Is It Still Lent?

““This is the Lentest Lent I’ve ever Lented.””

— —Anonymous, 2020

This weekend, our Lenten anticipation overflowed into Easter celebration. Then, we woke up Monday morning in the same old quarantine. Many of us know people who are sick, and we’re told the worst is still to come. We miss each other. We miss gathering together to worship. If you feel stuck in some sort of Lenten Groundhog Day, you’re not alone. I want to leave you with two thoughts:

1)  The church calendar has room for this feeling. Since Christmas we have walked together through the life and death of Christ. Now we celebrate his Resurrection, and in a few weeks we will remember his Ascension. Then at Pentecost we will re-live together the Spirit’s coming to the church. Between Pentecost and Advent, the calendar brings us into the life of this Spirit-filled church—filled with the hope of the resurrected Christ, waiting for his second Advent and the final victory over sin and death. We have to wait with hope, because death and darkness—though defeated—are still here.

2)  This is not the first time God’s people have been barred from their places of worship. Exiled Israel felt this deeply: “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4). We are grateful that we can gather online, but we also grieve that we cannot wear our name tags, pass the Peace, and receive the bread and wine together. It’s good to miss those things! Grief and gratitude are not always enemies. We ought to cultivate them both, gratefully receiving what God gives as we long for this separation to end. 

Our last Easter Vigil reading was God’s promise to exiled Israel in Zephaniah 3:20: “At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth.” Take some time this week to meditate on Zeph. 3:14-20. Let yourself long to worship God with his people as you learn to rest in his presence and promises now. 

We will gather together again. We know this is true, because Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. Alleluia, alleluia!

I can’t wait to sing with you all.

-Justin

Click here to read entire newsletter.

Prayer

The most obvious change in the church because of the global outbreak of coronavirus has been the explosion of internet-based services.  Christians are becoming experts at various software platforms, and churches are gathering online in never before seen numbers.  We are thankful for the ability to meet online, but for most of us, this is a “second-best” option.  After the crisis passes, people will return to their pews, and churches to some sort of normal.
 
Yet there has been another change in the church, one that I hope won’t disappear along with the fear of COVID-19.  I am referring to the other explosion in the church—the explosion of prayer.  Everywhere I look, I see churches meeting online specifically to pray for each other and their communities.  Incarnation is doing this, but so are many other churches.  The crisis of coronavirus has been the circumstance for an eruption of prayer, and this happened without any sort of coordination or planning.  Churches just started doing it and realized afterwards that others were doing the same.
 
There is, of course, the chance that the mere novelty of praying together online wears off, and people stop praying in the purposeful way that we have seen so far.  This is not just a possibility; indeed, it is likely that the new pattern of praying together several times a week will be dropped by many before it becomes a lasting habit, in the same way that resolutions to be more faithful in personal devotions only last a few weeks for most of us.  Like other churches, Incarnation is being given an opportunity to grow in our prayer life together, and I hope that these patterns get entrenched as habits before we tire of them.
 
In order to make this pattern a lasting habit, we need to think carefully about how often we should continue to pray together.  Most of us don’t have time to meet Sunday morning, Wednesday (or Friday) morning for Bible study, and Tuesday and Thursday night for Compline (not to mention small groups!) every week.  But with the right decisions and some wise thinking, the church can make it easier for these patterns to become habits. 
 
But strategic decisions by the church are not enough.  The people of God (i.e., you and me!) must personally make this new practice a lasting priority.  If we continue to pray together, even when we don’t feel like it, we will be participating in the growth of the kingdom of God.  Coronavirus has given the church a chance to remember its calling and grow in its willingness to participate in the mission of God.  The most basic way we do this is by continuing to pray together for the redemption of the world.
 
I have been praying for us all that we would step forward in our willingness to follow and pursue Jesus.  No amount of good planning can overcome our distraction and disinterest.  The church’s attention has been grabbed, and we are being called to find our rest in God alone and offer ourselves as living sacrifices.  If we, as a people, plunge forward into the heart of God—trusting in him, finding our delight in him, longing for his presence—we will see the glory of the One who loves us.  I hope for all of us that we would long for the presence of the Lord, follow him in all things, and find our delight in him.  Please join me in this prayer and this pursuit!

-Steven

Palm Sunday

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem - Anthony van Dyck

You would be forgiven for not realizing that this Sunday is Palm Sunday.  Without the rhythm of ordinary church services, the seasons of the church year seem to be in a muddle.  The fact that much of life has ground to a halt has given us a particularly frustrating form of Lent that won’t end, and it seems like Easter should not come until we are allowed to return to ordinary life.  How can we enter Holy Week, with all of its church services that culminate in the celebration of the resurrection, while waiting impatiently in our homes for a new day to break?  Yet this Sunday is still Palm Sunday, and next week is still Holy Week, even if it doesn’t feel like it. 
 
Perhaps there is a blessing for us in this.  Perhaps not the one we would choose, but the one we need nonetheless.  Consider the following with me:
 
We normally have an easy time celebrating Palm Sunday, because it is enjoyable to watch the kids wave palms and march around, and Easter is a delight because of the weather and egg hunts and big meals.  In other words, we celebrate Holy Week because life is obviously good in these moments.  It is like celebrating the birth of Christ—it is easy to rejoice in the fact that God became man on our behalf because Christmas itself is so delightful.  And this is a good thing!  It is a blessing from God to have these wonderful moments when it is easy to celebrate!  He gave Israel feasts, numerous feasts, to help them know him and delight in him.
 
Yet it is altogether too easy to lean on and delight in the wrong thing.  The joyous moments help us celebrate, but they aren’t what we are supposed to rejoice in.  There are times when we need to relearn how to delight in God, and not just in the good times.  As St. Augustine said, “our hearts are restless, until they rest in You, O Lord.”  One of my chief prayers these last few weeks is that I would rest and delight in God alone.  I have been praying this for you all, as well.
 
Palm Sunday serves as a reminder of the one in whom we are to rest and delight.  Jesus entered Jerusalem as king—the triumphal entry was a coronation ceremony!  The history of Israel, even the choice of a donkey as a vehicle (read I Kings 1:32-34), point to this reality.  The prophecy that lies behind the procession (Zech. 9:9) makes this clear.  Jesus is the rightful King of Israel and the world.  We are supposed to be resting and delighting, in him, because he is our king!
 
We all know this, but it is still too easy to rest, delight, and trust in the circumstances of life rather than the one who is king.  And so there is a blessing for us, a chance to learn to delight in the king alone this Sunday, because we don’t have everything else in life just the way we want it.  In other words, we have nothing else to cloud our vision (like the good gifts of time with friends and children waving palm branches).  I pray that our hearts would see and love the king clearly this weekend, perhaps more clearly than normal, because we aren’t distracted by anything else.
 
In Christ,
Steven