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Walking Through Holy Week
We’re about to begin Holy Week, the seven days that lead up to the greatest moment of all, Easter Sunday. To fully embrace the size and scope of Jesus’s victory and its consequences for our salvation, I want to invite you to consider dedicating part of your life next week to paying special attention to Jesus: his words, but most importantly, his actions for us.
There is great spiritual power and benefit simply in watching Jesus, remembering, and believing.
Holy Week is not about scoring bonus points with God through merely attending some extra services or doing a little more Bible reading than usual. No, it’s about giving the gift of our attention and affection to Jesus when it matters most.
Daffodils
Among my favorite plants is the humble daffodil. The daffodil only blooms for a few weeks in early spring, but what they lack in longevity is made up for by boldly being the first real flower to emerge each year. In England, daffodils are known as the “Lent Lily” which is a lovely way of implying the foretaste of resurrection life and color that are right around the corner.
We don’t know if Jesus had a favorite flower, but I like to think that he, too, would’ve had a soft spot for the daffodil.
March Madness
When I say the words “March Madness,” most of us immediately think of the wall-to-wall NCAA basketball games that commenced yesterday. I really do hope your bracket does well!
But, I’m not here to write about basketball today.
Fresh off completing the Alpha Marriage Course with my wife, Sarah, I’m thinking of a different kind of march and a different kind of madness – the kind of madness that depends on sticking with the same person and relationship for a “long march in the same direction.”* Basically, I want to champion long-term marriage as a more gracious form of March Madness.
Signs of Life
It might hit 75-degrees in Chicago today and spring is suddenly in the air!
While I love this time of year – the smell of the earth, the sudden appearance of green and growing things – it often corresponds with the season of Lent on the church calendar.
Nature’s new life and Jesus’ journey to the cross might seem to be ill-suited companions.
However, even as Jesus walked courageously toward Jerusalem – fully knowing what was in store for him there – signs of goodness, life, and healing kept breaking out around him nonetheless.
Cellos for Lent
On my birthday, way back in the “B.C.” era (Before COVID) of 2019, I had the pleasure of listening to the world’s foremost cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, play a free concert at Millennium Park in Chicago. Millennium Park claims a capacity of 11,000 people. Some estimates of the number of people gathered inside — and outside — the park’s borders were double that. Why did so many Chicagoans turn up for some cello music?
Four Eyes
At my elementary school, there was a special chant reserved to honor the kids that wore glasses. It went like this: Four eyes! Four Eyes! Scottie is a geek - he’s a four-eyed freak!
It could be conveniently altered to fit any name. The tune was a real ear worm, as well.
No doubt, this little chant would be just cause for being written up for bullying these days, but our teachers routinely let us get away with this kind of stuff in the olden days. Somehow we all survived and even emerged as friends.