Tag: Infinite Atonement

THREE DAYS OF AMAZING GRACE

The Three Days, also known as the Triduum in Latin, takes place at the climax of Holy Week, and it’s actually one worship service in three parts over three days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Saturday Easter Vigil.

First comes Triduum Part I (Maundy Thursday), and the word “Maundy” means mandate or commandment, referring to the Love Commandment of Jesus Christ our Lord. Consequently, Maundy Thursday centers on Jesus’ command for us to love one another as he loves us. It is also the night we commemorate the instituting of the Lord’s Supper. Then, at the end of this first part of the Triduum, the lights are dimmed and the altar is stripped bare while Psalm 22 is read, foreshadowing the commemoration of the crucifixion of our Lord on Good Friday.

Second comes Triduum Part II (Good Friday), and this day is the second part of the liturgy of The Three Days, extending from Maundy Thursday through Saturday Easter Vigil (Easter Eve). As the Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world gathers to remember the suffering and death of Jesus on this day, the altar is dressed in black, and we focus on the significance of the sacrificial love that Jesus showed us upon the cross of Calvary. In this way, Good Friday brings us to the foot of the cross, where Jesus bore our sins and died in our place. Here we stand before the cross, beholding the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world [see John 1:29].

Third comes Triduum Part III (Saturday Easter Vigil), and this is the night when Christians around the world gather to celebrate Christ’s passage from darkness to light, from death to life. The Easter Vigil service is the other candlelight service of the Church calendar. This special service includes powerful signs: a “new fire” burning in a fire pit outside the church, the Christ Candle lit from the new fire, our handheld candles lit from the Christ Candle, the Word of our Baptismal Covenant declared, and the very first Eucharistic Meal of Eastertime received. As the altar is changed from the darkness of Good Friday to the white and gold of heavenly light, we are the first to exclaim, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!”

For Lutherans, the Triduum is the very heart of the Christian year. Far from a mere historical remembrance, the Triduum invites us to encounter the Living Christ, and through faith, we are united in the awe and wonder of his victory. Maundy Thursday calls us to love and serve as Christ did, and to be strengthened and kept in true faith by his body broken and blood shed for us, received in bread and wine. Good Friday anchors us in the cross as the source of our atonement and reconciliation with God. And Saturday Easter Vigil proclaims the new light and life we possess, showered upon us in our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, which changes everything for us.

Again, Maundy Thursday calls you to love and to receive grace. Good Friday anchors you in Christ’s atoning sacrifice and forgiveness, even when your life seems to be falling apart. Saturday Easter Vigil steadies you to wait on God’s timing to bring light anew and life everlasting. So the Triduum isn’t just three holy days — it’s a way of life. We live as those who are set free. When guilt creeps in, remind yourself that your sins died with Jesus on the cross and stayed behind in the tomb when he rose again. When fear of death looms, cling to the promise of your own resurrection made possible by his. And always celebrate small victories, like a kind word or a mended relationship, as echoes of the big victory of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ our Savior.

Blessed Triduum & Happy Easter!!! Pastor Tim

2025 JUBILEE

The biblical observance of a Jubilee Year is a special Divinely-sanctioned year of universal forgiveness of debts and pardon for sins. In the Old Testament the Jubilee Year is mentioned to occur every 50th year, during which financial indebtedness would be forgiven, prisoners would be pardoned, and slaves would be freed. In Leviticus 25, the Lord God Almighty commands that the Jubilee Year shall be a holy year, stating, “Thou shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee” (25:10).

Regulating property rights was also included in the Jubilee observance found in the Book of Leviticus, and everyone was supposed to return to their family property in the Year of Jubilee. Moreover, the Jubilee Year was to be a time of reconciliation between adversaries and of personal conversion to faith in God.

As I write this newsletter article, it’s still the Season of Advent and it’s five days before Christmas Day. We have just finished our “Mary, Did You Know?” series for our midweek Advent services, and my mind is already turning to the New Year ahead. After contemplating the biblical answer to the question “Mary, did you know?” over the past several weeks of Advent, my mind is starting to shift to the themes of the various liturgical seasons of the Church calendar in 2025. And my prayer is that 2025 will be a year of personal, spiritual, national, and global Jubilee for all of us.

