May 25, 2022
My Dear Friends,
We are about to enter into a “trifecta of worship” in our next three Sundays. This Sunday we will celebrate the Ascension of our Lord. We are reminded in the Nicene Creed that Jesus “suffered death and was buried, rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” Jesus dying and rising is completed by his ascending, all one act of God’s redemption. So in this last Sunday of Easter we celebrate the final act of our Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection—his ascension.
Next Sunday we celebrate Pentecost. Fifty days after Passover is the celebration of the giving of the Law for our Jewish friends. It is on this day that the Spirit was poured out upon many as witnesses to the authority of Christ in heaven upon his followers on earth; it was the law now being written on the heart (Acts 2:16-21; cf. Joel 2:28-32). And the following Sunday we celebrate the mystery of the Trinity, celebrating that all three realities of God have been manifest in human history: creator, redeemer, sustainer. These are glorious days and will require many of the organ stops to be pulled, inspiring our full-throated response to our glorious God.
But there is a problem.
We are not, and have not been, living in a time that speaks of God’s victory, authority, glory, or grandeur. As I write this, parents are learning that the child they sent to elementary school today, will never come home. Some that survived will never see their teacher, their classmate, their sister or brother again. Not such glorious news.
And we could go on about the other reasons to think God’s light has grown dim. To have integrity, our worship, as the scriptures do, must reflect the realities of the world into which God’s love and redemption have been revealed. This is what we learned from praying with the psalms during Lent. For centuries Christians in crisis have offered their honest and earnest prayers to God, all to the end of offering worship to God. But not just to worship God, but to intercede on behalf of the world before God. I invite you to prepare for worship these coming three Sundays, both by laying claim to our promises in God through Christ, as well as taking seriously our role as intercessors. But be an intercessor not just in prayer, but in offering ourselves as expressions of God’s redemption in this world: comforting the sorrowful, advocating for justice, caring for those in need, comforting those in pain, and offering hope to those in despair.
In worship, we are reminded God has not given up on us. In life, might we be reminders to others that we have not given up on God.
Grace and peace to you all,
Pastor Todd
P.S. I heard chuckles when I informed you First Covenant Church was chosen as Seattle’s “Best Place of Worship” by Seattle Awards. Of course, they were validated when you learned we need to pay to actually receive the award!
I thought I ought give you a glimpse of this award which we will never actually have. However noteworthy such recognition might or might not be, it does not diminish the fact the I am privileged to serve such a prize congregation.