The calendar this April gives us an interesting insight into Christian life and experience. The timing of Easter means that we have a wide range of experiences included within the calendar month. We begin still in the midst of Lent, focused on austerity and preparation in moving towards Holy Week. Then we move into Palm Sunday, the reading of the Passion, and then into Holy Week itself. In Holy Week we move through the story of Jesus’ passion again, going through the emotional worship experiences of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. From there we explode into the joy of Easter and proclaiming Christ’s resurrection. The month then finishes with Earth Day, which I see as a way of remembering our call to live out our faith here on the earth in bringing healing into the broken places of our world. In looking at the whole movement of the month from one emphasis to the other, it seems to me it gives us an effective glimpse at the process of faith.
In our lives of faith, we are in a constant process or movement. First, we recognize our sin and brokenness that causes a break between us and God, as well as between us and our neighbors. Then we hear the story of Jesus entering into that brokenness, experiencing the depths of it. Yet from there we come to the good news of the resurrection that Christ breaks through the brokenness to establish new life and new connections in God. From there, we are moved by the Spirit to live in the world in a healed and healing way. Yet sin remains part of our reality, and so takes us back to the first step of the process. The progress we see this month is the cycle of faith that we live over and over again. Indeed, we are continually in all of those experiences: the recognition of sin of Lent, God entering our lives in Holy Week, the forgiveness of Easter, and the calling of Earth Day. Each day all of those realities are true of us; we are simultaneously in each of those moments. I invite you, then to enter into the process of faith, into the calendar of this April, and into the good news of the movement of God in our lives.
Rev. Dr. Eric J. Trozzo