Today, more than almost any other day for me, has always felt poignant and mixture of beginnings and endings. It is the start of the pain at the end of Holy Week, and almost the end of the preparation time of Lent. It is another Passover, a First Communion and a last Communion. It is the end of a Jesus’ Ministry and the beginning of Jesus’ Miracle gift to us. No single point along the journey of Holy Week is the end or the beginning for there is always something else to come, and yet from the moment of the Last Supper onwards, it is as though every point is final in some way.
God said to Moses and Aaron [Exodus 12:14] that the Passover was to be forever a day of remembrance because of what it represented.
Jesus was always clear that there was a hard road ahead, not just for himself but for anyone who wanted to follow him. Hard and yet worth it because of the promise bound up in the warning. [Matthew 16:24] “if anyone wants to come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me, for whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”.
In the musical Les Misérables, Marius sings to Cosette:
One day more
Another day, another destiny
This never-ending road to calvary…
These men who surely know my crime
Will surely come a second time
One day more
I did not live until today
How can I live when we are parted
A series of phrases, no punctuation, all capable of fitting somewhere into our today. When I watch the musical that moment is likely to make me cry, 60+ though I am. Today’s Communion Service may well bring me very close to tears as well as I realise how many of the phrases in Marius’ love song work for me as an expression of faith.
If COVID-19 has taught us anything it is to take nothing for granted, give thanks to God and take every opportunity to do those things we believe he is calling us to do – however challenging and different they turn out to be they may be miraculously healing too.
For the future?
Marius puts it like this:
“Tomorrow we’ll discover
What our God in heaven has in store
One more dawn
One more day
One day more.”
Don’t pretend you know the future, just follow the one who calls us out of darkness into light; and be prepared for a rocky path but a spectacular final destination.
God bless you this Easter.
A prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, you showed how to share in your life, how to draw strength from you for the journey we must make as we follow you.
God in heaven, our Father and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we know you have things in store; fill us with your Spirit to cling to the promise, be strong for the journey and discern the way.
Amen.