Holy Week Introduction
by Pastor Heidi Youngquist
Today marks the beginning of Holy Week. Throughout this week we will journey to the upper room where Jesus eats his final meal with his disciples, to the garden where he is betrayed, to the cross where he is crucified, and then to the early dawn of Easter where we will discover that the stone has been rolled away and the tomb is empty! It is a story that is told each and every year, and yet it is a story that ought to turn our worlds upside down every single time we hear it.
For this week’s devotions, we will bring our walk through the Sermon on the Mount to a close. As we journey through this holiest of weeks, each day’s scripture will offer a word of instruction, caution, and/or encouragement for how we might continue to follow in the way of Jesus as citizens in the Upside-Down Kingdom. A way that is marked with decisions and calls us to live with honesty, integrity, and love.
This week you are also invited to come and experience this journey during our Holy Week worship services. For Palm Sunday, we will encounter our humble king who rode into town not with power and pomp, but with humility and heart. On Maundy Thursday, we receive a new mandate that reframes our understanding of greatness. Good Friday is the day when death gets conquered, the earth shakes, and the curtain gets torn, reassuring us that the greatness of God can be found in the lowest of places. And finally, On Easter Saturday/Sunday, we hear the unbelievable news that the tomb is empty and that the laws of nature were no match for God’s love. What a wonderful way to wrap up our Lenten exploration of the Upside Down Kingdom of Heaven!
I hope to see you in worship!
Pastor Heidi Youngquist
Lent Devotion
Author: Deaconess Regina Mendenhall
Reading: Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)
"Enter through the narrow gate, For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
The Narrow and the Wide Gates
Like many of you, we start the day with very simple choices; what do I wear, what do I eat; what tasks do I need to do today, etc. These small choices get us through the day and are usually very simple. Some of these choices may be influenced by our personal values, beliefs and preferences. We can weigh the pro and cons of whatever choice is to be made. Usually, they are no big deal.
At some point we become more analytical and eliminate alternatives to reach a decision. It becomes easy to just follow everyone else. Choosing our own personal desires and going with various cultural trends is simple and sometimes fulfills our momentary wants and needs. Decisions become inconsequential. Do I choose comfort over change? Do I choose new over old? Life can change drastically if a decision is made in one way and not change so much if something else is chosen. For some of us, decisions are made for us by others due to circumstances out of our own control. The results of those choices or decisions are not always to our liking. Getting caught between that proverbial rock and hard spot and choosing no decision is a decision. We remain where we are. However, one small decision made at a critical time in life can cause ripples and change the whole course of life forever.
In the passage of Matthew 7, Jesus is challenging us to make that critical life changing decision. Entering through His Narrow Gate, Jesus is offering a totally different way of life. He is asking, “What kind of person do you want to be?” The choice can be difficult. The world can be quite tempting. But being called to identify “Who am I?” and “Who do I want to be?” requires discernment and intense reflection and decision making. Jesus requests a full genuine heart transformation to whomever chooses to go through His Narrow Gate. He offers His followers no middle road. Once we go through that Narrow gate much is expected. We are to be His faithful, obedient disciples. It becomes a personal transformation of how we think, feel, live, which reflect the values of His Kingdom, not ours.
I am reminded of a familiar poem by Robert Frost called “The Road Less Traveled”. The last stanza is this:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Though the true meaning of the poem is not talking about ‘taking the road less traveled’, but about people who dwell on inconsequential decisions and continue to regret them afterwards. Which points to those that are not daring enough to take the risk needed to enter through the Narrow Gate. It is “taking a road that is less traveled” because not everyone is called.
Jesus’ directive is to only a few and is not inconsequential. It is life-changing. Will you make the choice and take the risk to travel the road “less traveled"?
Prayer
Dearest Lord, thank you for the many decisions and choices that you give us throughout our day and life. May we decide to actively choose the narrow road to be a part of your Kingdom and eternal life. Amen.