A Time for Renewal – Preparation Day

“Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to the decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.”
– Luke 23:50-54

by Ben Gibson (originally written in 2019)

Do not pass Holy Saturday without a second thought.

What did Mary and the disciples feel when Jesus was on the cross? What did Joseph of Arimathea feel as he peeled the bloodied and lifeless corpse down from the tree? It could not have been deep feelings of gratitude. They were not sitting around thinking: ‘Golly, I sure feel justified now. I’m so glad Jesus just took care of my sins and such.’

Instead there was a deep and real despair, along with a re-entering into the daily routine. Joseph knew the Sabbath was about to start and he had to get Jesus down and placed in the tomb before it did or else he would be ceremonially unclean. Had he or the disciples known what was going to happen, the Resurrection on the third day would not have been nearly as glorious.

Lament and complaint to God is a needed and natural response. To simply say it will all get better is to ignore the reality of sin and pain that we know from experience are the realities we face on a daily basis.

So do not pass Holy Saturday without a second thought.

Take time to mourn. Take time to lament. Give yourself the time and space to sit in discomfort. The disciples took time to be in that space. Christ himself took time to dwell in that space. The pain and sin we face are real. Take time to let that sink in before the coming morn establishes a new reality.

A Time for Renewal – From Creche to the Cross

The whole of Christ’s life was a continual passion;
others die martyrs, but Christ was born a martyr.

He found a Golgotha, where he was crucified, even in Bethlehem, where he was born;
for to his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after,
and the manger as uneasy at first as the cross at last.

His birth and his death were but one continual act,
and his Christmas Day and his Good Friday are
but the evening and the morning of one and the same day.
From the creche to the cross is an inseparable line.

Christmas only points forward to Good Friday and Easter.
It can have no meaning apart from that, where the Son of God displayed his glory by his death.
~opening words by John Donne in his sermon on Christmas Day 1626

I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the one Nietzsche ridiculed as “God on the Cross.” In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us.
~John Stott from The Cross of Christ

Maundy Thursday – Come to Jesus

by Noa Lovegren

I wrote this poem a little over a year ago, as I watched my grandmother slowly die. I had never seen death this close. The fear and agony of it all was much more shocking than I had ever experienced. The fierce battle that seemed to be raging behind her closed eyes and slow breaths left a deep impression on me.

Death itself is a battle and one that requires immense effort and strength. It is the ultimate refiner’s fire. However, the best news is that this fire is refining. We do not burn into nothingness, but are only renewed, until one day, raised to a glorious new reality, we are made new permanently.

“We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised, imperishable, and we shall
be changed…O death where is your sting?” (I Cor 15:52ff)

I’m going to see my Savior
He’ll never leave my side
‘Midst danger, grief, and toil
In Him will I abide.

Fighting, fighting, fighting,
Facing every foe.
Walking, walking, walking ,
Till He calls me Home.

My Shepherd calls me homeward
Tho’ Death Valley is so grim
My purpose never alters
I labor unto Him.

Fighting, fighting, fighting,
Facing every foe.
Walking, walking, walking,
Till He calls me Home.

I’ve reached the Jordan River
I see the Kingdom’s shore,
It’s just beyond those breakers,
Then death shall be no more.

Fighting, fighting, fighting,
Facing every foe,
Walking, walking, walking,
Till He calls me Home.

I’ve gone to see my Savior
I’m clothed in robes pure white
His righteousness, my crown,
His service, my delight.

Praising, praising, praising,
He vanquished every foe
Resting, resting, resting,
He has brought me Home.

A Time for Renewal – From the Lips of Children

“Do you hear what these children are saying?” [the chief priests and teachers of the law] asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?”
Matthew 21:16

by Emily Gibson

Children have a gift of getting to the heart of the matter.   The children in the temple during Holy Week continued to shout and praise Jesus’ name, shouting “Hosanna!”  just as they had done on the road to Jerusalem on Sunday.  For them, the triumph was not over.  The children continued to celebrate when the adults around them were losing momentum in their faith.

The grumbling of the chief priests and teachers of the law about the noisy children is met with a response from Jesus that is a reminder of what they know all too well themselves from reading the Psalms–praise from the children is actually prescribed by God and is therefore made holy.

I’m reminded of this every Sunday when I play piano for the Sunday School singing time for the children at the Chapel.  For over thirty years now I’ve watched a generation of Wiser Lake Chapel children, including my own three, grow up in that church basement, singing the same praise and worship songs from the time they sit as toddlers on a bigger sibling’s lap, to the point when they “graduate” to the high school class.  Some of those children have now become the Sunday School teachers, with their own children sitting in the very chairs they sat in such a short time ago.  There is nothing more invigorating than hearing children singing energetically with joy, knowing that God Himself has ordained their voices should be lifted up in praise.

