This past Sunday we processed into church (i.e., our living room) from our kitchen, waving our paper palm branches high! And we remembered you all processing into your service also, with likely even more (joyous, of course!) palm branch fights breaking out than in our procession, given the wonderfully large number of children involved. But as we walked through that week in Jerusalem through the Scripture readings, we came to Jesus’ bloody sweat in Gethsemane, Peter’s words of denial, the shouts of the crowd—even our shouts—of, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” How did those crowds—how do we—go from songs of praise and adoration to crying out for the blood of our King? Or rather, how do we not walk in this way of the world and of our natural selves, singing praises when we are pleased with the provision of the Lord, but turning against him when to follow him requires sacrifice, repentance, and no-thanks-given-for-it service?
Every morning, in morning prayer, we recite with Zechariah his words of blessings over his son John:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham,
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
And every evening, in evening prayer, we say with Simeon his words of praise:
Lord, now let your servant depart in peace,
according to your word.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles,
and to be the glory of your people Israel.
And here we find a pattern, a holy truth that will, as one of our worship songs puts it, help us “be singing when the evening comes.” We are set free from our enemies! Free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our lives. We are visited by the dawn from on high, our eyes see his salvation—a light to lighten the Gentiles, the glory of God’s people—every day, when we ask our Father to lift our heads and open our eyes. And every day we receive again the charge from the one who loves us with an everlasting love: “Take up your cross, and follow me.” When we find ourselves snarling at the person who interrupted our time of prayer and praise, we are invited to sit at the foot of the cross. When we wake up determined to follow the Lord’s ways of life and peace, and find ourselves so quickly slipping back into our ways of death and idolatry, we are invited to sit at the foot of the cross. Every day we are invited to receive the gift from our Father of the knowledge of salvation in the forgiveness of our sins, but we must come to that knowledge through the cross—through the painful, even horrific conviction that yes, my sins and yours nailed our King to this cross. A verse of our boys’ favorite Easter song, Jerusalem, puts us in the role of the soldiers:
See the king who made the sun
And the moon and shining stars
Let the soldiers hold and nail him down
So that he could save them.
We will be inviting some of our friends here to join us for the Holy Week services, and we hope you will join with Incarnation in yours, for this is an opportunity like none other in the Church year to sit at the foot of the cross. And on Saturday, right at the center of that great Vigil, the bells will come out (five in each hand if you, like our boys, have learned from the best) and we will bust out that glorious verse of Jerusalem:
See the empty tomb today,
Death could not contain him;
Once the servant of the world
Now in victory reigning.
Hannah
Holy Week
Our only hope is Jesus Christ, and we need a moment every year when we stop everything to remember this. We need a moment to re-enter into his death and resurrection, to reground ourselves in what he did for us.
During Holy Week, we are given this chance. It is our yearly call to remember that our hope is only in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The services work together to draw us into Jesus’ work for us. Each service is beautiful on its own, but together they are more than their sum. By following him from the Triumphal Entry to the Last Supper; from his agony, betrayal, and arrest at Gethsemane to the mockery of his trial; from the darkness of his crucifixion into the glory of his resurrection—by following him in each of these moments, we have the chance to re-center our life on him.
Even though life is 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.
Holy Week Services (March 24-31)
Palm Sunday—9:00am, March 24
Be early! We will begin outside with the crowds, greeting Jesus as he rides through in humility and majesty, cheering him with palms and cries of “Hosanna!” Regular Sunday childcare will be offered.
Maundy Thursday—6:00pm, March 28
On Maundy Thursday, we join Jesus as he celebrates Passover with his disciples, offering in the institution of the Lord’s Supper a new Passover covenant established in his blood. We end the service by following Jesus and the disciples in the dark to Gethsemane through the stripping of the altar. Nursery childcare will be available for ages 6mos – 3 years.
Good Friday—6:30pm, March 29
On the darkest night of the year, we gather to confess our sins as we mourn the death of Jesus Christ. We remember and confess that we, too, are culpable as we consider the gravity of our rebellion against our Creator and Lord. Nursery childcare will be available for ages 6mos – 3 years.
Great Vigil—7:30pm, March 30
The Great Vigil begins in darkness because Jesus Christ has been slain and lies in the tomb. As we wait in vigil, we listen to the narrative of God’s acts of salvation in human history, and we begin to hope again as we hear his promises. As the vigil reaches its climax, light enters the world again when we learn that Jesus has risen from the dead and left the tomb. We ring bells, sing, and celebrate the victory of our God! Nursery childcare will be available for ages 6mos – 3 years.
Easter Morning—9:00am, March 31
The Feast of the Resurrection is the great joy of the Church and has been its principal feast since the beginning. We sing, celebrate, and rejoice because our Lord has conquered death! Our hope is secure because our Lord has defeated sin and the devil! Nursery childcare will be available for ages 6mos – 3 years.
Easter Picnic—11:00 am-2:00pm, March 31, at Geoff and Patty Hall’s Home
Bring your chair and a picnic lunch. There will be an egg hunt for children. Join us in this time to rejoice after the service. The church will supply drinks.
Scripture Reflections
On Sunday, we read John’s account of Jesus cleansing the temple. Jesus’ motivation (at least part of it) is evident is his statement in verse 16: “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” There is no indication in John that Jesus is bothered by unjust practices; it is merely the presence of trade at all in the temple that bothers him. He is saying, “These things should be outside! They are transforming the purpose of my Father’s house!”
His words might have been perplexing, though, to the Jews in Jerusalem These vendors weren’t actually in the temple—they were in the Court of the Gentiles, which is outside the temple itself. (There was a wall, separating the Court of the Gentiles from the gates leading into the sanctuary.) In other words, for the Jews, the vendors did not affect the purpose of the temple. It would be like having a coffee vendor on the lawn in front of the church—what’s the big deal? It isn’t in the sanctuary!
But imagine a setting where certain people—the Gentiles—weren’t allowed to go inside. If they wanted to worship God, the closest they could get was the lawn, and having people hawking pigeons and arguing over exchange rates definitely prevented them from praying. Jesus is outraged by the callousness of the temple leadership towards these “second class” worshipers.
Throughout John, Jesus is concerned with drawing all people to himself—not just the Jews. In his own words, salvation is “from the Jews” (4:22b), but God is seeking anyone who will worship him “in spirit and truth.” (4:23) As Jesus said later of the Gentiles, “I have sheep not of this fold; I must bring them also,” (10:16) and “When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself.” (12:32) He was intent on bringing all of humanity to the Father through the temple of his own body, and yet the priests were preventing the Gentiles from even praying in the courtyard in front of the temple building. This is what outraged Jesus—they were hindering others who were seeking to approach God.
This raises a challenge to us: Are we callous to the ways we make it hard for those not yet in the covenant to see God? Do place unnecessary barriers in front of people who do not know God? Does our lack of love prevent others from entering the presence of God? Our posture towards those outside the faith should make them want to come in, and not be a hindrance to them doing so.
A Prayer for Lent
Jesus Christ, true dwelling place of God with man, with your whip of fierce love drive out from us those ways we hinder others from coming into your presence.
Steven+