Lift High the Cross...

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed--Alleluia!! What a joy these words are to hear pronounced at the beginning of each year's Easter service--there is something so unbelievably powerful about those 8 words that causes me to never tire of hearing them or proclaiming them with those worshiping around me. Christ is Risen! We serve a risen Lord! I love Christmas time, I really do, but there is something about the season of Lent that speaks so powerfully to me. When I was at Bethany, even if one chose not to fast from something in their personal lives, it was a season that was impossible to ignore. The purple alter cloths draped the communion table, the worship service takes on a more somber tone, communion is served each week as we remember Christ's death & the broken body of the new covenant, and if you ask any kid in the congregation what the season of Lent is for, you will be told that Lent, like Advent, is the time of year when purple comes out in the church and each one of them knows that purple means we are all waiting for something. They know that in December we put the purple out to remind ourselves that we’re waiting for Jesus to be born and then to come again, and during Lent we put the purple out to remind ourselves that we are waiting for Jesus to die and then rise again on Easter.

I had the joy of getting to celebrate Maundy Thursday here in Burbank at a wonderful communion service remembering the Lord’s Supper, his crucifixion, and his death. Each year as we leave the church in darkness and silence I find myself wanting to rush through the next two days til Sunday morning, but I realize that if we ignore those two days we miss a HUGE piece of our faith. They make Easter so much more joyful—it’s an amazing day even when it stands by itself, yet when one experiences the entire season of Lent, and one pauses at the foot of the cross for two days, walking into church on Sunday morning to see the purple gone—the waiting is over!—is an incredible experience. The white linens drape the pulpit and communion table, Easter lilies are lined up on window sills and the alter steps, and the silence of Thursday night is replaced by joyful organ preludes and trumpet voluntaries. The lyrics of “Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim” and “Christ the Lord is risen today…” resound throughout the sanctuary as people lift their hands and heart to our risen Lord.

Join me in celebrating…
Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!