Charged with Transformation

I can’t stop reading and re-reading the stories of Holy Week. 

One of the gifts of living my whole life in the Kingdom of God is a great knowledge of facts surrounding these historical events. One of the challenges is the story becoming familiar, or losing the awesome aspect of its impact both in the moments when it happened and stretching across time to today. 

I think that tension is similar to what was being experienced by the people of that time. There was an air of change and transformation, but also a continuation of much of the same. All the build up of the Passover week and the arrest of Jesus and the drama at the courts, but to the common observer the expected is what happened. Jesus is crucified, he is buried in the tomb, and the Romans continue to rule and the Israelites continue to wonder and life felt electric for a bit and has now settled back down into routine. 

It was only those who risked staying engaged who continued to experience and participate in all that followed. He rose from the grave, he appeared to a few, he ascended into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit, and his power and presence were given and spread. 

Since we began this Still Life journey, and then planned to be in the Great Room on Easter Sunday, I’ve been marveling at God’s timing. It is this year that Easter falls earlier than ever, on the final Sunday of our Still Life devotions, when we are more alive than we have ever been, celebrating Jesus Fully Alive, moving into the Great Room. 

This Holy Week is charged with transformation possibility. The way we participate and engage is what will make the lasting difference. In Jesus’ time, crucifixion was not out of the ordinary. Religious riots and political uprisings were the culture of the day. In the same way, Good Friday and Easter and building changes are pretty status quo for churches today. The way we choose to step into these things is what will make the difference for our family moving forward. 

My prayer this week is that we will allow ourselves to be immersed in where we are. Every stage of Holy Week, from his Triumphal Entry to the Empty Tomb, is an invitation to know him more. It is our chance to take Intimacy, Identity and Inheritance into this series of events and see things and hear things in our fully alive selves. From that place of fresh interaction, we come together on Sunday stepping into life and life abundant, both in our individual hearts and cooperatively as a family!

I pray the new space is a fresh perspective. When we moved our family to Medford, we talked about the beauty of a fresh start even though we are the same people. When we go to the Great Room, I pray our physical selves will be available for the shift in environment. I pray we would purposely sit by someone new, we would stretch our arms to fill the spiritual space around us, we will sing louder so our voices reach the very corners of the room, and we would look and listen with expectation for opportunity to partner with Holy Spirit! 

KXC Worship team has a song called Hope on the Horizon. These few lines are on my heart for our family:

Come, gather your strength
Open your heart, give him your Hallelujah
Trust, trust him again, deep in the night
Poor out your Hallelujah, and know, you’re not alone,
You run with the Saints, singing out Hallelujah to God
God on the throne, He is our hope,
worthy of highest praises!