"The Lenten Pilgrimage" - Day 40

April 3rd

Holy Saturday

     “The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, ‘Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’  Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.’  Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.’  So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.”

      Matthew 27:62-66

     All is quiet now.  Death is entombed.  The grain of wheat has fallen into the ground, and died.  Strong hands have sealed the entrance with a stone.  All has been made secure. 

     This is the in-between moment in the story that embodies humanity’s surest hope, after God’s greatest act of love, and before God’s most breathtaking display of power.  

      If we sit here quietly for a few moments, we may recognize the landscape.  We’ve been here before.  In the wake of defeat, longing for victory.   In the grip of despair, hungering for hope.  Stifled by the darknesses, straining to see the light.  

     Stuck in a sealed tomb, wondering if resurrection is real.

      And so today, our 40 Day Lenten sojourn comes to an end in the place that our faith has prepared for us, in-between what God has done in the past, and what God will one day do…

Prayer

     Lord Jesus, our souls sit with you in this in-between time.  Because we know the story well,

     even as we sit in darkness, death and despair, the echo of light, life and hope can be heard

     in our minds.  And yet in this moment, we do confess the toll that the in-between moments

     have had on our lives.  We remember well the times when we have found ourselves waiting,

     trying to find our way in that space between what God has done, and what God will do.  And 

     so as we gather our hearts and minds on this Holy Saturday, we pray.  Waiting once again in 

     that fragile and fruitful place of faith.  In your holy name we pray.  Amen.  

"The Lenten Pilgrimage" - Day 39

April 2nd 

Good Friday

     “It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’  Having said this, he breathed his last.  When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’  And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts.  But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.”

     Luke 23:44-49

     The pilgrimage that began in ashes now ends in stunned silence and tears.  Words fail us here.  We bow our heads, mute before the cross.  No matter how many times we've made this journey, standing before the cross topples every defense we've built against the soul-piercing power of God's love.

     Regardless of how thoughtful our theology, no matter how confident we are in our religious doctrines, here in this moment before the cross we are dumbfounded once again by the reality of God's suffering love that defies our best logic or deepest understanding.  Standing at a distance with the women we feel our hearts breaking at the sight of so great a love.  

     Theologians have given us many ways to interpret the cross.  There are numerous theories of atonement that offer many ways to speak of how God saves through the death of Jesus on the cross.  And since no one theory can adequately explain God's saving work through Christ on the cross, we can find value in the different theological perspectives.  Yet even if we were to gather the best wisdom from every theory, the sum total would fall short of approaching the ineffable mystery of God's love revealed in the cross.  

     And so on this Good Friday, we simply stand with those who bow and weep at the cross. 

Prayer

     Lord Jesus, our Lenten journey has brought us to this moment.  And as we have made this

     pilgrimage we have been reminded of our own propensity to deny, desert and betray you.  

    The failings of your first disciples are our failings too.  Standing before the cross we feel

    a myriad of emotions, shame, grief, regret, fear, despair.  Yet somehow, we have the sense

    that what you have done on the cross reaches deeper than all of our most painful and 

    broken emotions.  There is something about this day, something in your suffering that makes

    us know that you are with us in our deepest places of suffering, grief and shame.  Mystery of

    mysteries!  In your cross, we find healing and wholeness.  This we do not understand.  It is a 

    paradox beyond our ability to comprehend.  We marvel before the message of the cross.  We 

    marvel in the face of your love for us.  Thank you Christ of the cross!  In your holy name we 

    pray.  Amen.  

     

"The Lenten Pilgrimage" - Day 38

April 1st 

Holy Thursday

     “Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.  The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.  And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up form the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.  Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.”

John 13:1-4

       Please remove your shoes.  You are standing on holy ground.  The mood is solemn to be sure.  The air is heavy with betrayal, denial, suffering and death.  But neither the depravity of human sin, nor the dread of human suffering or grief dominates the scene before us.  

        Jesus is showing us the way of the cross.  Here is the life one is called to live after making pilgrimage to the cross.  This is the embodiment of the new commandment he has given to us, 

           "that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.     

           By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” 

           (John 13:34b -35).

          

   Prayer

     O Christ, you came to serve not to be served.  You have modeled for us the way of life, 

     offering for us the paradox that the way of life is the way of the cross.  You have taught us

     that to know the fullness of life you offer we must first empty ourselves.  You have taught us

     what sacrificial loves entails.  Help us to be willing students and faithful disciples.  Help us 

     to love as you love.  Teach us what it means to deny ourselves, take up our cross and 

     follow you.  In your name we pray.  Amen.  

 Our Lenten Pilgrimage, Day 37

"The Lenten Pilgrimage" - Day 37

March 31st

Wednesday of Holy Week

      “While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.  But some where there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way?  For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.’  And they scolded her.  But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her?  She has performed a good service for me.  For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me.  She had done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.  Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

      Mark 14:3-9

     Breathe in the soft aroma that fills the house.  The smell of the ointment of nard is sweet, inviting, warm.  Yet, it adds to the heaviness of the air in the room.   We’re two days away from Passover, two days away from the cross.  Mark’s unnamed woman has come to Simon’s Bethany house to anoint that tender, warm living body that will soon be cold and dead.

