Liturgical Calendar - Jeremiah's Vow

Lent 2023 | Day 05: The Gospel’s Purpose

In the previous post, we looked at the Gospel’s Focus. That the good news of Jesus Christ is found in his death, burial, and resurrection. And by this, the problem of sin is dealt with. Sin is the obstacle that prevents me from having a relationship with God. Therefore, if this issue is not resolved, then I am unable to reestablish any fellowship with God. I do not have the ability to live according to the righteousness God requires in my own strength.

The Gospel’s Purpose Restablishes Fellowship

This latter reality is the Gospel’s Purpose: To reestablish fellowship between human beings and God.

The Gospel addresses the issue of sin so that I might have fellowship with God. That is why the Gospel exists, must be proclaimed, and ultimately believed. Every single one of us needs to have fellowship with God. In that fellowship, we can finally discover our purpose and live in peace. Without that fellowship, we flounder trying to determine why exist.

Of the many reasons we struggle in life, our limited knowledge and wisdom create the greatest challenges. When we try and make decisions, chart a course for living, or simply try to communicate with others, we are limited by what we know. And potentially harmed by what we don’t. The difference between these two is not always felt. But the risk is always present.

Decisionmaking in the Dark

So often in life, we make decisions and choices in the dark. We really don’t know what we should do next. No matter how hard we try. We try to mitigate the mistakes we make. But that only works when we have a sense of the scope of the consequences. And again, most times we simply do not.

In reality, we are just doing the best we can. And there is nothing inherently wrong with this.

But what if we could consult with someone who knew what was coming? What if we could seek the wisdom of someone who had “seen in all before”? How would that change how we live?

I think it would reduce the anxiety many of us feel when trying to make sense of the world. Having someone who can warn us of danger and redirect our steps would save us a lot of heartaches.

However, what tends to happen is we dismiss this possibility when it comes to God. We have been trained to believe this is wishful thinking. That to trust in God is to rely on whims of fancy. But, who else can we trust?

The Gospel Addresses the Fundamental Problem

The Gospel speaks to the critical issue hindering us in life. We are not perfect. In every case we can imagine, we are deeply flawed. Sometimes bemused by our own decisions. At other times because of the decisions and actions of others. Regardless of the reason, the truth remains the same, we are all looking for something that will make life easier. Or at the very minimum, more tolerable.

Why then does faith in God get dismissed? Could it be because we inherently know that our fellowship had been broken? That there is something that must happen in order to re-enter the conversation with God?

It may be difficult for some to see this, but I think this is more the truth of the situation than many are ready to admit. We all instinctively recognize that if we are flawed beings there should be at least one being marked by utter perfection. It only makes sense. And yet, when offered an opportunity to explore the possibility of having a relationship with such a being, it is cast aside.

This is truly a remarkable set of circumstances.

The Gospel Speaks to our Deep Longing

So, what does this have to do with the Gospel’s purpose? Namely this: if one of the greatest longings of the human soul is to find perfection, then why do we balk at the idea of that perfection being found in God?

If God exists, he would have standards. And those standards would be far more demanding than any we could think up. And this is the reality that the Gospel posits.

God exists. And God has standards. But he has also provided a way of resolving the problem. We have to trust in the method and means God has provided for the restoration of fellowship.

God is not asking us to pay for the reason the rupture in fellowship exists. That is not God’s demand or expectation.

What God asks of us is to accept the way he has provided to reestablish fellowship.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | The First Sunday in Lent

The Collect

O Lord, who for our sake did fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being submitted to the Spirit we may ever obey your godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to your honor and glory, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.¹

The Lessons

Psalm: Ps. 91

O. T.: Gen. 3:1-21

Epistle: 2 Cor. 6:1-10

Gospel: Matt. 4:1-11

Meditation

Lent 2023 Series

Collect and Lessons are from the Book of Prayer and Order (2020). [↩]

Lent 2023 | Day 4: The Gospel’s Focus

The Gospel is Simple

As the years have passed by, I have reflected more and more on what the Gospel is and what it is the answer to. The Gospel is a response to a specific issue in the God-human relationship. There are other things that could be discussed about the Christian faith, but those should be brought up after the Gospel has been shared and accepted. To do it earlier would confuse what the Gospel is and why it is needed. (A problem quite common in our day.)

