The Drama of Palm Sunday

Written by Bridge Church Tech Director Andy Boettcher

NOTE: THIS IS THE FIFTH BLOG IN OUR SERIES FOLLOWING THE SEASON OF LENT.

One week before He would walk out of the grave, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Do you remember the scene? Each of the gospel writers––Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John––recorded this event as they documented the story of Jesus’ life and ministry. In a way, it was the beginning of the end. Once this week was over, the world would be changed forever.

The crowds who welcomed Jesus knew something major was happening. As John reports, their shouts of “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” and “Blessed is the King of Israel!” indicated their hopes that this man who had been stirring up such excitement––He had just raised Lazarus from the dead!––would deliver their nation with power and might. The palm branches in their hands were symbols of victory, further evidence of the sort of king they believed they were receiving. 

The people cried “Hosanna,” meaning something along the lines of “Save us, please!” The tragedy of this scene lies in the fact that these voices would soon pivot to cries of “Crucify Him!” once they recognized that He was not the sort of king they thought.

Instead of coming in power, this king was riding a young donkey. Instead of breaking into the city as a symbol of war, His procession was one that proclaimed peace. But this was only the beginning––soon, He would be on a cross, dying on behalf of the people He came to save. This was not the victory the people proclaimed as He entered the city. This “triumphal entry” was indeed a victorious one, but not in the way the crowds believed it to be.

What then do we do with this dramatic scene?

I want to suggest that we view it as an invitation to walk humbly with Jesus as we enter this Holy Week.

John reports that Jesus rode into town on a young donkey to fulfill Zechariah 9:9, which says, “Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” However, the disciples did not recognize this at the time. John says that it was only after Jesus was glorified that they were able to understand the significance of this fulfillment that pointed to Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, the one who would save His people.

The people around Jesus could not see the significance of the event until afterwards. Yet, He was met with fanfare and acclaim. They recognized the coming King, but they praised Him for the things they mistakenly thought He was about to do. I wonder how often you and I rush into celebrations of worship in ways that are marked more by such superficiality rather than genuine praise and humility. I know I am guilty of rushing to images of God that fit my narrative, images that fit nicely into a depiction of God who does not challenge my expectations or prove me wrong. But when you find yourself praising a God who agrees with you on everything… Well, I don’t think that’s God you’re worshiping.

The real Jesus, the one who saved His people not by force but by lovingly laying down His life, will challenge you. As you draw near in worship, strive to do so with the humility that accepts Him as He is, challenges as all. As we do so, we will find that He invites us to lay down our lives for the sake of our brothers and sisters. He invites us to take up our cross daily and follow Him. And He challenges us to believe that the Creator of the universe is so loving towards us that He sent His Son to endure suffering and trials and betrayal and death in our place. He challenges us to believe that because He rose again and is alive today, we, too, will live.

So in humility, let’s praise the coming King this Palm Sunday. Let’s enter this Holy Week expectant for the challenge of walking with Jesus even as we anticipate the blessed resurrection that is promised to those who do.

Andy Boettcher

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

The Parts of Prayer I've Forgotten

Written by Bridge Church Tech Director Andy Boettcher

NOTE: THIS IS THE fourth blog in our series following the season of lent.

“Why don’t you pray after that portion of the service?” I asked. “That should give the band some time to get back onstage to be ready for the last song.”

From the perspective of a worship leader trying to plan a tight transition from one portion of a Sunday morning service to the next, this can be a perfectly innocent thing to say. But it’s also a really easy way to forget what it actually means to pray. And I have to confess, I have often been guilty of forgetting.

It’s not wrong, of course, to plan such a transition within a worship service––we regularly do this at The Bridge so that we are ready to hear from the worship leader or start singing the next song as soon as the person leading in prayer says “amen.” My point is that I have fallen into the trap of thinking of that prayer time as a transition between practices rather than a unique practice in itself.

As we continue in our blog series exploring different practices associated with the season of Lent, I wanted to take the opportunity to approach the practice of prayer with some self-examination. After all, to quote Dave Norbeck’s first blog entry in this series, “Lent traditionally is a season where we, as the church, examine our lives to see where we have drifted away from Christ.” My hope is that as I examine the parts of prayer I’ve forgotten, there might be something for each of us to remember and reclaim about this practice.

So, other than simply not being a transition… what is prayer?

Prayer is essential for our walk with Jesus.

