Thought for Today
Isaiah 40:3 A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Malachi 3:1 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight-- indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.
John 14:2 In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.
Yesterday was the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Next Sunday will be the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Palm/Passion Sunday and Easter Sunday loom close on our liturgical horizon. I’ve written about Lent numerous times this month. Historically, Lent was a time of preparation. I suspect some of our modern preparation during Lent might prove a tad puzzling (odd? weird? crazy?) to our ancestors-in-the-faith. Our modern preparations would certainly be different from those with which they were familiar. While new Christians in the early centuries would have been instructed in the faith, in the history of Christianity, in the traditions and their meanings, we may well be busy buying eggs to dye. Especially this year, the Year of the Great Egg Shortage, that may be a major concern. Hopefully, there is no shortage of dying kits!
When I was a young boy, this was for my family the season of buying new clothes. While I’m certain my mother did not deliberately choose the itchiest, scratchiest pants made, those were the ones I always had to wear on Easter morning. I think I still have scars on my feet from the blisters caused by my new dress shoes each year. Evidently, Jesus would have been disappointed by faded Levis and tennis shoes!
In our family, we each had a wicker basket of our own. Even in those days of yore, there was the ubiquitous green plastic ‘grass,’ identical to that which is still a part of Greta’s Easter decorations around our home. Even in those days of old, that ‘grass’ was found throughout the rest of the year under chairs, behind couches, etc.
Many of the traditions we celebrated during Lent and Easter when we raised our children were preserved from our own childhoods. Like our own parents, we took countless pictures of Easter Egg Hunts; pictures of our children in robes and slippers engrossed in looking under plants for eggs, looking in every conceivable nook and cranny in our back yard.
Today, different faith traditions have various celebrations and liturgical traditions during Lent and Holy Week. Most Christians share at least the special observance of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. As a youth and now as an adult, I still wonder whether Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday feel slighted each year during this season. I have noted that my liturgical planning calendar now notes that the day preceding Easter is Holy Saturday.
Many faith traditions will have special services for Palm/Passion Sunday. Most will probably involve palm fronds somehow. The church in which I was raised always had the children’s choir process down the center aisle ahead of the adult choir, waving palm fronds and singing. Of course, each of our mothers watched us carefully to ensure we were singing and waving our fronds properly, not hitting the other children in the choir. Think for a minute how your own church will celebrate Palm/Passon Sunday. Our congregation will have palms. We no longer have a children’s choir, so the ‘burden’ of waving those palms will fall upon the adults. I’ll have to keep a special eye on Greta from the pulpit to make sure she doesn’t try to hit anyone sitting next to her!
Then and now, in the earliest days of our faith and throughout Christendom today, Easter Sunday is a most special day. For most Christians, Easter is our most holy day, the celebration of the Empty Tomb, God’s shouted “AMEN!” to the life and ministry of Jesus the Christ.
Lent is our time of preparation. It is our time of anticipation. During this week leading up to our Fifth Sunday in Lent, take time to prepare yourself spiritually. Take time to think and to pray about our shared faith, about the life and ministry of Jesus. Experience anew the celebratory joy of Palm Sunday and Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Think and pray about the events of that final week. Look forward to that Empty Tomb.
Stay safe, prepare and anticipate, trust God,
Pastor Ray