April 2022

Dear Friends in Christ,

April greetings to you!! Our Lenten series continues with our focus on Mending. Mending is simply the act of becoming whole again and can take place through prayer, talking with a friend, or seeking professional counseling. Mending can also be through mindful practices such as meditation, yoga, and exercise. Our Lord, Jesus, wants to mend you everywhere you hurt, everywhere you need strength and confidence. God will see you through.

Within a few weeks we will be approaching Holy Week. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. It used to be that Palm Sunday was a day of celebration. The better part of the worship service was hosannas and palm branches waving. Children and Adults looked forward to this upbeat worship, especially after 40 days of Lent. But then, attendance during the Great Three Days began to decline. Maybe Holy Week was too intense for some. Maybe it was too sad. Maybe these three days somehow were no longer given the focus and attention due them as the central worship of our faith. Whatever the reason, missing Holy Week meant that folks were experiencing the joy of Palm Sunday and then leaping over Holy Week to the joy of Easter Sunday. They would completely skip over death, and suffering, and sadness. They would miss the betrayal, the last supper, the crucifixion of Jesus. And I guess, who can blame folks for wanting to avoid all that grim darkness. We would much rather celebrate and be joyful than sad and somber. But in worship that only considers the happy hosannas, and the empty tomb misses the whole point of Christ on the cross and the sin of the world that put him there. There is value in looking at the death of Jesus, in pondering his suffering, and in dwelling on his last hours of life. Because you know, and I know that life is not all joy and happiness. We live in the shadow and fear of death. We suffer. We sin. We die. And We need saving.

So, I am glad that our Lutheran tradition dwells in the darkness, if only for a little while. It is good that our worship reflects the truth of life and the truth of our faith. Jesus suffered death before he rose again. There is no resurrection without the crucifixion. There is no rising without dying. Easter joy is real when we admit that death is real. We receive the freedom of forgiveness with relief and gladness if first we understand our need for God’s grace. So, please join us during Holy Week for a Maundy Thursday drama, called The Upper Room. Good Friday, we’ll pause in Jesus’ final hours and hear His final last seven words from the cross. Saturday, Easter Vigil and then Sunday, Resurrection of Our Lord. In our Lutheran tradition there is no escaping the sacrifice and death of Christ. But we do not we miss the new life of Resurrection and the fullness of Easter joy… in this life, nor in the life to come.

With Easter Joy,
Pastor Jim