Christ is Risen

He is risen indeed! I am struck again by the sounds and colors of our Easter service. The horns and the reds and the flowers, the overall impact of which is powerful. This morning contrasted with last night's Easter vigil is quite stark, last night begins in the dark and springs to light only after we have read through the Old Testament promises, and just when these promises seem most to be lost some one proclaims the good news-Christ is risen. Easter vigil is sort of the first, hopeful, nervous, still trying to believe cry that Jesus may really be alive. If last night is the beginning of the rumors- Christ is risen..., then this morning is the banner headline- He is risen indeed! With the confirmation of this good news, we celebrate, we bring out our best, we have reason to dance again. Easter is our ticker tape parade celebrating the end of a war, our king who was dead is now alive- spread the word!
As a parent I am sorry that my kids are not more enchanted with Easter. The presents are not as good as Christmas, and while the candy is as good as Halloween, Easter's dress up means a tie and nice shoes, not a super hero mask. All Easter really has going for it is Christ. For the first time, this was almost enough for our oldest son who is grappling with all the implications of Jesus' death and resurrection. I continue to pray that it will be enough for me, and on the most grace filled of days it is. I have finally heard the new Switchfoot album, and the second song is worth the price of the whole disc. "American Dream" is everything that has ever been good about the band, with an amazingly insightful, convicting and challenging chorus. It helps to be reminded of our need for death and resurrection, and all the ways we make death look like life and freedom.

Good Friday

This year, for some reason Good Friday really grabbed my attention. I was preaching, and in prayer about it, but I am not sure that was it. Somehow the entire service (combined with the stations of the cross service earlier in the day) was able to express something of the maginitude of the event. I realized how empty our attempts at describing the cross are, and this is why we have to bring everything of who we are to the task. All of our senses, sound, smell, sight, touch (maybe not taste), but everything gets used in the Good Friday service- and it is still lacking. The gap between what's needed and what we can do is precisely what Good Friday service ought to remind us of, and not just mentally, but also existensially somehow. Today we must die.

Maundy Thursday

So, last night was Maundy Thursday, which for our church is the one time a year we wash feet. This of course is coupled with the command of Jesus to love as he has loved. Once again I was struck by how odd it is to wash someone elses feet. The imagery of this event is enough to make it worth while, but to also connect this act of service with the rest of Holy Week is quite powerful. This is our King Jesus (Palm Sunday) serving his followers by giving them bread and wine, and washing their feet (Maundy Thursday) before he agonizes in prayer for them, and ulitmately gives his life for them (Good Friday). Also, our service closes witht the chanting of Psalm 22, the Psalm Jesus will quote from the cross (My God, my God why have you forsaken me), and the stripping of the sanctuary. It is so ominous and looming, it is the perfect way to prepare us for Good Friday. This is really the week where liturgical churches shine, mostly because they practice for this stuff all year long. I have a buddy who often says, "Catholics always seem to do the big services well, weddings, funerals, Easter..." Its no accident, it like making clutch free throws at the end of a game, you make them by being good at making a lot of (seemingly) meaningless free throws along the way. That's my pitch for High Church, follow liturgy, make more free throws.

2-0 and recovery

It is now Wednesday, and Man Weekend has now been finished for almost 12 hours. In the future man weekend will be celebrated away from home, with out the extra pressures of work life, and with other family men. I am now in full recovery mode for today, but our Holy Week services begin tommorrow night at 7pm, so there is much to be done. A few random observations:
1. The Brewers are 2-0 again this year. The first game they looked dominant, and their second game they looked dominant in a different way. This is what I love about baseball, the Brewers are going to have at most 15-20 games like their first win, where they score runs at will and the other team can't get hits. But, if their bullpen holds they could 60-70 wins the way they did this game. Last night they got a lead in the sixth, gave the ball to Matt Wise for the 7th, Derrick Turnbow for the 8th and Francisco Cordero for the 9th. Expect to see a variation on this pattern, over and over again.
2. I am geeked about this coming weekend. I confessed to a college group last night that my two "Holy Weeks" conbined this year to demonstrate my idolatries. This confession is true. How often does it happen that the Final Four, Opening Day, the Masters and the Church's Holy Week all fall in the same seven or eight days? Even given that, I am genuinely excited about the Easter services because Josh (my oldest son) is going to go through them with me. We have been praying, reading and talking about baptism for a few weeks now, and so this week he is going to attend the services with me. It is a joy and an amazement to hear how God is working in him.
3. I am also excited about all the other things this weekend. I also pick Tiger at Augusta, and I win about half the time. This Saturday we get to go chill at some of Abby's cousins, which if the weather holds, is certain to include some Pickle Ball, and we get to see Colette celebrate Easter for real the first time- last year she was to young to really participate with other kids.