April 10, 2022
Beloved in Christ,
Do you remember parades? It has been a long time since any of us has been to one. The last time I was at one was the parade after the Raptors won the NBA championship. It was incredible. The buzz and excitement of the crowd, wave after wave of people crashing over you as everyone anticipates getting a look at our heroes. And then… they pass by…. and you get carried along.
This Sunday a parade unlike any other begins at St. Margaret in-the-Pines – and you are invited. It begins with the liturgy of the palms as we welcome Christ Jesus into our city, into our church, and into our lives. With all of ancient Jerusalem we will greet him with hosannas and place palm branches before his feet, the whole time wondering… is he the one? Is this the time that he will, after two long years of virus, sickness, isolation and death free us? Is this the time our fortunes will be restored?
Yet as our hopes rise the parade gets out of control. This Jesus begins to act in ways no one could have anticipated. Jesus enters the city, enters our lives and begins to change things, but not as we thought he would. Instead He humbles Himself, He permits Himself to be handed over to the enemy and what began with such anticipation has now turned into a tragedy.
What kind of parade is this?
St. Paul tells us:
Christ Jesus…was in the form of God [yet] did not regard equality with Godas something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,being born in human likeness.And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross (Phil 2:5-8)
This is the real parade, the one into human life, into our vulnerability and morality. This parade leads us into heartbreak, into betrayal, into abandonment as we witness the whole injustice of the thing and we are disturbed.
I haven’t been at a parade in a long time and this one doesn’t sound like one I want to be caught up in. But my beloved in Christ, come anyways.
Come and be carried away by the procession of God’s self-giving in our midst. Because in doing so you might just find yourself surprised. In the disappointment, in the injustice and horror of the events surrounding Jesus’ death you might find life – life abundantly given. For we do not enter Holy Week solemnly mourning a great but nevertheless dead man. No, we enter Holy Week in the presence of the risen Jesus who seeks to change our lives.
Will you join this parade?
Yours in Christ,
Andrew+