So on this sad and lonely week that marches inexorably to Friday, to Golgotha, to suffering and death, the unwelcome shouts and songs of the children must have been soothing balm to Jesus’ soul.  The children knew His heart when the adults around Him were too blind to see and too deaf to hear.

A Time for Renewal – An Old New Home

by Nate Gibson

Last summer, my wife and I, and our two young children packed up and moved from our home in Tokyo, Japan, across the Pacific, to a new home in Whatcom County.  At least, it was a new home to my wife and children–for me, it was an old home.

For four months, the old-new-home was with my parents in the house that I’d lived in from third grade until I left for college.  Then, in November, we moved into an even older-new-home just down the road: the house I’d grown up in from the day I was born until the third grade.  

Those months of living with my parents were spent awaiting some basic refurbishments on our house–at 50 years old, with its original siding, windows, and shag carpeting, the house stood in dire need of an update.  

As of this writing, we have been in our house for nearly five months, and it has been surreal at times.  I hadn’t set foot in the house in more than two decades, yet between home movies, memories, and dreams, it remained so familiar to me over the years.  While the moments of déjà vu are plentiful, the refurbishments, different furniture, a family of my own, and the passage of nearly 30 years serve as a constant reminder that I haven’t simply stepped back in time.  It’s the same house, and yet renewed and restored.  

I have a greater appreciation now for the closing moments of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis , in which Aslan leads the “Friends of Narnia” “further up and further in” to the True Narnia–very much the same as the Narnia they had known, but infinitely bigger and infinitely better.  

Perhaps this provides a glimmer of what the New Earth will look like in relation to the earth we currently inhabit.  We know that Christ’s victory on the cross decided the outcome in the war against sin and death; we know that just as we are being made new, so too will the earth be made new.  

The book of Revelation closes with a neat parallel to the creation account in Genesis, as John describes his vision of the Tree of Life in the New Earth.  Yet Revelation does not end with a carbon copy of the first chapters of Genesis–there will be multiple Trees of Life which will line the “river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city” (Rev. 22:1-2).  The Bible begins in a garden, and ends in a city–restoration does not mean that the earth will be returned to “factory settings”, but rather that all of human development, including cities, will be made new under God’s dominion. 

In this life, it is easy to struggle with exactly how attached we allow ourselves to become to the world we live in. Evidence of darkness and brokenness is all around us; so are God’s fingerprints.  Yet, we need not despair–Christ is victorious; darkness and brokenness have an expiration date!  The siding will be replaced, the shag carpeting stripped away, all that is broken will be fixed, and all that is beautiful will be bigger, better, truer.  

Lord, haste the day when we shall hear that call “further up and further in”!

A Time for Renewal – Dayspring

“Through the tender mercy of our God . . .
the dayspring from on high has visited us,
to give light to them that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death” – Luke 1:78-79

by Pastor Bert Hitchcock (originally written April 2019)

“Dayspring” is a quaint, old-timey word which really simply means “dawn” or “sunrise.” What an interesting name for Jesus.

Many of us seldom see the sunrise – especially this time of year. But for others – those who work the night shift, farmers up doing chores before first light, or soldiers standing guard through a long, creepy night – the dawn is a most welcome sight. Everything changes when the sun comes up. It brings warmth from the cold; breadth of understanding for we can see what’s around us; and often, unspeakable beauty spread across the sky. No wonder sunrise is many people’s favorite time of the day.

So, when the old Jewish priest Zechariah was told by an angel that he would have a son (John the Baptist), he sees in that announcement an even greater good news. If God was giving him a son as a forerunner; that meant the full sunrise of God’s plan was about to dawn. Actually, Zechariah didn’t make this up; he was referring to God’s ancient promise
of a Messiah, given through Isaiah:

“The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light; on those living
in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.” – Isaiah 9:2

And Jesus’ coming has proven to be nothing less than a new dawn: suddenly, the Old Testament prophecies make more sense; God’s unfolding plans are more obvious, and the beauty of God’s grace suddenly shines everywhere. Suddenly there is hope where there was only despair; understanding where confusion had reigned; and good news of God’s grace that eclipses all the rigors of the law. Surely a new dawn has come, for Jesus, the Light of the World, has dawned upon those sitting in darkness and despair.

May you feel the warmth and see the beauty of God’s Sunrise, during these days of Holy Week.

A Time for Renewal – Thorn-Cursed Ground

Facing a week where thorns are more prevalent than blossoms~~

We must remember what He did that week long ago
to conquer the shroud and the stone
makes all the difference
for us all.

This week ends our living for self only to die,
and begins our dying to self in order to live.

