Greetings beloved St. Georgians,
As we walk through the days of Holy Week into Easter, we are teetering between darkness and light, death and life. We know that the story of Jesus’ betrayal and execution is one of the saddest we can imagine and yet we call the day of his crucifixion, “Good Friday.” We do not tip the balance too much in favor of sadness, because we know that eventually there is joy. At the same time, if we rush to the gladness of Easter without the sorrow of Good Friday, we miss something really important.
As many of you know, I like to ride a unicycle (one wheel…one God!). It has taught me a lot about balance. The key is to keep moving, shifting weight back and forth. In our Christian faith, especially in Holy Week and Easter, we are constantly shifting the weight of our attention between the things of heaven and the things of earth, between the suffering of human existence and the hope of healing, between our limits and God’s infinite possibilities.
I hope you will join us over the next days as we move together, trying to stay upright (see schedule below). Another thing I have learned about balance is that it takes lots of practice. We come to this house of prayer as a place to practice the balance of faith, on our own and all together, looking inward and going outward. Part of our practice this Sunday will be our annual Easter outreach offering which will benefit scholarships to our preschool and youth mission trips. Please be as generous as you can. Another part of the practice will be a party after the Easter Vigil on Saturday night! We will balance our Lenten fast with an Easter feast. Come to the vigil (when we will baptize five adults and youth) and stay for the celebration.
As we practice, we will fall and fail. The unicycle has definitely taught me that! We will lose our balance. And then we will try again, trusting in God’s patience and mercy. Humanity lost its balance on Good Friday and put the son of God to death on a cross. On Easter Sunday, Jesus was raised and gave us another chance to live and move and have our being in God and in community with each other. Let’s keep moving and living in God’s name together. I wish you a blessed Holy Week and a happy Easter!
Your brother in Christ,
Joe+
We walk a delicate balance between our every day life filled with all types of man-made stresses and the spiritual promise in Jesus’ message. Easter reminds us that this is a difficult journey. I question if we can emulate Jesus and truly care for our fellow beings as he did. We are not perfect, but we can try to walk in Jesus’ shoes. Bless those who truly try.