Holy Week is a time to reflect on the best and the worst of human character. In our stories of this week, we see incredible loyalty, beauty, commitment, and trust. We also see betrayal, desertion, greed, violence, and fear. We are reminded of the challenges of living with faith within the complexities of this life.
In the sermon that my father, Francis X. Pirazzini, preached in 1965, he reminded us:
When we read, study, and exposit Holy Scripture within the walls of church or home, to hear God speak through the sacred page, it is well to remember that those inspired men of old spoke and wrote with two feet planted in the world. The drama of the Bible is the story of God dealing with men in the midst of war, slavery, paganism, immortality, collapsing social orders in short, in the midst of all that is disturbing, disillusioning and dirty. And we are not about to hear the voice of God speak to us through the sacred page or from anywhere else, for that matter, unless we too are standing in the stream of life where beauty and bestiality, virtue and vice abide side by side.
That is certainly what we see in the stories of Holy Week. And what we see around us when the church is engaged in the world as it should be. The church is not a place for those who are sanitized of the taint of the world. It is for those who are engaged in transforming the world. And to be a part of God’s activity loving the world, we have to be in the thick of it. That tests us, and sometimes we don’t offer our best to the world. It can be a dirty business, but that is the role of the church, the body of Christ. Jesus was in the world, getting dirty, with those who were least and lost.
The gospel is needed precisely because the world is a messy place. That is why the message of love, of hope, of joy, of peace, and of compassion is needed. That is what the world needs. And that is what we have to offer.
Do not be afraid of the drama of Holy Week. This same drama is being played out day after day in the world giving us countless opportunities to hone our courage, loyalty, and faith. Fear not! Engage! And you will hear God speaking still.
Prayer: This week we are reminded of the best and the worst of the human spirit. May we not be afraid to see the worst and offer the best. May we be forgiving with ourselves and with others when we are less than we should be. May we be honest enough with ourselves to learn and grow in faith never shirking the challenges of this awesome and awful world. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 