Resurrection Sunday

 

Can I get a Hallelujah???

Holy Saturday

 

Today is a strange day.  At least for me.

Yesterday we sat and contemplated our sinful nature, and the sacrifice Christ made for us.

Tomorrow we will rejoice in his resurrection and our new life.

Today is on a tension between the two.  A day of pausing, as we pass from death to life.

Isn’t that what a lot of our life is about?  The journey from death in sin, to life in Christ.

Our salvation was completed yesterday (“It is finished”) but we won’t see that salvation with clear eyes until tomorrow (“he is risen, Hallelujah.” 

Today is kind of a low day.

But one full of hope, if we know where our hope lies.

Good Friday

What is so Good about this day?

Most people enjoy Easter, and as Christians we rejoice on Sunday morning by singing hymns of joy and renewal.  We love our Easter eggs, and love our dawn services.

But for it all to mean anything, we can not forget what happened on that Friday.

For us to accept the saving power of Christ's resurrection, we need to accept the death that he suffered.  We need to remind ourselves of the death we need to suffer: To self, to the world, and to our ongoing temptations.  We need to remind ourselves of that death, and how it saves us daily from the greater death of being lost in sin.

I am not one who relishes seeing crosses with Christ still hanging on them, because I serve a risen saviour.

But that empty cross means nothing if we forget too easily that He hung there for us.

Just saying.

Maundy Thursday

I mentioned Maundy Thursday a few years ago, and said that it is where we remember :

Jesus washing his disciples feet

• Jesus praying in the Garden.
• The institution of the Last Supper

In the past few years, I focused on the first two, so this year I want to think about the third.

On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus took bread and broke it.  After giving thanks, he gave it to his disciples saying “This is my body, which is broken for you.”  In the same way, after supper he took wine, and offered it to them saying “This is my blood, shed for you.  Whenever you drink it, do it in memory of me.”

Whatever our reason for taking part in Communion/Mass/Eucharist, whatever our beliefs about the theological significance, whatever our understanding of it… one thing is clear… Jesus was trying to tell us that we needed to be part of the sacrifice that he was about to make.  He was going to do all the hard work, but it was our sacrifice as well.  We have to accept our part in it, by accepting the sacrifice, and by continuing to live in accordance with that sacrifice.

Palm Sunday

Are you ready for this?

The end is close.

And so is the new beginning.