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And another thing…I love to know your thoughts and impressions of Lent and Holy Week.  Many of you have written me or the other clergy.  If you care to, please use the blog comment section to share your thoughts about the week…and the Season of Lent.

And another thing…I met with our staff first thing Monday morning…after Easter.  We call it our “Monday Morning Quarterback” meeting.  It is the time for us to look back over the week and give thanks, tweak some things, make announcements, and have a bagel.  Yesterday we met…and there was a fuzz all about the room.  The staff was bleary-eyed and thankful.  And rightly so.  They had worked hard all the previous week to prepare for the ministry of Holy Week…from Palm Sunday through Easter.

And people came.  Lots of people…a lot of new people.  Our attendance topped almost every previous year…

• Palm Sunday  1967
• Maundy Thursday 501
• Stations of the Cross  475
• Requiem Good Friday  707
• Easter Weekend  3618

This doesn’t account for the additional several hundred children and families that attended the Saturday pre-Easter event in the morning.  Go to the Children’s Ministry Facebook page for more information and pictures too.  Well done.

I thank the Lord for this ministry…and the blessing of being a part of an amazing congregation…served by a faithful and gifted staff and vestry.  Praise God for their work!!

And another thing…I have a 16 volume set of sermons by the famous Charles Spurgeon.  They are always helpful in kickstarting my thinking from time to time.  I think I paid $250 for them around the time of my ordination in 1983.  This morning I saw the set on line…all 500+ sermons on sale here for $5.00 (ebook format).  Of course I bought it.  But the capabilities now  for publishing and collecting ebooks and using ebooks is astonishing.  I love  it.  The advances in technology are a great boon for the distribution of Gospel materials.  Wow.

And another thing…Fran and I have the chance to get to Tucson tomorrow to see my mom and her husband.  It has been a while…too long.  She is somewhere north of 80…and is in great health.  She amazes me with her stamina and personal strength.  So we are off on The Company Plane for a few days.

Happy Easter to everyone.  And thanks for making the Season of Lent and Holy such an amazing gift to all of us…and I think, as all liturgy is, a gift to God.

And another thing…

That question will be address tonight at the Requiem (7:00 pm tonight at Christ Church).  This is an event NOT TO BE MISSED…

But for now, here is an update on the blogpost from yesterday.  Justin Taylor offers us an outline of what happened on Friday.  Good Friday is the day that changed the world.

Go here to find out what happened on this day.

Be here at noon for Stations of the Cross

Be here at 7pm for tonight’s Requiem.

Tonight begins a mini-season within Holy Week which is at the end of the Season of Lent.  It is called the Paschal Triduum. As you can tell from the beginning of my outline below, my spell check doesn’t recognize the word.  The best corrective suggestions that Pages (for Mac) have to offer don’t make sense for Holy Week:  Tritium, Trillium, Trim.

But you can tell what it means, can’t you.  Three days.  The Three Days Maundy Thursday (beginning at sundown) and lasting to dusk of Easter Day.  That’s three 24 hour periods:  Thursday-Friday; Friday-Saturday; Saturday-Sunday.

Go here for more information…and note that this is not just a Roman Catholic observance.

We will cover some of this ground tonight at the Maundy Thursday service at Christ Church.  It is an emotional night of thankfulness, remembrance, and a closing dark…

Here is a link to a broader view of what happened on Thursday.  From Justin Taylor’s blog.

Like everyone else in the DFW area, we were all amazed at the fury of Mother Nature.  Wow…what power…and sadly, what destruction.

During the storms, I happened to be at home.  Fran had a friend over for coffee.  I heard them scurrying around the other end of our new home.  Then, “David, you’d better get in here…”  I followed the sound of Fran’s voice into the bathroom.  Fran and her friend were sitting with one dog in the bathtub.  The two other dogs were on some cushions.  I had my phone and iPad with me.  We were prepared for anything.  But I will never forget the sight…

Seriously, the Tornados that struck our area were extremely destructive and have absolutely demolished many homes.  For those folks, it is more than a headline in the newspaper or an interesting story on TV.  It is real and it is devastating.  If you would like to reach out to these folks, I would suggest contacting Samaritan’s Purse. They are a partner of Christ Church Plano and are already in place organizing work parties and they are looking for local volunteers.  Here is the link for more information.

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/responding_to_texas_tornadoes/

There is a church in the Holy Land, on the eastern slope of the Mt. of Olives, just across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem called “Dominus Flevit” or “The Lord Wept”.  The church is build to commemorate the moment that Jesus stopped to weep over the city of Jerusalem.  ”As Jesus approached the city, he began to weep over it.”  (Luke 19:41)  Here is a mosaic in the church that illustrates the metaphor that Jesus used.  ”How often have I wanted to gather you as a hen gathers her flock…but you would not…”

It is a powerful story.  I have been to the site of the event many times and I am always moved.  The church was designed by the famous Holy Land architect Antonio Barluzzi.  In each of his many buildings, he uses a story from the bible to form the shape or style of the building.  Dominus Flevit is not exception.  The building actually looks over the City of Jerusalem as Jesus looked over the city.  But even more amazing, the church’s dome is in the shape of a tear drop.  It is amazing and tender.

(By the way, Jesus only is reported to have wept twice.  Once over the City of Jerusalem and once over the death of his friend Lazarus as Mary wept.  (John 11)  Jesus wept over things that had died.  His friend, whom he raised to life again; and the city whom He will one day bring back to life again. (Rev 21))

As we move from Palm Sunday to the events of the latter part of the week, we each can reflect on what Jesus says over the great city…and wonder if we are just like the city.  Do you too refuse Him who came for you?

The church/chapel actually looks over the City of Jerusalem as Jesus looked over the city. It is stunning.