Too often we think that all the content and ideas that we now know as part of the body of knowledge of the Christian faith must be also received and accepted in order to share the Gospel. This is not correct. All of the theology and concepts that make up orthodox belief are learned after faith in Christ. A faith in Christ that is initiated through an acceptance of the Gospel’s call to repentance.

The Question the Gospel Answers

So, what is the focus of the Gospel? It is to pinpoint the issue that is keeping any person from having a relationship with God.

And what is that issue? It is our sin.

The Gospel is God’s answer to the question of what is keeping me separated from God.

That’s it. The Gospel is not answering any questions about theological quandaries, social problems, or any other questions we might have about life in this world.

The Gospel tells us what needs to be addressed and how God has chosen to address that issue.

We Must Know the Gospel

Several weeks ago I spoke on the theme that would be the focus of this year. Our theme, like this series of reflections, is on knowing the Gospel. In order to be effective disciples we must become experts in the message that saves. If we are not, then we will be unable to effectively engage with the world around us.

Any deficiency in our understanding of the Gospel will find its way into how we think about God, ourselves, and others. When we do not have a firm grasp of what the Gospel is about, we can make it about almost anything. This is a danger to all involved.

It may not appear to be so, but the temptation to “help” the Gospel will increase over time. The singular problem with this drift is it reveals a presumption we have. It is the belief that we know how to best communicate to others what God has perfectly designed.

There are two specific effects of sin that the Gospel addresses as it answers the question of sin. We will look at them now.

Our Identity was contaminated

The first effect is that our identity was completely scrambled by sin. When Adam and Eve accepted the serpent’s version of what God had said, they lost their identity. They were made in the image of God. That means they were reflections of God, not copies of God.

Humanity is not, and was never supposed to be, gods. But, by accepting the serpent’s false promise they have up what they were. They were guardians and stewards of God’s creation. Entrusted with its care and authorized to enjoy its fruits. But when they accepted the possibility of being like God they could no longer enjoy the task they had been assigned.

And ever since then, we have been trying to refashion ourselves as if we were God. This is not only an impossible feat, it is a prospect only a fool would entertain.

Fellowship with others became adversarial

The second effect of sin is that our relationships with others became adversarial. We were not in competition with those around us.

We see this when Adam and Eve both blame someone else for their sin. But we also see it in what happened to the first sons born outside of the Garden. The older, out of jealousy, killed his brother. And then pretended not to know that he was in fact responsible to look out for his brother.

Both of these effects are the consequence of sin. And both of these are answered by the entrance of Jesus into the world. Through his life and example, Jesus begins to show us what a world without sin looks like. But he does it amongst sinners. Giving us hope that we too can someday, somehow do it as well.

Conclusion

The Gospel is God’s answer to the issue of sin. This is the focus of the message we have believed.

Everything else is what we learn as we continue to be thankful for God’s grace in Jesus.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | Day 3: The Gospel’s Need

The need of the Gospel is that we must find a way to have that relationship restored. However, we are not in a position to make that happen.

In order to understand why we need the Gospel we have to appreciate what was lost. The need for the Gospel is that we, those with broken fellowship with God, must find a way to have that relationship restored. However, we are not in a position to make that happen. We also do not have the authority to do it.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us needing someone or something that has both the authority and the ability to change the situation.

This is where the Gospel comes in. The Gospel is the remedy we need, but may not always fully appreciate. I can say that without a doubt in my own life.

Growing up Christian is Not Enough

I’ve been a Christian my entire life. There has never been a time when I did not see myself as a member of the Church or as a follower of Christ. But, as I grew in my knowledge of the Gospel, God, and my own sin, I realized that was not enough.

Just because I grew up in church and in a Christian home, that did not make me a Christian. I did not receive faith by osmosis. I had to learn I had a need. A need only God could satisfy.

Over the course of my life, I have thought about why I “forget” that I need the Gospel. Why do I slip into this mindset where I think “I’m good to go. I don’t need anything,” at least spiritually speaking?