I confess that this is the biggest area of forgetfulness in my prayer life. If I’m honest, I think of prayer as an essential part of walking with Jesus more often than my prayer life actually reflects this. But prayer is not an add-on to the Christian life––it is essential.

“All people pray for one of two reasons––either because they ought to or because they must… If ought-prayers see prayer like perfume, a welcome but nonessential addition to the air, then must-prayers see it like oxygen, the element of the atmosphere their life depends upon.” - Skye Jethani, What if Jesus was Serious… About Prayer? p. 26-27

Jesus modeled prayer for His disciples. He taught them how to pray. Notably, He taught them to pray behind closed doors:

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” - Jesus in Matthew 6:5-8

For followers of Jesus, prayer is not something to be done as a show. It is not about the number or eloquence of your words. It is not even about transferring information to God––as if He was unaware of that which is in our hearts or minds. God doesn’t need us to tell Him what is going on and He doesn’t need a performance. We, however, need to commune with God. The One whom we need for our very breath has given us a gift in being able to go to Him in prayer with anything and everything. When we truly recognize this, we move from being ought-prayers to must-prayers.

Prayer is about being vulnerable with God.

I usually catch myself forgetting about this aspect of prayer when I am in the middle of praying. Have you had this experience? You’re praying, and suddenly you realize you have been praying for a while using phrases that are empty of meaning because you’re simply reciting them and going through the motions of prayer rather than actually conversing with God. I believe this is a large reason behind the hesitancy that many feel about using pre-written prayers. (Personally, I have found pre-written prayers to be very helpful in guiding and shaping my prayer life… but maybe I can save that discussion for a later blog post!)

As I reflect on this aspect of prayer, it’s hard for me to fathom a more vulnerable practice. In prayer, we are conversing with the One who knows us better than we know ourselves. To borrow a phrase from the Book of Common Prayer, He is “the One from whom no secrets are hid.” 

How are we to approach God with this in mind? I love the posture that the writer and Catholic priest Henri Nouwen describes when talking about our vulnerability before God in prayer:

“Often you will catch yourself wanting to receive your loving God by putting on a semblance of beauty, by holding back everything dirty and spoiled, by clearing just a little path that looks proper. But that is a fearful response––forced and artificial. Such a response exhausts you and turns your prayer into torment. Each time you dare to let go and to surrender one of those many fears, your hand opens a little and your palms spread out in a gesture of receiving. You must be patient, of course, very patient, until your hands are completely open.” - Henri Nouwen, With Open Hands, p. 25

Although he is speaking metaphorically, since reading this quote I have found it helpful to actually physically close my hands when I am beginning to pray. Then, as I consider the things on my heart and the things I would rather keep hidden or tucked away, I slowly open my hands while I confess them to God. There’s nothing mystical or magical about it. It’s not a secret practice that manipulates God into forgiving me of those things I am unveiling in my heart. Rather, it’s a way of helping me recognize my constant need to repeat this process.

When I admit to God what I would rather keep to myself, I am reminded that my default state is one of closed hands. Yet, God already knows where I have been and what I have done and how I have fallen short, and His is a posture of welcoming open hands. As I open mine, it is a reminder that I can be vulnerable with the Lord and that His grace is sufficient for me.

One day I won’t need the reminder. But in the meantime, I’ll keep practicing opening up my hands.

Prayer is communion with God amidst a busy world.

One thing I have not forgotten is the busyness of the world around me. That is the part of this aspect of prayer that comes easily. What I do forget about is the fact that prayer is not something that we wait to do once our schedule clears up. Rather, prayer should be a constant amidst the busyness.

Busyness often affects my prayer life such that I find myself remembering to pray at the very end of the day as I am getting ready to fall asleep. And while I think that praying before bed is a wonderful practice, I think that C.S. Lewis has some wisdom when he acknowledges that making bedtime our primary prayer time is not the best idea.

“My own plan, when hard pressed, is to seize any time, and place, however unsuitable, in preference to the last waking moment.” - C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, p. 20

Imagine if the only time you talked with a friend was the very moment before they fell asleep. If the friend was anything like me right before I go to sleep (or between the time I wake up and have a cup of coffee), I imagine the depth of conversation would be… lacking.

Yet I still find that there are days when I only remember to pray right at the end of the night.

I need to be reminded of Paul’s exhortation to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) It needs to be my default state––communion with God. 

I am by no means an expert in succeeding in this practice, but one thing that has helped me quite a bit is creating reminders for myself to pray about specific things. When I was in college, there was one building on campus in which I knew I would have the majority of my classes. I decided that every time I passed by the flagpole outside of it as I approached the building, I would find one thing to thank God for that day. It didn’t matter how big or small the thing was––the point was that I would have an easy reminder to direct my attention to God in thankfulness.