I pray that 2025 will be a year of Jubilee in our hearts, Jubilee in our homes, Jubilee among our friends and family, Jubilee for our city and state, Jubilee for our nation, and Jubilee for our whole world.

Just as Mary could not have known early in Jesus’ life that he would be the One and Only to give himself as the perfect offering of atonement for all humanity; and just as Mary (the woman uniquely graced by God to bear the Son of God) once held the infant Jesus in her arms while not knowing that she would one day hold his lifeless body in her arms at the foot of Jesus’ cross, as he thereby completed the once-and-for-all-time sacrificial offering for our infinite atonement and eternal life; and just as Mary could not have known that, after all the terror and death of Jesus’ crucifixion, she and many others would find his tomb to be empty on the morning of the third day, and they would encounter the risen Lord Jesus many times before his Heavenly Ascension, which brought ultimate victory over sin, death and the devil; and just as Mary and the Apostles could not have had detailed foreknowledge of the universal Jubilee of God’s salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we too do not know all of what God has in store for us in this Year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Twenty-five, and in the years to come beyond it.

For as the Word of God declares within the Holy Scriptures, “Things no eye has seen and no ear has heard, that have not entered the heart of humankind — these things God has prepared for those who love him” (First Corinthians 2:9). Amen! And thanks be to God!

Happy New Year & Jubilee Blessings!!! Pastor Tim

STEWARDSHIP & THE MIRACLE MAKER

In chapter 12 of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus addressed the subject of temple offerings. The following is from Mark 12:41-43…

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.”

Of course, Jesus is not saying that we should give to the work of God’s Kingdom to the point of financial hardship. Rather, he is saying that those who give out of their abundant wealth are not giving as much as those with far less wealth who give a lesser amount. In other words, Jesus is simply praising the generous spirit of the poor widow over and against the less generous spirit of the rich elite of Jerusalem.

While Jesus is not advocating for our impoverishment in Mark 12, he is certainly advocating for us to be as generous as possible (without material injury to ourselves) for the work of the ministry of God’s Kingdom for all people. Because of God’s unlimited grace for us in Christ Jesus our Lord, we are free to joyfully and cheerfully give whatever it is that we have pledged to the mission and ministry of our “temple” congregation, Mt. Olive Lutheran Church. For that’s what it says in Second Corinthians 9:7, where it says, “Each of you must give as you have made up your own mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

ALL that we have and ALL that we are (absolutely everything) comes from God and belongs to God. From the Christian perspective, we are not owners but only stewards of all that the Creator gives to us — our lives, families, possessions, labor, income and talents. Therefore, everything that we have and everything that we are is to serve the glory of God for the sake of the world.

So, it’s not that we give a certain percentage to the work of God, and the rest is ours. No, it’s that 100% belongs to God, and we are to be good stewards of his 100%, including our offerings to our congregation. It is all from God anyway, and so it’s all in service of God’s Kingdom here in our earthly lives as a sweet foretaste of our heavenly lives to come. In other words, stewardship is everything we do after we say we believe. And stewardship is also the first things that we do. It’s the first fruits of our lives; the first fruits of everything.

“First fruits” means that we dedicate a certain amount of our time, talents and income to the work of God first thing — right off the top. For example, our Sunday worship service is the first fruits of our time each week, which is the morning of the very first day of the week. For another example, the Lord’s Prayer prayed each morning as we’re still sitting on the side of our bed (first thing) is a powerful first fruits practice. And of course, cheerfully giving a pledged amount of our income every pay period (first thing, right off the top) is a fundamental first fruits spiritual discipline.

Giving a set pledged amount to the work of God within our community of faith first thing off the top — rather than the last thing from the bottom dregs — is an act of worship that is multiplied by the offerings of others. As our Lord Jesus miraculously multiplied the loaves and fishes, we need to remember that it’s not for us to perform the miracle but it’s only for us to offer the five loaves and two fish. From everlasting to everlasting, the Lord God Almighty is the Miracle Maker and the Source of all that is, both seen and unseen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, eternal world without end! Amen!

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim