This week at LPC

Easter Week. Holy Week. Spring Break. It doesn’t matter what we call these eight days, they are, in fact, the days at the center of all time. They are watershed days. Before them the flow of time is towards despair, loneliness and emptiness; towards no hope for justice or peace and things made right. After these days, time flows towards light and life, grace and forgiveness, community and belonging, all things made new. Nothing we can do will alter the reality of what God has done in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But we do ourselves a great disservice if we ignore the events we are called to remember, choosing, instead, to scurry around at the last minute trying to find chocolate bunnies and candy eggs to fill some basket or maybe even deciding to show up at the church on Easter and wondering if there really is anything to it except daffodils and butterflies.

Again, I encourage you to use all that is planned in the church and community this week  not so much to fill an already too-full calendar, but to focus on what God did this amazing week.

Odds and Ends

Three Days is the title of this year’s Easter Cantata which will be the centerpiece of our worship at the 9:45 service on Sunday. This is a powerful presentation, and I encourage you to be with us.

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On Wednesday evening I had the privilege of sitting in on the meeting of our Deacon Board. Almost by definition our Deacons are modest about their work and quiet in going about it, but what amazing things they do. Find a Deacon and get the details.

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Many of you know Josh Andrzejewski, a son of our congregation and now a seminarian preparing for ordained ministry at Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, (my alma mater). Josh will assist in worship on Sunday and will share just a little bit about what God is doing in his life through his studies and experiences at Union –just enough that you’ll want to find him following worship to hear more.

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It may be the second day of the most important week in all of time, but all you’ll hear about on Monday is Saint Patrick’s Day. Beyond the leprechauns and wearin’ o’ the green, this is a day worth celebrating. Patrick was a great saint, a person chosen and beloved by God.

Among the writings of Patrick that have been left as a testimony to his faith and life is what has come to be known as the Shield of Saint Patrick (click here). You may have seen portions of it on plaques and posters. I have found to be a wonderful resource for the nurture of my faith. One of my favorite contemporary hymns is taken from the Shield of Saint Patrick. You can listen to a sample here  Maybe we’ll sing it in worship someday.

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The first two and a half chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans is unrelenting in the indictment it brings against sinful humanity. He summarizes his argument in 3:9-20, declaring in verse 10, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” Baby Boomers were reminded of this bitter reality this week with the news that Mary Ann of Gilligan’s Island has been busted for drug use. Indeed, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

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Sunday’s sermon at the 8:30 and 11:30 services asks, “So just how offended would you be if Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton or John McCain ordered their campaign staff to play ‘Hail to the Chief’ at every campaign stop? How scandalized would you be if one of the candidates insisted that the presidential seal be placed on the podium at every place he spoke? What would you think if Hillary Clinton demanded that members of the military stand and salute whenever she enters a room, if John McCain told his aides to refer to him as Mr. President? And, by the way, how would you react if Barak Obama was in New York for a campaign stop and decided to go to a dinner in his honor thrown by Eliot Spitzer?”

You could come early and attend 8:30 worship and then the 9:45 cantata service, or hear the cantata and then stay for the 11:30 service.