“For the average American Christian who is genuinely committed to his or her faith, the most a church can expect is 3 hours of participation each week.”
Before Incarnation opened its doors, I received this warning from a priest who reads surveys on church life and growth. Don’t ask me to cite the study (I don’t have it!), but the claim seems right. Sunday service, small group, Bible study—life is busy and most of us can only make two of the three (at least until retirement). Anything more endangers the balance on the scale and only dilutes participation at the rest. So why in the world are we about to enter a week where we have a Thursday evening service, a Friday evening service, a Saturday evening service (don’t forget the fasting on Good Friday and Holy Saturday!), a Sunday morning service, and a Sunday afternoon picnic?!!
We aren’t crazy, even if the full slate of services sounds a bit excessive!
Our hope is grounded in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We have no hope except in what Jesus Christ has done for us. We cannot grow in the faith apart from his work, we cannot find peace except in him, we cannot be redeemed except by him.
We spend hundreds of hours every year making money, cooking meals, cleaning the home, going on vacation, watching TV, going to our kids’ activities, studying for school—the list of what consumes our time is large. But we cannot have hope except in the life of Jesus. Nothing else (as good and necessary as these things are) is a secure foundation for life.
We need a yearly moment when we rehearse and re-enter the foundation of our faith. During Holy Week, we are given the chance to center our life on Christ in an explicit way. Holy Week is when we remember our roots, rehearse our hope, and recenter our lives on the work of Christ. It is our yearly call to grow in the faith in the only way our faith can actually grow—through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The services work together to draw us into the week of Jesus’ passion and resurrection as we trace what he did that week. Each service is beautiful on its own, but together they are more than their sum as they give us the chance to follow Jesus.
Even though we are all busy, make a point to set aside every other pursuit during Holy Week. There is nothing more important for us to do! Let following Jesus from the Triumphal Entry to the empty tomb be the only goal for the week.
Steven+
Scripture Reflections
Our gospel reading on Sunday was the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). One of the most striking parts of the story is the older son's refusal to go into the feast. Out of some combination of pride, bitterness, and offended justice, his heart is hardened against joy.
This might be one of the most resonant parts of the parable for us. His protests seem justified. The situation isn’t fair. The younger son had shamed his father and squandered his inheritance. Let him reap the consequences! That’s certainly true, but there’s something else underneath this story that I think we can all identify with. Joy is hard.
There are countless reasons for this. Labor goes unrewarded while others enjoy undeserved success. Good things that we long for never come. Sickness, pain, loneliness, and even boredom can weigh our spirits down. Even when circumstances are good, joy is hard. How often during worship have you repeated the truths that give us hope—that Christ is risen and will come again—with a flat heart? Sometimes joy seems like a dance we’d love to join, if we only knew the steps.
Now, look at the way the father comes to his elder son. The father longs to share his joy. Read that joy into what he says: “all that I have is yours.” The invitation is wide open; the older son must only come inside, and his father’s joy will cover him.
We can certainly look at our lives and point out things that harden us against joy. At the same time, I’m not convinced that joylessness is always evidence of doubt, or of unrepentant sin rooted in our hearts. (Though that is often the case!) As far as I know, there’s no step-by-step process for experiencing joy. The truth is that real joy isn’t something we can gain for ourselves. It can only be received. Once received, it can only be cultivated and stewarded. We can only know joy if we share in the joy of the Father.
If you find yourself looking at joy from a distance—in your daily life, or in worship—do not despair. Your Father longs for you to share in his joy. Ask for it. Pray that the Lord would open your heart to it. Wait for him, and in the waiting know that joylessness will not have the final word. The Father has moved heaven and earth for your joy. The Son has given himself for the joy of sharing this joy with you. The Spirit is in you to groan for you and rejoice with you. A triune God of perfect joy has set himself to this task, and he does not fail. In the meantime, it is enough to simply come to the feast, and let your Father’s joy cover you. His joy is enough.
Justin
Scripture Reflections
“I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” (Luke 13:5-9)
This passage from Sunday’s Gospel reading begins with a terrifying warning. Unless you repent, you will perish is not the warmest message that ever left Jesus’ lips! It is honest, but not the easiest thing to hear.
The parable that follows, though, allows us to see the heart of Jesus. Drawing on Old Testament imagery, where Israel is depicted as God’s vine and garden (see, for example, Is. 5 or Ps. 80), Jesus makes it clear that God is looking for fruit from his people. The fruit—righteousness and justice; mercy and compassion; true worship instead of hypocrisy and idolatry—is in short supply, just as it was before the exile. But there is a character in the story that wasn’t mentioned when Isaiah first told this parable: the vinedresser. The vinedresser pleads for more time, time in which he will till and fertilize the ground. Perhaps with the right preparation the tree will bear fruit!
Jesus is explaining to his followers both what they need (fruit!) and his role. He is present with them in patience, tilling the soil of their hearts, forestalling the judgment so that they might turn back to God. This turning, this repentance, is the first fruit, which is why he offers this parable as an explanation of the call to repentance. We cannot offer the fruits of righteousness, mercy, and worship, unless we first repent.
Are there places where you sense that Jesus has been tilling the soil of your heart and calling you to repentance? Are there places where you are being beckoned back to him? Remember the patience and gentleness of our vinedresser, who desires to spare the tree and is willing to till our hearts so that we may repent! Turn back while he patiently offers time!
Steven+