Dear Church Family,
Reading the Scriptures over the past few weeks has felt a little bit different to me. It is not the easiest thing to explain, just certain sections have grabbed my attention in ways that I am not sure they would have if we were not in the middle of a global pandemic.
As a quick example there’s a moment in the Last Supper, when Jesus is about the wash Peter’s feet. God is about to clean the street muck off the toes of a man he created. Jesus is about to serve like the lowest servant. And Peter doesn’t get it. I love Peter for this. He stands up to Jesus with his mixture of pride and confusion and principle. And Jesus says, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Some of my questions to God over the past weeks seem like they are getting a similar answer.
We have had up and down days in our home, and even in the hardest moments I keep remembering there are people who are going through so much more than we are. Loved ones are dying and some among us are working everyday to absolute exhaustion. I catch myself feeling bad for feeling bad. Comparing pain only helps so far though. I sense I need to reorient my mind and heart several times a day.
I can’t remember a reinvention of life like this in such a short time. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you feel like you are reeling. But something I have discovered in the Scriptures is that so many parts of it are built for hard times, for confusing times, for moments of suffering.
We are about to enter a Holy Week like none of us has ever experienced before. It’s not the first time we’ve had a hard time, but it is different. And Holy Week is a slow motion picture of God going to the Cross. The message pulsing through the stories of Jesus’ final week is that he loves enough to suffer, to die.
Perhaps Holy Week will hit a little different in each of our lives this year. Perhaps our shared moment will help us enter into this week like we never have before. I hope and pray we find Jesus there in a profound way. I believe we will. Let’s go together even if we are apart.
Caleb Clardy
Founding Pastor
Trinity Grace Church
