A Week

Lord, help us listen to your voice, to follow through with actions, to grow closer to you, and find ways to serve others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

A lot can happen in a week.

When I worked at church camp, the staff would be scrambling on Sunday morning to make sure the cabins were clean, the registration table set up, and everything all ready for a new week with campers. The counselors would dig through their piles of laundry to find a staff shirt to put on before the kids arrived after lunch.

There was a lot of excitement on Sundays, and some nervous energy.

That nervous energy went through the roof when campers started showing up.

You had kids who had never spent a night away from home before, and kids who had been coming to camp every summer their whole lives. There were shy kids and outgoing kids, those who loved being at camp in the woods and those who really missed their screens.

And then there were the parents – ready to have a week away from their children, or worried about missing them. Some families had relied entirely on scholarship support to send their kids to camp, and the registration question about leaving money for their kids to spend in the camp store was a stressful one. Some families had parents or older siblings who had served on staff, so being there was like a reunion.

The first day of church camp was hectic, energetic, confusing, exciting, and overall just full of emotions!

Campers and counselors met each other, as the people who would be their roommates for the week.

Bedtime Sunday would be full of late-night talks and teary homesickness and exhausted campers and counselors alike.

Monday was different. On Monday, people started building the relationships that would carry them through the week. Everyone started getting used to the daily schedule of meals, worship, activities, and campfire before bed.

By Tuesday, people were getting good at teambuilding activities – trust falls, low-ropes activities – and they became involved in worship planning.  

By Wednesday, folks had figured out each others’ talents and areas for growth, and could encourage each other to challenge those growing edges. The carefully cleaned cabins by now were a mess, but a happy mess from all the games and craft projects and bonding that folks had been doing all week.

Thursday was the last full day. People would go all out to create memories with their new friends, to last them for months to come. The most elaborate camp games were played, and the most meaningful worship happened.

Friday was a crazy mix of emotions. Excitement of campers to see family, to share the experiences of the week, to go home to parents and friends and pets.

Excitement by the counselors to have a day off, spend a little time online, check in on that job application or school housing option for life after church camp.

Friday was filled with sadness and grief for the amazing memories that had been made but would never be repeated. People would promise to come back and meet up at camp next year. Campers would exchange contact info in hopes of maintaining these new friendships. Parents would come to camp by lunchtime, excited to see everything that their children had learned and all the ways they had grown over the past week.

And really, a lot had been accomplished in that week.

Children learned to overcome fear and shyness.

Staff learned their own capabilities and independence.

And everyone learned about the surprising ways that God can break into our lives to show us something new and amazing, even when we’re not expecting it.

A lot can happen in a week.

Today, on this Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem to the sound of cheers, being welcomed as royalty. The disciples who traveled with him must have been confused and excited and frightened about what it all could mean.

Even on the first day of the week, there were some who didn’t want to celebrate Jesus. Whatever their motivation – fear, jealousy, anger – the Pharisees warned Jesus and his followers that this day of celebration couldn’t continue forever.

And indeed, the mood changes quickly. Immediately after his triumphal entry, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. He laments for what he sees as the imminent destruction of the city and its inhabitants, due to their unfaithfulness.

And then he gets mad. Jesus enters the Temple and drives out the people who are selling things there. He claims that these people are exploiting the faithful, and perverting religious teaching.

All of that happens on day one. It’s a hectic day of energy, excitement, confusion, learning, and overall just full of emotions!

Throughout the rest of the week, Jesus teaches in the Temple… his authority is questioned, and he tricks the religious leaders. He describes things in parables, comes out on top in battles of wit against religious leaders, and denounces legal experts. Jesus describes a poor widow as blessed, while at the same time condemning the society that has sentenced her to poverty.

As his week in Jerusalem goes on, Jesus foretells the destruction of the Temple, and Jerusalem. He tells more parables. And he and his disciples prepare to celebrate the Passover meal together.

On Thursday evening, Jesus and the disciples share the Passover meal, which we remember every time we gather for worship and celebrate Communion.

On Thursday evening, one of those disciples who shared in that celebration chose to betray Jesus to the authorities, thereby ensuring his execution.

Overnight Thursday to Friday, Jesus endured a strange trial in which everyone wanted him to disappear from their lives, but no one wanted to claim responsibility for executing him.

And on Friday, Jesus is executed in public, as a convicted criminal. He dies and is laid in a tomb. And his disciples don’t know what to do.

A lot can happen in a week.

As worship began today, we remembered Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as a celebrated leader! During the rest of worship, we are going to hear some of those stories from the rest of the week, as Jesus shares his last meal with the disciples, is betrayed and arrested.

It’s a complicated story, encompassing the range of human emotion, with lots of opportunity for finding ourselves in the story. Are we more like Mary or Judas? The disciples, or the crowds shouting for Jesus’ execution? Do we relate to Barabbas, or to the person who owns the donkey?

We can find ourselves in the midst of the action or on the sidelines, but the rich story of Jesus’ passion can and does speak to each one of us, even now, 2000 years after the fact.

And so, this week, I invite you to find yourself in this story.

Listen as it’s read here in worship today. Return for more of the story on Thursday, share in Communion and have your feet washed as the disciples of Jesus did.

Join us on Friday for a time of prayer and song, and reflection on the meaning of Jesus’ death for our sake.

Find where you connect deeply with the story, which pieces bring meaning to you, and where you find God even if you weren’t expecting God to be there.

And in all of that, don’t forget today’s celebration.

Because next Sunday, we’ll be celebrating again! Jesus will be arrested and executed, and placed in a tomb.

But next Sunday, the tomb will be found empty! And the celebration will return.

A lot can happen in a week.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

March 20, 2016

Palm & Passion Sunday C

Luke 19:28-40