ps from psWhy do I love Palm Sunday? I’m glad you asked.
I love Palm Sunday because it’s one of the times in church where we tell the longer story. In our particular mission sites, we turn the whole service into the entire passion reading in the gospel, from Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem to death on the cross. All of it, except the empty tomb. We save that for the next Sunday, Dingus Day Eve.
We slow it down. Give the bigger picture. Hear/read all the voices, phrases, shouts, questions, prayers. And we do it in the order it happened….so Communion is in the front part of the service. (Last Supper) Prayer is in the middle. (Garden). Confession is at the ending. (Standing at the cross) There is cheering. And there is silence.
We live in a sound bite, TikTok, 10 second video culture. We rarely get the whole story.
We use a few Bible verse or stories to try and defend our position when it’s convenient for us. Hypothetically like picking out seven sections of the Bible over the other million chapters on love to defend things like our homophobia. Hypothetically.
We like bumper sticker life and sometimes faith.
But on Palm Sunday (and Saturday), we get to hear it all. Our misunderstanding of what Jesus was doing. Our changing of our minds. Our denial. Our confusion. Our betrayal. And through it all, Jesus keeps going.
Jesus keeps going.
This coming week, hear and feel the whole story. If you can’t be at a church to do it, read Matthew chapters 26 and 27.
Church purists would argue that we do Palm Sunday wrong and it should just be the reading of Jesus entering Jerusalem. And on some levels they might be right. But I would argue it’s worth “getting it wrong” and hearing the whole story to start each Holy Week off. Because we will hear that Jesus keeps going!
ps from ps Ever feel “stuck” in Lent? A sense of being stuck in a long season of “returning?” Of wanting to press Fast Forward on the remote and get to Easter?
Lenten Stuckness.
Take a few minutes of reflection with Paul Storfer’s music and enjoy being stuck in Lent by clicking HERE.
Lord, thanks for few moments to be stuck with you Amen
While I was out on a run this week, I was reminded of this. Let me share just a few things that are OK for today.
1. It’s OK to start, start over or start again. It will take courage but if it doesn’t work/go well, you can start over another time. But if you never start, you never experience and you never finish. 2. It’s OK to ask for help. It doesn’t show weakness, it shows strength. And the person you ask might just need to help you as well! 3. It’s OK to be nervous. It means you care. And the same feeling that is labeled nervous, can also be labeled excitement. 4. It’s OK to be sad. It means you loved, cared, hoped. Don’t let sadness be named a negative emotion by someone else. Honor the sadness and let it become sacred. 5. It’s OK to be optimistic. Dream your dreams and live into them every day without letting anyone/anything pull you from them. 6. It’s OK to adjust. Take what today’s “run” gives you and enjoy it for what it is. That means you might have to adjust your run plan mid-run. 7. It’s OK to be different. Your difference will make the team stronger and deeper. We are designed to be in community and community needs differences to be whole. Celebrate your difference.
The Scriptures speak of these and many more things that are OK. In the days ahead, I’ll share more with you in person about how God addresses these things. But for now, you go on your run or your task or your work or your ministry or just go into your day…and know you are loved and it’s OK.
Lord, thanks for reminding us that today can be OK Amen
I love Men’s Breakfast at St. Paul’s and it’s coming up again this Saturday. I love the book we’re reading and the discussion we have around it. And I love that in the book, there is not mention of Jesus….and yet, it’s really all about Jesus.
The book is called – Legacy.
What Legacy are you leaving today?
Too often we think about legacy as something we give away once we depart this earth. But what we’ve learned is that EVERY interaction we have with those in the world around us leaves a legacy.
And Jesus modeled that for us.
Every interaction. There are no throw away moments.
General David Petraeus said: “Instill in your team’s members a sense of great self-worth – that each, at any given time, can be the most important on the battlefield.”
Jesus didn’t just call 12 disciples to the battlefield, he called every person he interacted with to live differently, boldly, compassionately and loved. His interactions and relationships with his team (read: the world) invited others into love. Every. Single. Time.
In John’s 4th chapter, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and she is surprised and astonished that Jesus is (a) talking with her and (b) offering HER water and waters of life. The was pre-International Women’s Day clearly! But Jesus still creates a Legacy. A legacy of grace, invitation, hope and compassion.
Every. Single. Time. Legacy.
What will today bring you? Who will you meet at a well? What can you offer in your interactions?
God has already given to each of us a Legacy. How will we build our team today?
Lord, may all my interactions today build your Legacy. Amen
ps from ps Sometimes doing ministry is messy work. Just ask Nicodemus. Or our St. Paul’s staff.
This week we had to change some lightbulbs in the sanctuary that are only accessible through the attic of the church above the ceiling and 35′ above the pews. A daunting, dirty, nasty task. However, the choir and the pastor with aging eyes were having a harder and harder time reading the bulletin and music, as slowly more and more spot lights “crossed the rainbow bridge.” So it seemed a task worth doing.
But when Dave Wolf told me that you had to go into the ceiling, I was less than thrilled. Dark. Dusty. Dirty. Dangerous. Not my favorite worksite. But I asked….and Dave answered….and it was time to embrace it.
Nicodemus went to go see Jesus to find out how to get more “light” in his life. However he didn’t love the answer either. You must be born again. “Ugh” said Nicky. Wasn’t quite ready for that. Maybe it sounded dark, dusty, dirty and dangerous to him too? But he was thinking of the wrong kind of rebirth.
Jesus was inviting him into an adventure. To do things differently. See things differently. Get dirty in a way that can only come through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Because that’s the thing, the Holy Spirit doesn’t ask us to do it alone. The Savior that invited Nicodemus was on his way to the cross. The Holy Spirit that was promised would be there through the whole process. Pretty nice invitation actually. Not scary at all.
When I got up into the attic, unsure how this was all going to go, I found a gift….from Dave Wolf. See, Dave had been up there before and wouldn’t have told me it could be done if it wasn’t safe. He’d also hung lights through the whole attic and placed wooden planks the length of the sanctuary so I could safely traverse from the Main Street entrance hatch to the lights over the choir pews. A gift for tough journeys in the search for light.
I’m not sure what you’ll be called into today. I don’t know how dirty you’ll get doing the ministry that God is calling you to do. But I do know the planks have been laid to traverse upon. And I do know that the Holy Spirit will be with you. May you go into that ministry today, maybe even getting a little messy, and bring transformation and light to the people that need it.
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