Abide With Me

Dear Church Family

   Here we are at April 1, 2020, and there haven’t been too many April Fools stories or jokes because most of us are not in a joking mood right now. We need God’s help as we enter another whole month of staying at home. Now this is more important than ever, according to the Governors of the states around us.

   We truly need the support and patience of Job about now. Turning to favorite hymns that possess supporting and encouraging and inspiring verses in it’s poetry, we turn to “Abide with Me.”  It’s # 700 in the back of our hymnal in the songs for evening services, which we don’t do very much anymore. But it still can bless us while we are patiently waiting for a renewed life to come.

1 Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

2 Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away.
Change and decay in all around I see.
O thou who changest not, abide with me.

3 I need thy presence every passing hour.
What but thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who like thyself my guide and strength can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.

   Our prayer is that the Lord will abide with us when other helpers have to stay at home too. Isaiah the prophet, told us that those who wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, shall walk and not grow weary, shall run and not faint. With Eagle’s wings they will soar. We must wait upon the Lord and trust that God is working in the midst of all of this. We can wait upon the Lord with a mindful and determined commitment to read the scriptures, so that we become more familiar with the help that God can give.

   For Holy Week, let me suggest a reading pattern to you.

Several ideas come to mind. Pick a gospel. Matthew is a great choice given that it’s the featured gospel all over the world this year in lectionary-using churches. Then read all the parts of Matthew that took place during Holy Week. Read the text in sequence, aligning readings when possible with what took place on each day of Jesus’ life.

The plan would look something like this: 

Palm Sunday: Matthew 21;  Monday: Matthew 22.  Tuesday: Matthew 23.  Wednesday: Matthew 24–25 (We might end up calling this “End Times Wednesday”!)  Maundy Thursday: Matthew 26;   Good Friday: Matthew 27. Easter Sunday: Matthew 28

The results will be spiritually challenging. There is a lot of heavy weather between Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday. But wow, do those texts speak in a different way in the context of Holy Week.

   By reading this Gospel together, you might feel a sense of connection, knowing that the rest of our church is reading these passages as well. It will better prepare you for the experience of Palm Sunday through Holy Week, and help you be blessed by Easter.

   May you know that God abides, lives, travels, surrounds and lifts you up.

God’s Peace be with you.     Pastor Jeff