Community of Joy Lutheran Church issued the following announcement on Mar. 27.
My Song is Love Unknown (ELW 343, verse 3)
3 Sometimes we strew his way
and his sweet praises sing;
resounding all the day
hosannas to our king.
Then "Crucify!" is all our breath,
and for his death we thirst and cry.
Devotion
Sometimes we scatter his path with sweet praises and hosannas, but we ignore Jesus, who stands among us in the suffering world. It is much easier to adore a cross affixed to the wall in our sanctuary than it is to step into the suffering of our neighbor. Some might want to contemplate the cross but, as Martin Luther asks, what benefit do they gain from it? All they do is carry pictures and booklets, letters and crosses on their person. Christ’s suffering becomes a mere token that effects in them a lack of suffering, a dissociation from the world. Yet all the time, every day, and especially on this day, the first day of the week, the day of resurrection, we encounter Christ in worship, inviting us ever deeper into his goodness, into a journey of mercy that breaks down divisions, that heals our broken hearts, that forgives our cries of “crucify.”
Prayer
Praise be you, O God, for your love that burns away our resistance. Mold our hearts according to your love so that as your church we may cry “mercy” and “justice” rather than “crucify.” Amen.
Dirk G. Lange
Professor of Worship and Frederik A. Schiotz Chair of Christian Missions, Luther Seminary
We invite you to join us online for chapel service.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Community of Joy Lutheran Church
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