Learn Some New Steps

One of the privileges of my role as spiritual leader of a congregation is to invite you into deeper experiences of the Holy Spirit. Often there are rich traditions of the church’s worship that have been forgotten, rejected, or co-opted by one‘side’ or another. Yet millions of people find themselves enriched by reclaiming the old and making it new again.

 Old practices can bless us in fresh ways.

The use of ashes on Ash Wednesday is a key example. Once practiced solely by the Roman Catholic Church, making the sign of the cross with ashes has been reclaimed by the universal church as a powerful witness to the enduring love of God.

Here are three practices -- three steps -- we’re including in observing Holy Week, the final week in Jesus’life. They’ll be offered on Holy Thursday and Good Friday (April 5 & 6).

·         Footwashing is Jesus’ command to his followers in John 13. In John’s gospel it receives far more
attention than the Last Supper itself. Often practiced by the“low church” denominations (Anabaptists, Baptists, Mennonites, Brethren, etc.), footwashing is a powerful experience of devotion to Christ and loving servanthood before others.

·         The Stations of the Cross have been long embraced by the more“high church” wing of Christianity (Roman Catholics, Anglicans, etc.). In our Protestant version it becomes a way for you to walk Jesus’ Good Friday journey in a thoughtful, contemplative way, and at your own pace.

·         Tenebrae is Latin for “shadows.” It has its roots in twelfth-century Christianity as a reflection of the meaning of Jesus’death on a cross. It incorporates music and word, sound and silence, light and darkness into a profound retelling of the crucifixion journey.

The barriers between “low church” and “high church” are coming down. What’s old is new again, especially if it brings us a powerful experience of Jesus Christ.

I hope you’ll find these a nudge beyond your comfort zone. Try something new and old at the same time. I hope these worshipful opportunities will be meaningful "new steps" for you on your faith journey.

Pastor Larry