Here we are.
          Palm Sunday is behind us …
                   that glorious hosanna, music and laughter,
the waving of palm branches day
                                      when Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem.

Here we are.
          Good Friday is ahead of us …
                   that tragic, brutal, miserable, man’s-inhumanity-to-man day
                             when Jesus, God’s one convincing miracle,
                                      was put to death.
                                                And we can call it Good Friday because
                                                          “we carry with us
the knowledge that in Him,
    all of our crucifixions
    are but resurrections unborn.”

Here we are.
          Easter Sunday is ahead of us …
                   that miracle , life-changing ,
                             raised from death to life, resurrection day …
                                      that Love won, Love always wins day!

Here we are.

Throughout these Lenten days, those who have spoken
have wrapped their thoughts around a beautiful Celtic prayer
that has both challenged us and encouraged us.

May the Christ who walks on wounded feet walk the road with you
was a reminder that whatever road we travel …
and wherever that road takes us …
the Christ   who loves us journeys with us.
May the Christ who serves with wounded hands stretch out your hands to serve
was a reminder that our hands are to be open to others …
open in welcome, open in friendship,
and open, above all,
to lift, and help, and meet their needs.

May the Christ who loves with a wounded heart open your hearts to love
was a reminder that it is love that defines us,
and we show our love for God best when we love each other.

May you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet
was a reminder that the God who so loved the world loves everyone …
that the Jesus who lived and died and lives today for us
lived and died and lives today for everyone …
that we are to see in the faces of the loveable and the unlovable,
the saints and the sinners,
the found and the lost,
the face of Christ.
“It is the discovery in each human being
of that which is lovable in him or her,
of that which is from God.”

As tough as it is, “Christian love is the ‘possible impossibility’
to see Christ in another person, whoever he or she is
whom God has introduced into our lives. ”

And May everyone you meet see the face of Christ in you
was a reminder, as Martin Luther put it,
“to become a Christ to our neighbour
and be for our neighbour what Christ is for us” …
a reminder that we are called to live in such a way
that when people look at us, they will see the Christ in us …
that when people look at us
we will be windows through which Christ’s light shines.

 

That Celtic prayer, in many ways,
is an affirmation of the faith we claim
and the way we will express that faith …
it is a statement of who Christ is for us
and who we will be because of him.

In many ways it expresses the faith that Paul possessed.

Paul wrote:
“I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Paul also wrote:
“The only thing that counts
is faith expressing itself through love.”

But to be honest with you, none of this is easy.
Still, this is the high calling to which we have been called.

None of this is easy.
Yet unless we strive to live this way …
unless we strive to love this way …
the world will end, as T.S. Eliot wrote,
“not with a bang, but with a whimper.”

How can we possibly move to such a place?
How can we possibly become such a people?
How can we make this “possible impossibility” real?
With all of our best intentions, and all of our failed attempts?
With all of the good we want to do and be,
knowing how hard it is to do and be just that?
With all of our should have, could have, would have?
How can we?
If “Prayer is
a song
we all can sing
and a light
that the blind can see …”
if “prayer is
a gift
that the poor may bring however poor they be …”
if “prayer is
a star
that lights the way for those who are in despair …”
and if
“when your heart kneels down to pray
God will hear your prayer “ …
maybe what we’d best do
is find that quiet place,
“near to the heart of God” …
“a place where we our Saviour meet” …
and “be still, and know that God is God” …
and in that quiet stillness
talk to God …
and listen to God.

Maybe in that place of quiet stillness of talking and listening
we need
to yield our wills to God’s will,
as clay yields itself to the hands of the potter …
as a sail yields itself to the wind.

 

 

 

 

Maybe, in that place of quiet stillness
we need
to give over to God
all of the baggage and garbage of our lives,
all of the things that have hurt us or blinded us or hardened us
and ask the God of second chances and new beginnings
not only to forgive us
but also to empower us
to live in the manner of the One whose name we claim as Christians.

Maybe, in that place of quiet stillness
we need
to stop making excuses
and take ownership of the things that need to be changed within us,
and change them.

Maybe, in that place of quiet stillness
we need
to pray as though everything depended on God  -  which it does
and then to act as though everything depended on us – which it does.

Maybe, in that place of quiet stillness
we need
to pray the words attributed to St. Patrick,
pray them from a broken and contrite heart …
pray them that we might see the face of Christ in everyone we meet …
pray them that everyone we meet might see the face of Christ in us …
and then strive with every ounce of faith and courage
to become that for which we pray:

 

 

 

 

Christ be with me
as I walk the road.
Christ within me
as I meet friend and stranger.
Christ behind me
when I am tempted to turn back.
Christ before me
when I am uncertain of the way.
Christ beside me
that I might know I am not alone.
Christ to win me
that I might claim his matchless love.
Christ to comfort and restore me
that I might know the grace of God, always,
and truly become the person God would have me be.

And maybe then, when God’s will is done, God’s kingdom will come.

SOLI  DEO  GLORIA

SCRIPTURE

The Psalmist wrote:
“Be still, and know that I am God.”

Paul wrote:
“I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Paul also wrote:
“The only thing that counts
is faith expressing itself through love.”