Seems the sorrow untold, as you look down the road
At the clamoring crowd drawing near
Feel the heat of the day, as you look down the way
Hear the shouts of Hosanna the King

Chorus
Oh, daughter of Zion your time’s drawing near
Don’t forsake Him, oh don’t pass it by
On the foal of a donkey as the prophets had said
Passing by you, He rides on to die

Come now little foal, though you’re not very old
Come and bear your first burden bravely
Walk so softly upon all the coats and the palms
Bare the One on your back oh so gently

Midst the shouting so loud and the joy of the crowd
There is One who is riding in silence
For He knows the ones here will be fleeing in fear
When their shepherd is taken away

Soon the thorn cursed ground will bring forth a crown
And this Jesus will seem to be beaten
But He’ll conquer alone both the shroud and the stone
And the prophesies will be completed
On the foal of a donkey as the prophets had said
Passing by you He rides on to die
~Michael Card

A Time for Renewal – If We Only Knew

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
Luke 19:41-44

We have come again to Passiontide, and again we must collect our thoughts that we may understand what it means…
Jesus knows what that means. 
It means debasement, revilement, persecution. 
It means being misunderstood. 
It means hatred, death, the cross.
And he chooses this way from the very outset. 
It is the way of obedience and the way of freedom, for it is the way of God…
And we are going with him, as individuals and as the church.
We are the church beneath the cross, that is, in disguise. 
Yet here as well, all we can do is realize that our kingdom, too, is not of this world.
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

by Emily Gibson

Jesus is reported to have wept only twice in the gospels.  When informed His friend Lazarus was dead, He weeps in response to the grief and lack of faith demonstrated by friends and family even though they knew Jesus’ power to heal and restore.  The second time was on this day, Palm Sunday, as triumphantly He approaches Jerusalem and stops, looks down upon the city, knowing what lay ahead.   This time the stakes were not the loss of one life, but the loss of an entire city due to the unbelief and lack of faith of its people.

Indeed, Jerusalem, still torn between factions, faiths and fanatics, has not really known peace ever since.

I am struck by the compassion shown in those tears.  These are not tears of self-pity, nor anticipation of His own imminent personal suffering, but tears shed over the continued blindness of mankind.  They expected the militant entrance of a victorious king, so were unaware their salvation rode into their midst on a donkey’s colt.

Those sacred tears were never for Himself, but for us. 
Human tears rolling down the face of God–
Divine tears washing the face of man.

Peace no longer is hidden from us.   Now we know.

A Time for Renewal – A True and Better Adam

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15: 21-22

Adam – Was created while Jesus Christ – is the Creator

Adam – Wanted to become like God while Jesus Christ – became a man

Adam – Believed a lie while Jesus Christ – is the Truth

Adam – Disobeyed while Jesus Christ – obeyed

Adam – Brought death to the living while Jesus Christ – brought life to the dying

Adam – Was sent away while Jesus Christ – was sent to pay.

(Source unknown)

Below is from a sermon by Pastor Tim Keller, formerly of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City:

Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.

The Bible’s really not about you—it’s about him.

A Time for Renewal – She Did What She Could

The Anointing by Artist Daniel Gerhartz

by Emily Gibson

She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.
Mark 14:8-9

We naturally wonder if our actions on this earth are pleasing to God, though we believe our faith, rather than than the good works we do, is the key to salvation.   Jesus’ response to Mary of Bethany’s anointing of His feet the day before He enters Jerusalem is provocative on a number of levels.  However, this story parallels the Passion week to come:

Mary acts out of faith even when she confronts a painful reality–she acknowledges Jesus’ predictions of His death and burial–she believes what His disciples refused to hear.

Jesus prays a few days later to have the reality of suffering lifted from Him, but in obedience, He perseveres out of faith and love for the Father.

Mary acts out of her steadfast love for the Master–she is showing single-minded devotion in the face of criticism from the disciples.

Jesus, on the cross,  shows forgiveness and love even to the men who deride and execute Him.

Mary acts out of significant personal sacrifice–pouring costly perfume worth a full year’s wages–showing her commitment to Christ.

Jesus willingly gives the ultimate sacrifice of Himself–there is no higher price to pay.

Mary responds to His need–she recognizes that this moment is her opportunity to anoint the living Christ, and His response clearly shows He is deeply moved by her action.

Jesus, as man Himself, recognizes humanity’s need to be saved, and places Himself in our place. We must respond, incredulous,  with gratitude.

Jesus tells Mary of Bethany (and us),  in response to the disciples’ rebukes, that it is her action that will be told and remembered.   She did what she could at that moment to ease His distress at what He would soon confront.  She did what she could for Him–humbly, beautifully, simply, sacrificially–and He is so grateful that He Himself washes the feet of His disciples a few days later in a personal act of devotion and servanthood.

And today we remember this Mary as the harbinger of His suffering and death, just as He said we would. 

She did what she could, as should we.