Where does this come from?

At least for me, it comes from taking for granted the circumstances that require a Gospel to be proclaimed at all. I fall into this way of thinking when I simply do not consider how the trajectory of human history has been toward selfishness and pride.

Sure there have been moments of altruism and even self-sacrifice. Examples of men and women who have given their lives for others. But, on the whole, the reason those examples stand out is that there seem to be so few of them.

Communion with God was severed

The principal issue that necessitated the Gospel was humanity’s communion with God was severed. It was broken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

There have been debates about what exactly happened. Some are more interesting than others. A few are more entertaining than others. Regardless of the point of view, the reality remains: Adam and Eve’s disobedience disrupted humanity’s communion with God.

As a result, paradise was lost. Innocence was forever tarnished. And the brokenness that entered in by that disobedience has been inherited in each successive generation.

Whether or not we will ever know what happened is not really the point. We can look at the world around us and know something is not right out there. We all seem to have become calloused to the way life is devalued. We want to believe otherwise. But it is hard to escape the influence of this broken fellowship with God.

God’s Holiness was challenged

But why was the punishment for disobedience exile?

That is a good and fair question. The best analogy that has been shared with me can be found in many judicial systems. It is the idea of restitution. That what was stolen or destroyed must be restored. But if the item itself cannot be returned, then some form of compensation is paid to the injured party.

One of the challenges with restitution is that only the one who has been harmed can be repaired. Only the one who has been deprived of what was taken can determine what will satisfy the injury. At a basic human level, we all can understand this. If a window is broken, a new window is installed and/or paid for.

But how does this work with God? How do we, who are finite and now broken by sin, pay restitution to God? What was damaged by our disobedience was the holiness of God. Not in the sense that God was hurt or diminished. God’s holiness was challenged by Adam and Eve’s disobedience and God, because he is perfection itself, cannot abide such behavior in his presence.

The Grace of God was still on Display

And even in his punishment, God showed mercy. He told the first couple that the result of their disobedience would be death. But before he passed that judgment, God sent them away so that they might be restored in some way. So, death became the result of their sin, but it was delayed because of grace.

In the first, chapters of the Bible, we see the gospel in seed form. God in his perfection must act to address the reality of sin, but he does so by giving those who have sinned against him every opportunity to be restored.

The Gospel’s need is seen from the very opening of God’s word. We see how much was lost; how badly humanity was affected by sin. And yet, God does not merely destroy his creation. God acts according to his character. And God acts in such a way as to advance his goal of preparing the way for the Gospel.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | Day 2: The Gospel’s Origin

When our trust in the Word of God is challenged, our faith can be shaken. Once that shaking begins we become every more unstable in our confidence of God has revealed.

As creatures constrained by the limitations of our nature, we are bound by time and space, we often struggle with understanding God’s perspective. It would be better to say we almost never understand God’s mind.

I am always leery of those who claim to be able to do so. Because of my caution in this area, I encourage an ever-growing confidence in God’s word. It is the trusted record of God’s purpose for us.

When our trust in the Word of God is challenged, our faith can be shaken. Once that shaking begins we become ever more unstable in our confidence of God has revealed.

God, speaking through the prophet, says as much. He tells us that

⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
⁹“For asthe heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV

This is more than just a declaration of a difference in degree. It is a proclamation of the difference in kind.

How God thinks is beyond our ability to guess or even approximate. When we really consider the issue, we realize that all our attempts at understanding how God operates will be miserably short.

Why does this matter?

The Gospel message, the message that communicates how God has determined to redeem lost sinners, was not an invention after the fact. The fall of humanity was not a possibility from God’s perspective. It was a certainty. One he anticipated and prepared for.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
Ephesians 1:3-6 NKJV

When did God decide to put his plan of salvation into place? The apostle Paul tells us “from the foundation of the world.” This is a euphemism that points to eternity past.

The origin of the Gospel’s purpose and promise was considered and enacted before God spoke one word to create the universe in which we live.

It is with this starting point that we can better understand how precious the Gospel really is.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | Day 1: Ash Wednesday and The Gospel’s Premise

One of the essential images of the Ash Wednesday commemoration is the imposition of ashes on the forehead or hands of believers. It is a tradition that goes back centuries. One that many have never experienced.

