Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.
Mark 14:41 (NRSV)
Are you easily distracted? If so, you aren’t alone. It is estimated that each Sunday’s New York Times contains more information than an 18th-century French Nobleman with access to great libraries encountered in an entire lifetime. Couple that with the steady march of technologies designed to delight and entertain us and, well, wait…
What was I saying?
Right, distractions. We are approaching the final week of Lent. We are all busy, preoccupied people, and yet this week more than any other it is good to embrace our fundamental humanness. We each only have so much attention for the given day. Therefore, in order that we might once more approach the Last Supper, the Cross, and the Empty Tomb with our full attention, this is a great week for making space in your head and heart for Christ to return once more.
There are times to gather next week, some new, some familiar, and some we haven’t held for a while. Please look to the schedule and clear space in your own life for yourself and the people you care for to come and enter into the mystery of Easter once again. As we gather, let us do so with our full attention and our best intention, working to expand our welcome wider and wider each day. Focus. It’s time to see once more and more clearly.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Ben