Easter Devotional
Shouts of 'sanna
Adam Quine, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Lincoln

[March 27, 2015]  We are just days away from Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The palm branches have been ordered, the children have practiced waving said palm branches, and the faithful church sexton has done a wonderful job preparing the church so it is fit for a king... or queen :).

Soon our silent walks in the wilderness will yield to shouts of hosannas, and the rustling of branches will replace the sound of silence. Finally, we can smile! We can celebrate! We can hope! We can believe again we have been rescued!

Lent is almost over. Our journey is almost complete. We've come this far. Do not lose heart, friends. As Christ called James and John, Peter and Andrew, Philip and Matthew, so Christ calls us now. We, like them, will have to make a decision soon. As the cross draws near, as the crowds press in on us, and as the rooster begins to crow, we may be tempted with a lie, a lie that we don't have enough to finish.

We aren't worthy enough to follow. If you get to that point...WHEN you get to that point, remember this: Love walks before and beside you. Love surrounds you when you awake and when you lie down. Love has been shaping you this Lent, beginning way back on Ash Wednesday. The Face of Love goes with you even to the gallows of death.

Remember, our Lenten journey is not simply about keeping our chocolate urges at bay or how many cups of caffeine we didn't drink or how many hours we did or didn't sit in silence. These last 40 days were not about proving our worth by engaging in spiritual practices or avoiding something like the plague.

Rather, Lent has been about how, even now, we are worthy, we are desired by God. Pope Francis said it best when he said, "Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades.” He continues that, “We end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own.”

Over the last 40 days we've journeyed on what may have appeared as individual roads. But the larger picture is that we've been pilgrims together on the way to Jerusalem, traveling not alone but with each other...with Christ.

Lent has come to awaken us. We still have plenty of time to sit at the feet of our Christ. Let's not rush the procession.
There is still time to realize that though the life of a person is in a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow. We have to trust God.