If an Ash Wednesday is not a part of your tradition of faith, I would encourage you to attend one. This is more an encouragement for my friends who are in non-liturgical churches. But even if your tradition does celebrate Ash Wednesday, visiting with believers in other traditions and experiencing how they celebrate the day may be well worth the time and effort.

But, it is a helpful question to ask: why impose ashes? Why do this at all?

The ashes represent our mortality. That we have a finite time here on this earth. And that we should not take for granted what we have.

Life is a gift. One we can never repay. Nor should we even try. The best we can do is enjoy what we have been given. In the best way, we can.

Life is not always easy or smooth. There are many who have suffered a great deal in life. And for those in circumstances like these, it can be difficult to enjoy the gift of life.

I can appreciate that. What I offer is a reminder. Not that all of life will be perfect. Without trouble or conflict. I just want to call our attention to the fact all of life is a gift. Even when it is not turning out like we wanted it to. Even when it is hard.

When we receive the ashes, we are acknowledging and accept that we are not in control of our own destiny. What does that mean? It means we feel deeply the reality we are not in control of whether or not we wake up each morning or even controlling something as mundane as our next breath.

In all of this, we are the beneficiaries of God’s grace.

We want to believe that we are the authors of our own stories. That we are not beholden to anyone or anything. But this misses an essential aspect of the human experience—that we are restrained by time and space.

Our finitude is not a curse. But it is a restriction we have to embrace.

The ashes are made by burning the dried palm branches of the previous year’s Palm Sunday Celebration. The link between Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem a week before his crucifixion is significant.

We are called to remember our mortality as Jesus was called to surrender his on the cross.

Remember that you are dust, to dust you shall return. This is the central motif of Lent.

May we embrace this message with fervor. We have no reason to fear.

Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2023 | Introduction: The Season of Lent

The Day before Ash Wednesday

The day before Ash Wednesday has a variety of names. It has been known as Fat Tuesday. But more commonly it is known as Mardi Gras. Most people would think of the party that takes place in New Orleans, but there is an important liturgical reality to the day preceding Ash Wednesday.

The reason for this is two-fold. The Season of Lent is a time of fasting and reflection. It is the liturgical season that precedes Easter. Through the centuries, the Church has used this time to remember how much we need Jesus. His life, death, and resurrection together serve as the climax of God’s redemptive work through him.

The day prior to Ash Wednesday was used as a way of enjoying those things that would be forsaken during the season of Lent. However, as with most things, this meaning was, in great measure has been lost, and we only remember the party. And not what the celebration was preparing us for.

The Season of Lent

As we enter into Lent, we are all called to make an evaluation of how we have been living out our faith. We are challenged over the course of six weeks to deny ourselves of some temporal good so we can increase our focus on some spiritual reality. It really isn’t about what we give up or what we add to our daily spiritual disciplines. The focus should be on intentionally drawing closer to God, even if we only participate in this level of focus for a season once a year.

As we live our lives, we can’t all adopt the lifestyles of monks and nuns. There are bills to pay, children to raise, work to do, and so many more responsibilities we have tend to. And all of these are important. They serve as the outlets through which we can show the world what God has been doing in us.

One Life to Live

When we see the activity of a spiritual life as being of a different kind than what we do in our “everyday” life, we are making a critical mistake. There should not be some distinction between our “faith life” and our “normal life”.

We only have one life.

And the better able we are to understand this, the more likely we will be to avoid artificial barriers in our lives.

This is what this series of reflections is about this year.

Let’s Focus on the Gospel

The Gospel is the most important message ever proclaimed. In it and by it, we are invited to return to what God desired for his creation—that we would live in fellowship with him. But, since the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden, we were and have been separated from God. Therefore, God enacted a plan to redeem what was lost.

The Gospel is the hub from which we can understand all that God is doing in the world and in us.

As we look at the Gospel, each reflection will highlight one characteristic of the Gospel message. This is not intended to be an exhaustive study of the Gospel. It’s meant to be descriptive. To help us better understand that what the Gospel does is far more and far more wonderful than we may have ever fully realized.