There was no real significance to the place that I chose as that reminder other than the fact that I knew I would need to pass by it more frequently than other spots on campus. But even today when I visit the campus, if I go to that building and pass by the flagpole, I search for something to thank God for as I do so.

We are all prone to forget. That is why we need reminders. What can you identify in your life––a location, a time of day, or something else you encounter regularly––that could serve to remind you to pray about specific things?

Prayer is something that shapes us for the better.

Rather than explain this final point, I want to leave it with you as an encouragement and a challenge. Do you believe that prayer, spending time with God, shapes you for the better? I have no doubt that it does. But if you have any doubts, I would encourage you to adopt the practice of praying the Lord’s Prayer every day for some time. Since we are in the middle of the season of Lent and about a month away from Easter, maybe you could make it a goal to pray it each day until that Sunday when we celebrate the resurrection. 

But when you pray, don’t just say the words. Consider what you are praying. Maybe even put it into your own words. It could look something like this:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
You are holy and wholly worthy of all the glory, Father.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
In the same way that you reign in heaven, make your reign apparent on earth today.
Let your will be done in and through me today.

Give us this day our daily bread,
providing my physical and spiritual needs,

and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Lord, make me aware of those I need to forgive as well as the areas in which I am in need of forgiveness.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
By your Holy Spirit, help me to identify temptations as they come.
Deliver me, Lord, from the evils that surround.

For yours are the kingdom and the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

May the words that Christ taught us to pray shape us ever more into people who give others a glimpse of that kingdom of which we are praying. And may the Holy Spirit shape us into people who continually remember to turn to our Maker in prayer.

Andy Boettcher

Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash

The Power of Saying No to Yourself

Written by Bridge Church Elder Dave Norbeck

Note: This is the third blog in our series following the season of Lent.

We have a tendency of giving ourselves treats. We deserve it, right? Nothing wrong with that! But have you ever noticed that with all the evil in our world, all the pain, that we are often imbibing more and more? That reflex to balance out our pain with pleasure. Seems just right, doesn’t it?

Only problem is, we are all a little (or a lot) bent on this side of eternity, broken in our judgments and prone to excess. Just a look at our scales tells us a story that cannot be true. Our waistlines and pant sizes don’t lie. We like to ignore that message that tells us our screen time this past week, or how many episodes we binged on Netflix.

“Hey, there is a pandemic, haven’t you heard!! It’s ok…”

...Or is it?

For millennia folks have discovered the value of feasting and celebration, but also the need for denying ourselves from time to time. There is a time for everything, says the writer of Ecclesiastes. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, mankind has been prone to excesses that need to be brought under control with self-denial. During this season leading to Good Friday and Easter, we would like to help with some thoughts on the process of denying self.

The Bible refers to this process as fasting. It was a spiritual process that put aside the physical needs for food because of a greater need for God. A desperate human desiring only to hear from God for deliverance from enemies, or healing from disease or a comfort in loss; a need for the sense of God’s presence, where nothing else was important. We see evidence of this in the Bible with leaders calling on their people to give up food to focus their attention to God: Israel in Judges 20:26, 1 Samuel 7:6 and 31:13; 2 Samuel 1:12; Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:3; Josiah in Jeremiah 36:9; Ezra in Ezra 8:21; Esther in Esther 4:16; David in 2 Samuel 12:16 and Psalm 35:13-14; Joel in Joel 1:14 and 2:15; and even the King of Nineveh in Jonah 3:5. Jesus fasted at the beginning of his ministry for 40 days. God told the Israelites in Leviticus 16:29-34 and 23:27 that the people were to fast on the Day of Atonement with the Hebrew word meaning “afflict yourselves.” It was the idea of self-denial to focus all of yourself on your need for God and how you had fallen short.

Now as with all things that are done with repetition, solemness can be replaced by rote tradition where the act becomes mindless and meaningless. Also, a sense of abandonment of yourself to the Lord can be replaced by a worthiness because you are following God’s decrees. Both types of false fasts happened with the Israelites as both Isaiah and Jeremiah condemned in Isaiah 58 and Jeremiah 14:12. In the post-exilic period the people were now fasting in the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months of the year remembering various events of the fall of Jerusalem and mourning it. Over time the religious leaders in Jesus’ day had transformed fasting from one day a year to repetitive times (twice a week-Luke 18:12) and did it with impure motive to bring attention to themselves. Jesus condemned this. Motives matter. Jesus thought it proper for His followers to mourn and fast when He was taken back into heaven (Matt 9:15, Mark 2:20, Luke 5:34).

