This week we have entered Holy Week. It is a week of tears and celebrations. We move into the heartache of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday - remembering the abandonment and sorrow of Jesus. Then, on Easter Sunday, we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, and the new life that he brings to each of us.
It is a joyous time as we celebrate Easter Sunday. Even though we are not able to gather collectively, Glenn reminded us last week that we carry our Sanctuary in our hearts, not in our physical places of worship. We remember this reality during this time of COVID-19. We are journeying through an uncertain time, but we journey with our faith in Jesus, the Christ, and with an abiding love for our faith community, our greater community, our country, and the world.
This week you will hear me talk with you about Good Friday. This is always the most difficult day in my Christian journey. I will talk with you on Good Friday about how we can, like Jesus, align ourselves with God each and every day. It is something we can intentionally do as we reach out to our community and respond to our relationship with God with an abiding love. It is truly a daily commitment for each one of us.
Then on Easter Sunday, I will talk with you about the Risen Christ. I will talk with you about the new life and growth we have in his gift of new life for us. I will talk with you about this new life through the words of one of my favorite hymns, ‘In the Bulb’. As you listen to Whitney play this musical piece as her second hymn, I am writing the first and last verses of this hymn for you to sing along with her:
In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise; butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter – there is spring that waits to be
Unrevealed until its season – something God alone can see.
In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity.
In our death, a resurrection; at the last a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
This is Holy Week. Let us journey into the new promises God holds for each one of us through the gift of Jesus. Let us pray for each other with a certain and sure love that God holds for each one of us. We are on a faith journey together, and we need to ensure each of us is doing okay.
This week Cecil will have Good Friday’s sermon posted for Good Friday, as well as Easter Sunday’s sermon posted for you on Sunday. I will continue to pray for all of you each morning at 10:30, knowing that God holds you tenderly and safely. Keep well and safe as you enjoy a blessed Easter.
Keep well and safe. Let us hold one another and our beloved world in our prayers every morning at 10:30.
God’s Blessings, Pastor Laura