     And in her extravagant act of generosity and love, we catch a glimpse of the extravagant act of love that will soon be revealed on the cross.

Prayer

     Lord Jesus, in this tender act of extravagant love poured out upon you, we are reminded

     of your extravagant love revealed on the cross.  In the biblical scene before us, there is 

     love and anger, there's both life and death.  And in the midst of it all, we see your love on 

     display.  Like the woman in the story, help us to be vehicles of your extravagant love.  In your 

     name we pray.  Amen. 

 

"The Lenten Pilgrimage" - Day 36

March 30th

Tuesday of Holy Week

     “Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.  They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’  Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 

      John 12:20-24

     Jesus’ death is immanent now, just days away.  With every step he takes, he is moving nearer to the cross, closer to unimaginable suffering.  He will soon give himself over willingly to the vile acts of human cruelty.

      And his death will be efficacious for the salvation of the world.  “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29b), is making his way toward taking away those sins.

       His teaching, his life, his healing, his witness, have all significantly impacted the lives of those he has encountered throughout Galilee and the surrounding regions.  But with his death, the reach of his life will know no bounds.  The single wheat-grain of his life, upon his death, will bear the abundant fruit of salvation throughout the farthest reaches of the world!

Prayer

    Jesus the Christ, thank you for your death that brings forth life.  Through your unjust 

    suffering, you stand in solidarity with all who suffer unjustly.  In your death on the cross, you 

    have broken the hold of sin and death on us.  In your resurrection, you raise us to new life 

    through faith.  Give us eyes to see and ears to hear, as we marvel at the mystery of your

    fruitful, life-giving death.  Help us to live our lives worthy of your liberating death.  In your

    name we pray.  Amen.  

"The Lenten Pilgrimage" - Day 35

March 29th

Monday of Holy Week

    “In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves.  Then he said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’  And the fig tree withered at once.”

     Matthew 21:18-19

     Walk slowly now in these holy days.  Don’t rush by quickly as one hurrying through a museum of religious artifacts.  Look closely, not with mere eyes of curiosity.  You are not a tourist, come to take pictures for a dusty scrapbook to remind you in your old age of a Holy Week vacation you took once.

     You are a pilgrim on pilgrimage.  And if you look carefully with eyes eager to see and a heart longing to hear, the message of Holy Week can burn deep into your soul.

      Take the fig tree, for example.  Observe its barrenness.  It has leaves, yes - but no fruit. 

  

      Our Lenten Journey has led us to the holiest week of the Christian Year.  The cross looms before us, beckoning to us, probing our witness, examining us for fruit.

      The question for Monday of Holy Week - What is the fruit of my Christian Discipleship?

Prayer  

     Lord Jesus, the shouts of "Hosanna" have now faded into memory.  And with each passing

     stride you are taking us closer to the cross.  And on this Monday of Holy Week, we cannot

     help but feel your penetrating gaze upon us, searching us for fruit as you did the barren

     fig tree.  Forgive us Jesus, for our own propensity for barrenness.  Help us to hear again 

     the wisdom of your teachings.  Empower us to bear fruit that will last.  In your name we pray.

     Amen.  

     

 

"The Lenten Pilgrimage" - Day 34

Saturday, March 27th  

     “Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’  And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’  So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.  Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’  The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Go, your faith has made you well.’  Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.”

        Mark 10:49-52

    In Mark’s Gospel, the story of Jesus restoring the sight of Bartimaeus comes immediately before Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem that signals the beginning of Holy Week for the Christian Church. 

     In many church sanctuaries tomorrow, palm branches will be waved as the start of Jesus’ final week leading up to the cross will be commemorated.  

      But before we wave our palm branches we recall the blind man who would not be silenced, who would not give up, who called on Jesus’ name repeatedly as he stubbornly held onto hope in Jesus.  Bartimaeus provides a good model for us, especially when we are tempted to give up, give in and throw in the towel.  

       So let’s hear it for the mom who won’t stop praying for the wayward child, for the husband who keeps working for a reconciled marriage, and for you when you absolutely refuse to stop calling on Jesus’ name…

Prayer 

     Lord Jesus, grant us the tenacity of Bartimaeus.  Grant us a faith that will not stay silent. 

     Help us not to grow weary in seeking and knocking on heaven's door.  We confess that

     sometimes our faith is more shallow than deep, and we are more impatient than

     trusting, and often we are sometimes tempted to give into frustration when our prayer life

     doesn't seem to be yielding fruit.  Help us to hang on, and to furiously hold fast to our faith. 

     Christ of the cross, enliven and embolden our trust in you.  In your name we pray.  Amen.