We\u2019re about to head into the biggest weekend of the year at the Chapel of the Resurrection. It\u2019s the celebration of the history-making event from which the Chapel gets its name: the resurrection of Jesus on the first Easter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like any great three day weekend, we get started the night before with Maundy Thursday, a name that is related to the word \u201cmandate\u201d and references Jesus\u2019 mandate that his followers love one another they have been loved by him<\/a>. At our 7 p.m. service<\/strong> at the Chapel, we\u2019ll celebrate the love that Jesus offers and then we\u2019ll begin to act on it by providing those in attendance with an opportunity to have their feet washed, just as Jesus \u2013 in an act of counter-cultural selfless service \u2013 washed his own followers\u2019 feet. Yet, Jesus\u2019 self-sacrifice doesn\u2019t end there. The service will conclude with our remembrance of Jesus\u2019 arrest and complete abandonment. The Chapel will be in total darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a three day weekend, but things are about to get heavy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Friday is called \u201cGood\u201d because the day centers on Jesus\u2019 willing sacrifice for all of humanity and the whole creation through his complete humiliation and shameful death on a criminal\u2019s cross. Crucifixion was a complete humiliation. The goal was to strip every shred of dignity from the accused<\/a>. Jesus willingly takes on this shame as his own. His intention is to take on your shame (for whatever you might be ashamed) as his own as well. By the end of our service that starts at noon<\/strong> (Jesus was hung on the cross at noonday) we\u2019ll be singing our praises to the cross because it is the instrument by which Jesus takes our shame away from us. So we call the day \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Biblical accounts of the crucifixion tell us that after Jesus died, some of his followers asked to take his body so that they might give it a decent burial, they do this before sundown on Friday. It would seem that the story of Jesus has come to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God\u2019s stories never end in death.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n On Saturday night beginning at 8 p.m<\/strong>, we\u2019ll gather at the Chapel to light a fire in the darkness, then we\u2019ll light a new candle from that fire and carry it into the small lower chapel, called Gloria Christi, and in the semi-darkness, we\u2019ll share stories from the Bible, like the Great Flood<\/a>, the Exodus<\/a> and the Three Men in the Furnace<\/a>, that show how God has always pulled life out of death. We\u2019ll introduce a new believer into the death defying action of God through the gift of Holy Baptism and then we\u2019ll announce the news again, that Jesus was not held by that tomb but has been raised and is alive today and we\u2019ll gather for the Lord\u2019s Supper to celebrate the presence of the risen Jesus among his people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Sunday morning at 10 a.m.<\/strong>, we\u2019ll gather again. A celebration like this lasts all weekend long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re welcome to join in any part of this weekend. You\u2019re especially invited if you\u2019ve never been before, especially if you don\u2019t really understand what\u2019s going on, especially if you\u2019re not sure that you believe any of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God never waits for us to have it all figured out before the gifts of life are given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peace be with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pr. Jim<\/p>\n\n\n\n March 28, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n