I pray you will find these reflections edifying. If you do, I invite you to do two things.

Comment below each reflection letting me know how the thoughts challenged you or reminded you of something you already knew.
Sign up for our newsletter. You will get each new post in your email so you don’t miss a single one.

Lent 2023 Series

The Good News: Incarnation

The least possible evidence that someone has believed the Gospel of Jesus is that they center their lives upon trying to get people to show up to something in order to hear a verbal presentation of this Gospel.

The least possible evidence that someone has believed the Gospel [which literally means “good news”] of Jesus is that they center their lives upon trying to get people to show up to something in order to hear a verbal presentation of this Gospel.

Acknowledging that reality is important when phrases like “just preach the Gospel” are being thrown around as “solutions” to injustices that exist.

It’s fascinating when you begin to explore what this “good news” actually is, why it matters, and what it actually means to believe in it.

To do that, you have to consider and start with the entire narrative of Scripture.

The God we read about in the Bible is the one who created us by sending His very breath into us. This God is the one who became human in order to enter into humanity to live with us. This God is the one who sent His Spirit to now live within each of us. And this God is the one who will not “bring us up into heaven” but instead has been bringing heaven to earth this whole time and eventually will redeem or recreate earth and heaven fully.

This is the God of incarnation. And that’s good news!

Why?

Because incarnation is not just some fancy theological word. It is essential to the nature of who God is, and it means that God is always “getting to us.”

Most Christians will tell you that the Scripture teaches that we can’t get to God. And whether that is true or not is almost beside the point. Because the nature of God never allows for that instance to exist. Just because of who He is, He is always “getting to us.”

This God of incarnation is the God of every day life. Of showing up when and where we are. Of managing to meet us in our mess and not expecting us to clean up our mess to get to Him – or more correct, clean it up before He can get to us.

The truth is this: too much of this history of the Church has miscommunicated this reality.

Not necessarily through words. But certainly through actions.

The Church has most consistently taught with its actions that we do not actually believe complete incarnation to be the trajectory of the Scriptures and the very nature of God.

Instead, it has been communicated through actions that the center of the Christian life is a weekly gathering, for a specified period of time, in a facility that is owned or rented, that we should be trying to get everyone to show up to. And that this is (incompletely) called “church.”

Which communicates that this is a necessary and important outcome of the Gospel.

But is it?

This isn’t actually a question about whether or not gathering should happen. It will happen as a natural outcome of being made in the image of God, and of being “the church.”

It is a question about what the place of gathering is: What is its actual role? How much of our focus does it deserve (especially since it seemed to get so little of the God of the Bible’s attention while He was here on earth)? How much impetus should we place on it (when it seems to be described as a small part of the overall lifestyle of the Church in Acts done in mostly normal, everyday sorts of ways)?

There will be those who get upset at this attempt to take incarnation to its full implications. To “work it out” beyond the least possible evidence of it, to a mature understanding of its inworking and outworking in our lives.

Many of those who may become upset will be religious professionals or dedicated “church goers” (as “church” is being defined above).

But there is very little doubt what someone believes to be most important in their life if you just follow their actions, or their money, or their time. No matter what their lips say. Jesus taught us this.

And if you follow those things in the functioning of almost every single “church” I know of, they will tell you that gathering people is the single most important thing “the church” does. It’s honestly not even close. Somewhere between 75-90% of almost every church’s actions, money, and time spent is on gathering people.

Facilities are built around it. Staff are hired around it. Programs are run around it. And schedules are created around it. Whether it is getting people to show up or what happens once they do, by the actions of all involved (myself included for much of my “ministry life”) we have communicated what we believe is most central to “the Church” and thus to “the Gospel.”

Now here me loud and clear: gathering is important.

But we rightfully should ask what its importance is and are we rightfully placing it in the correct spot in importance level.

And we should rightfully acknowledge that gathering is the least possible evidence of our internalizing of the presence of God (incarnation being essential to who He is) into our lives.

Actively treating gathering as the most central aspect of the life of the Christian ultimately runs contrary to what we read in the Scriptures. The Gospel of incarnation, as displayed perfectly by Jesus (God incarnate), does not centralize gathering people.

