Wednesday, February 28, 2018

February 28, 2018


One Day at a Time

Every Tuesday after our staff meeting, Mark and I sit down together and discuss upcoming services. We go over the music, make sure we have the correct readings, and talk about any other issues that may come up, or that came up in the past, so that the liturgy of St. John's reflects the dignity and mystery of our worship of God. We try to live into the words of the psalmist who wrote, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; let the whole earth tremble before him.”

Yesterday we went over the services for Holy Week and Easter Day . . . all of them.

We began with the upcoming choral Evensong service scheduled for March 11 at 5 pm. Following that we went through Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, the Great Vigil, and Easter Day. Each service had notes from the previous year for us to consider. Each service had a few changes here and there that we needed to straighten out. It took well over an hour, but we are that much more prepared for Holy Week.

As we worked our way through those services, I was reminded yet again that the only way we get to Easter is to go through Holy Week. The only way we get to resurrection is to die. The only way we get to the empty cross is to nail Jesus to it in the first place. The only way we get to Easter is one day at a time.

We can't rush the journey. We can't magically snap our fingers and arrive at the point where we sing, “His cross stands empty to the sky.” Because this isn't magic. This is life and this is our faith. If we sing the above, we must also sing, “Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?”

Our faith isn't the faith of wish fulfillment. Our faith is a daily journey with Jesus toward the cross and, ultimately, resurrection. But the cross stands in our path.

As we journey through Lent, try not to get caught up in focusing on the end result. Instead, focus on the journey that lasts 40 days. Because while the end will come and Easter will arrive, the journey is meant to be made one day at a time. And it is often in our daily journey where we have the most impact.

Blessings,

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