Savior, teach us so to rise!
By Pastor Ryan Edgecombe,
Broadwell Christian Church,
Central Presbyterian Church - Petersburg
 

[March 26, 2024]  To be posted

Hello Friends:

As this little article reaches you, we find ourselves in the Lenten Season and well on our way to Easter! There are so many great "images" or "pictures" that God paints in our hearts and minds as we traverse this holy time of year.

We are going through a period of darkness, yet the light is dawning!

Darkness can symbolize or communicate ignorance, isolation, a coldness, even hopelessness. We need the light of God's love to shine on and shine through... His light represents truth, newness or renewal, and hope. We read in Matthew that there was darkness over all the land during the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday. How thankful we are that at His resurrection an enduring light pierced through that seemingly insurmountable night!

Isaiah helped to prepare us for this new reality many years before Jesus walked among us, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shone." (This is usually used as an Advent text, but it is appropriate to apply it ultimately to the death and Resurrection of our Lord!)

We are experiencing a great weight upon our shoulders, and yet relief is coming!

Lent is a time to get in touch with our own sinfulness and/or brokenness. This is not a fun process, but it is certainly necessary if we are to live in reality. If we think that we are somehow on a "moral high ground" over and above and/or superior to our fellow human beings, we are not living in reality. Paul is pretty clear that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Have we recognized or owned up to this tragic reality? Have we felt the weight of shame that comes from turning our back on the One who has created and provided for us through His immeasurable love? Lent is a time to revisit this with self- awareness and with humility. Lent is a time to genuinely grieve our sins, leading us to repentance. We need to feel the weight on our shoulders or on our chests, so that when Easter comes, we feel the strong and mighty hands of the resurrected Lord lifting and casting those burdens into the abyss, raising us up so that we might rejoice, and dance, and sing in celebration! Relief is coming!

We have experienced the grief of death, yet a promise of true life has been given!

Change, loss, grief, and death are very much a part of the human condition. We have all been there and felt that pain. I remember as a child thinking quite a bit more about death and loss than a lot of children my age, due to the fact that my twin sister, Rachel Ann Edgecombe, died around 6 hours after she was born (we were significantly pre-mature). Do I have any memory of Rachel? Of course not. Did I spend quite a bit of time dreaming about what might have been? Absolutely! Did I question why I had the chance to live and Rachel did not? Absolutely! Did I feel that I was not quite complete without my sister to grow up alongside me? Absolutely! Death is a part of our experience, but because of the Resurrection of our Lord at Easter, we know that death will not be part of our experience forever. In Christ life conquers death. I truly believe that one day I will see Jesus face to face, and I will even get to be with my sister again.

I'll close with a couple verses from one of my favorite Hymns (Go to Dark Gethsemane - 1825)

Calvary's mournful mountain climb there adoring at His feet. Mark the miracle of time, God's own sacrifice complete. "It is finished!" Hear the cry: Learn of Jesus Christ to die.

Early hasten to the tomb where they laid his breathless clay. All is solitude and gloom, who hath taken Him away? Christ is risen! He meets our eyes: Savior, teach us so to rise!