Vol 5 No 16 - Shortcut to Easter?

It's Holy Week, ladies & gentlemen.  There's really not much more to add at this point, so just some brief reminders about this week's schedule.

By now, you know that we will be joining the church universal in worshiping at our Lord's table on Holy Thursday, solemnly gathering in the shadow of the cross on Good Friday, and basking in the glory of the empty tomb on Easter Sunday.

As is the case whenever God's people gather for worship, there is always the joyful anticipation of Christ revealing himself in ways heretofore unimagined to us.  I know most all of you will be in worship with us (or somewhere, for those of you who are not in our area) on Easter Sunday.  Don't forget, however, that we don't get to Easter Sunday without going through Holy Thursday and Good Friday.  Make it a point to be here @ 6:00 both evenings.

This year, we will also be blessed by joining with our friends from Trinity Episcopal on Friday @ 3:00 to process through the stations of the cross.  We will start and finish our journey at their facilities on the corner of Second and Greenwood.

Sharing the journey of our Lord into the Upper Room, over to Golgotha at the cross, and to the soon-to-be empty tomb - personally, I can't wait!

Lamar

Vol 5 No 15 - When Things Slow Down...

I know, I know.  Things are very busy this time of year for so many of us - it's amazing how many things we allow to slip through the cracks.  I've talked to several who have said that the mission run kinda slipped up on them this year and they hadn't heard as much, then are a little sheepish when reminded it's been highlighted prominently in our past two newsletters, in the bulletin the past 4-5 weeks, and mentioned in this e-mail for a few weeks.

However, I sympathize on so many levels.  After all, who among us doesn't have a great deal of stuff occupying our time or preoccupying us mentally, physically, and emotionally?  Almost on a daily basis, I realize there is stuff that I need to pay attention to that slips through the cracks because I have been focused elsewhere, and I know I'm not alone on this.  Whether a meeting, a social event, someone's birthday, a mission run, a financial pledge made to this or that, a phone call that needed to be returned - we all miss things from time to time that we mean to do, and will catch up on as soon as we are reminded.

The ironic thing about this reality for many of us is that in the midst of our busy-ness during the past few weeks we have, far more than we realize, missed the true meaning of the season we are observing.  This season of Lent, this season of reflection and introspection, has been lost at times because we delude ourselves into thinking we are too busy, and "when things slow down" we'll get back in 'routine'.  What we fail to realize at these times is that if we are not intentional about ordering our lives in such a way that tending our souls, individually and through the life of the faith community known as the church, we will never get it done.  If we are not intentional about making sure that we order our lives to where we focus on worship and sharing our lives together in Christ, we will have nothing to offer all the other activities that consume us.

One of the most seminal moments in recent years for me was the realization that not everything is going to get done.  No matter how hard I try, there's always going to be one more call to return, one more letter to write, one more e-mail to compose, one more event to attend, one more person that I need to check with, etc., etc., etc.  I realized that my challenge was not to make sure that I was all things to all people, but to make sure that in whatever I did, and in whoever I spent time with (family, friends, colleagues, church members, or anyone else), I was in the proper perspective.

So, cherished ones, as we head into the final 13 days of the holiest time of our year, take a breath.  Get some perspective.  Let us all covenant to be people who may be extremely busy or preoccupied, but people who can handle things not because of our own strength, but because we draw from the well of grace, mercy, and love found in Christ through the community he gave us for that purpose, his church.  Let us find that strength by making it an absolute priority to worship, fellowship, study, and pray together SO THAT we may take Christ into all of our life and the lives of those we encounter daily.

See you Sunday!

Lamar

Vol 5 No 14 - Lenten Journey

Looking out the window this morning while waiting, I was reminded once again of the glory of this Lenten journey.

It's no small secret that the elevator at a local hospital is notoriously slow in arriving to the upper floors, and usually I find this wait more than slightly annoying.  Today, however, I took pause and reflected on how when I left the house it was pitch dark.  By the time I got done visiting with one having surgery, it wasn't quite as dark - the first glimmer of light started peeking over the horizon as I looked down Victor II.  Then as I waited for the elevator (those of you who have been there know what I mean), there was more and more light, and by the time I got to my office, there was no need of the car's headlights.

This is, upon reflection, the story of our Lenten journey.  A journey from darkness to light.  A journey wherein we see things in a different way by moving from existing in darkness to living in the light.

Until we allow ourselves to traverse through the dark, we cannot have an appreciation for just how much light changes our world.  That is what is so transformative about the Lenten journey - by spending time in a season of darkness, we can more appropriately respond to the glory of Easter Sunday.

Don't allow yourselves to be one who misses the joy of Easter by skipping the long journey through Lent.  Through worship, study, weekly luncheons, mission opportunities, Palm Sunday, and Holy Week, there are plenty of ways for you to join in our Lenten observance.  By being with fellow Christians on the journey to Easter, we can bask together in the glory of the Resurrection.

See you Sunday!

Lamar

Vol 5 No 13 - Insurance?

As we continue the journey through Lent, the long journey of reflection and introspection, I am struck this morning by how transformational Lent can be if we are truly of the mind that God can change us and if we are truly intentional about letting God change us.

Our Sunday/Tuesday study groups are spending the Lenten season reflection on The Challenge of Easter (N.T. Wright), and this week's lesson deals with what is our true understanding of resurrection.  Journeying through Lent, and spending time in dialog with Bishop Wright and the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15, I have come to the conclusion that so many of us miss the joy of Lent because we look at resurrection in an incomplete way.

Think about it - every Sunday, through the affirmation of faith, we profess to believe in the resurrection of the dead.  And that is a good thing, for if we do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, we cannot, by definition, be Christian.  Where we get in trouble is when we think of resurrection in terms of just getting back up and resuming life as it was before we died.  The gospel narratives dealing with the resurrection point to a Christ that had been transformed, and transformed in such a way as to not be recognizable to those who had known him well.

By crawling through the waters of baptism, we profess to a life where we have died to ourselves and risen in Christ.  The question we must face, and the one the annual observance of the Lenten discipline demands we answer, is:  Have we truly been transformed by rising from death in sin to life in Christ?  Do we truly believe that when Christ brings to us new life by water and the Spirit that we are transformed?  Do we truly believe that when Christ comes again in glory and we are raised from the dead that we will be transformed?

Or is this Christianity business simply an exercise in 'fire insurance'?

See you Sunday!

Lamar

P.S.  Our first Lenten Luncheon will be tomorrow at 12:10.  I hope and pray you will make the effort to be here and be fed not only by the food provided but by the words of our speaker.