God’s grace: ready or not

April 2018 Newsletter Column

It is almost impossible to believe. Holy Week is already here. The forty days of Lent are about to come to an end. The disciplines that we undertook are about to come to an end. Over the next few days we are going to experience the journey from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. Despite my best intentions, I am not ready. There was supposed to have been more time to prepare.

There are lots of excuses that I could come up with. Military duty has taken a lot of energy. The church calendar is full this time of year. Pastoral care needs abound. Family obligations require regular phone calls and coordination of tasks and responsibilities. There is always something to do. This year distractions have hit me worse than normal. Quite simply, I am not as prepared to mark Jesus’ death and resurrection as I should be. Perhaps you have experienced similar seasons in your own life.

These periods of difficulty and distraction can be frustrating. Challenging times leave us battered and exhausted. We do not perform at our peak abilities. Prayer, Scripture reading, worship, and service all begin to take a backseat to the crises we face at any given moment. We are so busy putting out fires that our relationship with God and God’s world begins to suffer. It is not the way we like to live. It is not the way we are designed to be. Ironically, we find ourselves trapped in the same vicious cycle that Lenten disciplines are supposed to prevent. As painful as it is, we can find ourselves buried too deep to conceive of any other alternative.

Unfortunately, this temptation is nothing new. The Bible is full of stories where God’s people allowed themselves to be distracted even as divine promises are fulfilled. Slaves were freed from Egypt, yet when the journey got hard, they yearned for the familiar. After settling the promised land, Israel’s kings get caught up in the trappings of power. Shortly after returning from exile, leaders allowed their rebuilt temple to become co-opted by the Roman occupiers. Faithfulness is hard. Turning away is easy. It happens to all of us eventually.

Fortunately, that is not the end of the story. Easter is proof that God’s love is bigger than our neglect. Jesus came into a world that was not ready for him. God’s son appeared to a culture utterly unprepared for grace. Temple leaders, the Roman Empire, and even his own people were taken by surprise. Prophets had proclaimed his coming, but it proved easier to believe in the status quo.

Holy Week is now here. Ready or not, Jesus has come. Over the next few days I invite you to dig into the array of special services. Allow yourself to be surprised by grace. The story of death and resurrection is unlike anything you have ever encountered. Let the barrage of emotions shake you out of your comfort zone. Take comfort in a Savior who came and dwelt with people just as distracted as us. The cross was proof that they were not ready to hear what he had to say. He said it anyway. He forgave them anyway. Easter is proof that God’s faithfulness is everlasting. As distracted, backslid, and unprepared as we may be, we are loved. Thanks be to God.