love made real for us in and through Jesus Christ and by what he did for us. Gone!
By grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. Gone!
I invite you to complete the journey with us as we walk the stony path, following Jesus to the cross through Holy Week; Passion/Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Vigil of Easter. We will follow Jesus into Jerusalem, be with him in the upper room as he washes the disciples’ feet, witness his betrayal and arrest in the garden of Gethsemane, lament as he carries his cross to Golgotha, is crucified, dies, and is buried, and we will keep watch at his tomb, waiting for what he foretold—waiting for him to rise again on the third day.
I invite you to journey with us as we follow Jesus to the cross—and beyond! Because the path to salvation, the path to being made right with God, the path to victory over sin and death—is through the cross.
There are many paths that go around the cross. But none of those paths leads to salvation, because they are not the path Jesus walked. His path led to the cross. And he called us to follow him. And so we do. All the way to the cross—through the cross—and then beyond!
There is only one path to the glory of Easter—the path that leads through the cross.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34b
On the journey with you,
Pastor Roy+
Trusting God. Following Jesus <><
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Inbetween Christmas and Easter
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." Mark 1:9-11
It’s cold and windy. Dark when I get up and dark when I come home. I’m tired of shoveling snow and slipping on ice. The thrill of Christmas is past and the bills have arrived. The winter doldrums have descended. I just want to hurry up and get to spring and Easter! Yup, going right from Christmas trees, presents, Santa and the baby Jesus, to dyed eggs, jelly beans, The Bunny and the risen Christ, would be so much easier (and more fun) that spending this time slogging through these dark cold months of January and February—this ‘in between’ time of the church calendar called ‘Epiphany.’
Sometimes I fear that because of the post-Christmas ‘let-down,’ we can treat Epiphany like that—as an ‘in between’ time of the church year that we have to go through to get from the wondrous birth of our Lord and Savior, to his glorious resurrection. My concern is that, in our winter doldrums, we just might miss the wondrous things God is saying to us, those wondrous things God wants us to know, as we read and study the scriptures during this time of Epiphany.
The season of Epiphany is so much more than the time that fills the gap between Christmas and Lent. This year the ‘bookends’ for Epiphany, as we read through the Gospel of Mark, are the Baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration of the Lord. At both of these monumental events in the life of Jesus, ‘a voice’ comes from heaven proclaiming Jesus to be God’s Son, the Beloved.
I was taught in seminary that when a portion of the bible is ‘bracketed’ by God’s voice, one should pay particular attention to what the text within the ‘brackets’ is saying—because the message is likely to be rather significant. And in the Gospel of Mark, the text ‘between the brackets’ calls all people to come and see Jesus for themselves and to follow him. Jesus extends the invitation to come and meet him, learn from him, and follow him. And Jesus instructs his followers to ‘go and tell’ people about him, inviting them to come and see so they can meet him for themselves, learn from him, and receive his invitation to follow.
Jesus calls us to ‘fish for people’ by extending the invitation to come and meet him. To invite others is to follow Jesus. Because Jesus, ‘God’s son, the Beloved,’ wants to share the gift of salvation by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ, with EVERYONE. And he left the inviting to us—until he returns.
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Mark 9:2-7
Trusting God. Following Jesus. <><
Pastor Roy+
It’s cold and windy. Dark when I get up and dark when I come home. I’m tired of shoveling snow and slipping on ice. The thrill of Christmas is past and the bills have arrived. The winter doldrums have descended. I just want to hurry up and get to spring and Easter! Yup, going right from Christmas trees, presents, Santa and the baby Jesus, to dyed eggs, jelly beans, The Bunny and the risen Christ, would be so much easier (and more fun) that spending this time slogging through these dark cold months of January and February—this ‘in between’ time of the church calendar called ‘Epiphany.’
Sometimes I fear that because of the post-Christmas ‘let-down,’ we can treat Epiphany like that—as an ‘in between’ time of the church year that we have to go through to get from the wondrous birth of our Lord and Savior, to his glorious resurrection. My concern is that, in our winter doldrums, we just might miss the wondrous things God is saying to us, those wondrous things God wants us to know, as we read and study the scriptures during this time of Epiphany.
The season of Epiphany is so much more than the time that fills the gap between Christmas and Lent. This year the ‘bookends’ for Epiphany, as we read through the Gospel of Mark, are the Baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration of the Lord. At both of these monumental events in the life of Jesus, ‘a voice’ comes from heaven proclaiming Jesus to be God’s Son, the Beloved.
I was taught in seminary that when a portion of the bible is ‘bracketed’ by God’s voice, one should pay particular attention to what the text within the ‘brackets’ is saying—because the message is likely to be rather significant. And in the Gospel of Mark, the text ‘between the brackets’ calls all people to come and see Jesus for themselves and to follow him. Jesus extends the invitation to come and meet him, learn from him, and follow him. And Jesus instructs his followers to ‘go and tell’ people about him, inviting them to come and see so they can meet him for themselves, learn from him, and receive his invitation to follow.
Jesus calls us to ‘fish for people’ by extending the invitation to come and meet him. To invite others is to follow Jesus. Because Jesus, ‘God’s son, the Beloved,’ wants to share the gift of salvation by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ, with EVERYONE. And he left the inviting to us—until he returns.
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Mark 9:2-7
Trusting God. Following Jesus. <><
Pastor Roy+
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
