“To endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ”
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The days are getting warmer. Bulbs that were planted last fall are beginning to push their way through the once frozen soil. The hours of daylight are lengthening. Deciduous branches which once mirrored death are giving signs of new life with slight hints of hazy green beginning to emerge. The journey toward new life has begun.
The journey toward new life has begun as well for followers of the One who became flesh and dwelled among us. Our new life is not born in the bright light of a warming spring day, but in the darkness of a cold grave, ushered in by the hard wood of a Cross on Golgotha. We now enter into the darkest, yet holiest week of the year for the Church. A week that begins with shouts of hosannas and a triumphal entry and ends in screams of "crucify" and "My God, why has thou forsaken me?"
By all appearances, "darkness" and "holiness" should contradict each other. And yet it is precisely because God's son was not born into the bright lights of dazzling and powerful empire, but rather came into the world through an un-wed teenager in the cold darkness of a Bethlehem cave, that the Holy One, Jesus, dwells in the darkness with us.
In just a few hours, Harry Morrow, one of our cherished members of Incarnate Word, is going to be given his inheritance with all the saints in light as his body closes down and he is gathered into the arms of Christ to stand in the presence of God forever. And all of this made by possible by the Cross of Christ. As sad as I am at his approaching death, I am profoundly comforted by the truth of the impending Holy Week journey that reminds me of God dwelling most brightly and powerfully in the darkness and weakness of a Holy Week Cross.
I, along with you, will shed tears at Harry's passing, but I also know that at the end of our Holy Week journey, you and I will stand at the foot of the cross where heaven and earth touch in powerful love. And in that place, I will be assured of two things: Harry is going to be okay. And so too shall I.
Peace in the Cross of Christ,
Pastor Doug
Holy Week Schedule:
Sunday, March 28 9:30 am Passion/Palm Sunday - All congregation communion
Thursday, April 1 @ 12:15 Maundy Thursday service
Thursday, April 1 @ 7:30 pm Maundy Thursday service with Third Presbyterian Church
Friday, April 2 @ 12:15 pm Good Friday service at Third Presbyterian chapel
Friday, April 2 @ 7:30 pm Tenebrae service of shadows at Incarnate Word
Saturday, April 3 @ 8:00 pm The Great Vigil of Easter w/Holy Communion
Sunday, April 4 @ 9;30 am Festival of Easter
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