Newsletter April 2014

As we come to Holy Week this month (April 13-20) we commemorate the events that are at the very heart of our faith.  On Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday we remember those events that called us to the faith and secured our salvation.  There is no other week in the whole year like Holy Week.  It is truly a sacred time for all Christians.

In 1^st Corinthians 15:3 St. Paul wrote, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.”  We have an echo of these words in the communion liturgy when we say, “Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  Christ will come again.”  This is the heart of our faith in three short sentences.

At times we Christians may get caught up in other aspects of our faith and tradition, or even go off looking for a new emphasis in an attempt to woo the next generation.  There are plenty of good things and worthy causes to engage the mind and heart of a believer in Christ, but they should never be allowed to overshadow the central tenet of our faith or crowd out the central event that we remember during Holy Week.  We should always strive to remember what is at the core of our faith and what is of second or third or even lesser importance.

In the first chapter of First Corinthians, St. Paul faced a situation in Corinth where other things overshadowed the centrality of the cross, and he responded with this ringing affirmation in verse 22 “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, but Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”   And then he went on in the 2^nd verse of the 2^nd chapter to say, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 

St. Paul was a wise man with strong opinions on a variety of topics.  In the rest of this epistle he teaches boldly about the issues of concern to the church in Corinth including marriage (chapter 7), lawsuits (chapter 6), spiritual gifts (chapter 12), and so on.  At times he spoke for the Lord (1:10 & 11:23) and at other times he was less sure of himself and give his personal opinion (7:12), an opinion which was ratified by being included in sacred scripture.  Yet at both the beginning of this letter and again at the end he emphasized that which is “of first importance” that Christ died for us and on the third day rose again.

But it is not only during this one week of the year that the cross is at center of our thoughts, for every celebration of Holy Communion brings this central event to the fore.  Not only do we hear the words “the Body of Christ given for you” and “the Blood of Christ shed for you” when eat and drink, but in 1^st Corinthians 11:26 St. Paul says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”  So each and every celebration of Holy Communion is a time when that central truth of our faith is proclaimed, even if it is during the Easter season, or during the harvest season, or Christmas Eve.  Whatever the season and whatever the mood of the service, there it is again: “Christ died for you.”

So as Lent culminates in Holy Week in the middle of this month, let this be a time when we all meditate the profound and moving events that are also the culmination of each of the four gospels.  Everything in those gospels can be considered as prologue to the cross and the empty tomb.  May our faith be centered on the death and resurrection of Christ and on nothing else, and then blossom in all the ways we live out our faith from day to day.

Beneath the cross of Jesus I long to take my stand

The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land,

A home within a wilderness, a rest upon the way,

From the burning of the noontide heat

and the burdens of the day.

Upon the cross of Jesus, my eye at times can see

The very dying form of one

who suffered there for me.

And from my contrite heart, with tears

two wonders I confess:

The wonder of his glorious love

and my unworthiness.

I take, O Cross, your shadow

for my abiding place.

I ask no other sunshine than

the sunshine of his face.

Content to let the world go by

to know no gain nor loss,

My sinful self my only shame,

                       my glory all the cross.    (ELW #338)