Holy Week plans and more!
Today Jon and I are celebrating thirty three years of marriage. I still remember vividly the year that I had been married longer than I existed before marriage. It was a strange thing to consider that my formative years were shorter than my adult years and my commitment to Jon.
I think our lives before and after knowing Jesus can be measured in the same way. The number of years before I encountered Jesus are so few compared to how many years I have tried to walk in his path as a disciple and follower. Some of those years, I was more faithful than others. A few of those years, I was so mad at God that I refused to enter a church. But I never stopped believing that God existed, just that I didn’t want anything to do with a God “like that.” As I learned and grew in my theological understanding, I realized that my theology about how God worked was very centered on me, not God. And gradually I grew in my understanding and let go of my need to know everything. My faith has had seasons and journeys that have shaped me, pushed me and forced me in directions that I didn’t necessarily want to go. Typically, when I felt the most alone was the seasons in which I was tuned in to God the most. Maybe because I had fewer distractions?
As we approach the season of Easter, I want to invite you to focus on things other than the distractions of cultural expectations. We are inviting you to opportunities for worship that are not typical but are much more like the ministry of Jesus. Palm Sunday worship will be a beautiful blessing with our children leading the palm processional and singing in both worship services. Then instead of being inside the church, we will be gathered for a meal on Maundy Thursday with our neighbors who are most vulnerable under a bridge downtown. We have paid for all the food and drink for Night Light Tulsa that day and we will be serving. We also hope to model Jesus with a station for foot washing and passing out clean socks. We will end the night offering communion with everyone who wishes to join us in this Holy remembrance.
On Good Friday, I plan to attend the “Greenwood Walk to the Cross” at Noon at 322 North Greenwood. This half mile walk will include prayers, music, scripture and written historical reflection centered on the 1921 race massacre. This is a community sponsored event and you are invited to join me. Let me know if you want to come to the church and ride down with me.
Then at 7 pm we will have our Good Friday worship service here at Faith. It is a powerful and moving service. I invite you to wear black as we remember the death that led to the resurrection.
This weekend is crazy busy. Saturday morning, I will be bringing the donuts for the All Church Spring cleaning work day. I am buying some flats of flowers that I hope we can put in the ground that day. It’s always a lot of fun as we work together to make the church nice. Then on Sunday afternoon at 4 pm, we have the Town Hall to introduce the SAS model of administrative leadership to the congregation. And a 5 pm we get to hear from our mission team as we celebrate together the work they have done for Jesus and the kingdom.
See you soon,