And that must start to be said loud and clear if we are to reclaim the Gospel fully again – the literal good news of God for the entire world.

We must lament the reality that we have believed the Gospel only in part. Only in its most basic, elementary form. And thus we have placed gathering as the most important part of our Christian lives.

And so I join together with all those willing to acknowledge this, and look to Jesus once more as our guide to imaging God in this world. In doing so, may we fully reflect to the world “God with us” this Advent.

Easter Sunday 2022 | “Go!”

Never forget the price that Jesus paid and the cost God incurred in order to bring about our salvation.

Happy Easter!

For the last 40 days we have been preparing to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The day has finally come.

I encourage you to do a couple things today. First, I encourage you to celebrate the goodness of God in making a way for our reconciliation with him. Never forget the price that Jesus paid and the cost God incurred in order to bring about our salvation. We can rejoice in all of this because God is good.

Second, I would encourage you to make an intentional effort in the coming week to share with someone why Easter matters. Not only that it matters to you as a follower of Jesus Christ, as important as that is. But how it matters to the one with whom you share the good news of the gospel.

One of the primary obligations we have as Christians is to tell the story of Jesus. I think what we often get wrong is we tell the story in a way that keeps us out of it. I believe that is a mistake.

If you have been saved by the precious blood of the Lamb of God then the story you tell IS your story as well. It is not your story because you did anything worthy of salvation. It is not your story because you have somehow impressed God with your newfound righteousness. It is your story because the one that Jesus saved was you!

So today enjoy the celebrations and the time of reflection. But tomorrow I invite you to go.

Go tell someone how grateful you are God has restored you to fellowship with him and with those whom you share fellowship with in your church.

Maybe that’s not something you’re comfortable doing. The truth is I’m not sure how many are. But if you are even a little bit thankful for God’s grace it is a discomfort worth enduring so someone else might also come to know what you know.

I am not saying be pushy or rude. Don’t try to “save” anyone. Just talk about this moment, this even, this reality that has impacted your life.

So go. Do not allow fear or doubt or uncertainty to keep you from going.

Lent 2022 | Day 40: Death

The Saturday before Easter is an interesting day in the liturgical calendar of the Christian churches.

The Saturday before Easter is an interesting day in the liturgical calendar of the Christian churches. It has been referred to by a variety of names depending on the liturgical tradition of the church one is considering. In some, it is known as Great and Holy Saturday, Great Sabbath, Saturday of the Gloria, and Black Saturday. [Source]

A couple of the customs practiced in some form throughout the various liturgical traditions is the use of black linens to cover whatever might adorn the table or altar at the front of the church. There is also the practice of stripping the sanctuary of any and all items that might usually be present during a regular service.

In those churches where these practices are not performed, the significance may be lost. But on that first Saturday after Jesus’s crucifixion, it had to have been a day of deep morning for the disciples. It was essentially a funeral day. One that could not be properly finished because it occurred on the Jewish Sabbath.

So the act of removing all signs and symbols of the faith from the sanctuary of the church or covering it with black linen is to represent both the despair and the questioning that must’ve happened to the disciples. We have the benefit of knowing what happened on Sunday morning. But for them, there was no guarantee of resurrection.

For the entire history of the human journey upon the earth, death has marked the transition from life into the unknown. Our inability to know what exists on the other side of death’s door can cause many to fear. And rightfully so. There is no greater uncertainty than what happens next after this life is over.

This is why Jesus’s promise is so revolutionary. It gives us hope that if he was able to travel through that door and return then we too will be able to do the same if we go with him.

As we commemorate the waiting the disciples did on that first Saturday before Easter, I would invite you to consider the void they must’ve felt at the thought and reality of the death of Jesus. Like all who have lost people they love, the disciples must’ve felt quite lost and filled with despair as they mourned. But while they waited with not much certainty of what would happen just a few hours later, we can rejoice in the fact that Sunday morning is just around the corner.

But today, on this Holy Saturday, we wait.

We wait and we remember how death threatened to destroy the hope of the disciples. And we consider how death could destroy our hope if it had not been defeated by the resurrection of Jesus.