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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