You and I inhabit a time in history that is defined by its context, by what has preceded and by what will follow. We live suspended, as it were, between Christ’s first and second advents.

An amazing space.

This reminds me of another breathtaking space which is also defined by its context. Each time we hear the “Hallelujah Chorus” in Handel’s Messiah, we are suspended in the silent measure, filled with wonder as the tiny pause, conspicuously void of all sound, washes over us. We wait and can hardly bear the suspense until the final “Hallelujah!” breaks through the silence, leaving our hearts and eyes full. (Read more to continue.)

I have a sense that each time we suffer loss it counts for something. In the kingdom of God. It is not only that God knows our sorrows and bottles our tears but something more. There is an inverse relationship. Each loss is a gain somehow.

It feels like darkness dominates the world. Sometimes it seems as though our small lives lived in faith and kingdom values are eclipsed by that darkness.

Yet, I know the opposite is true. The darker the world, the more noticeable our little candles. “Light dwells with him.” (Daniel 2:22) Like sunshine above a bank of solid clouds. there is an eternity awash in joy and brilliance. My flickering flame is a tiny reflection of that.

……they walked with Him on the road to Emmaus. Of that walk, they would later say, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32) O, to have been on that road. On that day. With Him. The risen Christ!

(Painting - The Road to Emmaus, Daniel Bonnell)

John Updike says it best:

Let us not mock God with metaphor,

analogy, sidestepping transcendence;

making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the

faded credulity of earlier ages:

let us walk through the door.

(from Seven Stanzas for Easter)

Then came Jesus on a young donkey. What does His manner of arrival say about Him and the kingdom of heaven? It tells us it is unlike any other kingdom in all the world. It is an upside-down kingdom (Thank you, Donald Kraybill). In this kingdom, the least shall be the greatest. In this kingdom, if you lose your life for His sake, you will gain your life. In this kingdom, the poor and powerless are valued. And, this King, in His own words, is gentle and humble. He is ushering in the upside-down kingdom as He rides into Jerusalem on a young donkey. The week that changed the world begins.

When I raised the window shade a few mornings ago, I was delighted. I laughed out loud and said, “Are you kidding?!” On the first day of spring, our forest had three inches of fresh, beautiful snow. It did not look like spring, but I knew it had to be if only because a woodpecker had announced it earlier that morning by drilling into the side of our house. I cannot think of a better way for the arrival of spring to be heralded.