So where does all this leave us? Should we fast just because we should? Did Jesus command us to fast? The answer to that one was no, but He did expect his followers to put Him first before everything else: Matthew 10:39, 16:25; Mark 8:25; Luke 9:24-25, 17:33; and John 12:25. Our problem is, as mentioned above, that we often fail miserably at this! And like the Day of Atonement for the Israelites, we need to take some time to “afflict ourselves,” to deny ourselves so we can focus more purely on Christ and where we need to shore up our relationship with Him, the things we can do to walk more closely with Him.

So how do we fast? Well, certainly start with something small and doable for you. The Jews would fast from sunset to the following sunset, meaning you would eat dinner and then skip breakfast and lunch (and snacks) and eat dinner the next day. If you feel light headed or dizzy from lack of calories, you can always take some fruit juice to keep you going. But you can also give up all kinds of other things like: Netflix, Fox News, TV, video games, shopping, movies and on and on. Whatever it may be that has taken up too much of your attention and has left little time for God. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what is holding you back from walking closer with Jesus. He will! Then have the courage to act on it. Ask Jesus for that as well!

That’s the practical side. The bigger point is not just denying yourself but filling that void with something. Something that will draw you closer to Christ: prayer, reading Scripture, acts of service, journaling, worship by singing or meditating on God’s attributes. These are all called the spiritual disciplines because they take discipline during a time of “afflicting yourself.” You may initially feel like a failure as all you are thinking about is your hunger, or your need for whatever it is you are denying yourself. That’s ok. Stick with it. Keep going and ask God for help. Tell him your heart’s desire is to grow closer to Him. He will meet you in your struggle. Remember to him who seeks, he will find; to her who asks, she will receive; and to them who knock, the door will be opened (Matt 7:8, Luke 11:10).

Now in the words of our vernacular, “Just do it!” “Get er done!” “Go for it!” “You can do it!”

What do you have to lose? Or more importantly, what do you have to gain?

Dave Norbeck

Photo by Ralph (Ravi) Kayden on Unsplash

Ashes... To Go

Written by Bridge Church Elder Bill Erickson

Note: This is the second entry in our blog series about Lent. Click here to read the first entry.

Several years ago, I commuted to a job in the city. Along with other commuters, I would stand at the station to await my train. Finding a couple of friends, I would board the train and settle in for the hour-long commute. One winter morning when I arrived, I noticed a rather out-of-place scene. Near the station house was a small table set up with a few pieces of “holy” hardware on it. Behind it stood a priest accompanied by a couple of nuns. Hanging on the front of the table was a sign that said, “Ashes To Go.” In front of the table a few people stood waiting for the priest to administer a mark of ashes to their foreheads. It was Ash Wednesday.

“So, this is what it’s come to,” I thought. We’ve reduced a solemn sacred ceremony at a church, where we search our hearts, reflect and repent, to a fast-food-drive-thru format, so we can remain in our hurried existence and still feel like we’ve fulfilled our duty to God. Coming from my background (Lutheran on my father’s side; Presbyterian on my mother’s side), it disturbed me. 

What does it mean? What is Ash Wednesday? Why do we observe it? Is it just a Catholic tradition or can Protestants observe it also? 

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. This year it will be observed on March 2. The official name is Day of Ashes. It is always 40 days before Easter (excluding Sundays), so there can never be an Ash Tuesday or Ash Thursday. The Bible never mentions Ash Wednesday, or Lent either, for that matter. (For more about Lent, please read Dr. Dave Norbeck’s blog on the season of Lent.)

Ash Wednesday is meant to be a day of reflection, repentance, and fasting. Though the term is not mentioned in the Bible, there are numerous references (39) in the Old Testament where people would sit in sackcloth and ashes as a sign of repentance. (2 Sam. 13:19; Esther 4:1; Job 2:8; Job 42:6; Daniel 9:3) The modern-day practice is to have ashes rubbed on one’s forehead in the sign of the cross. This takes place during a service or mass, by the pastor or priest, who will recite from Genesis 3:19, “…From dust you came and to dust you will return.”

Other passages giving credence to the observance of Ash Wednesday would be:

Genesis 2:7 - “Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.”

Genesis 3:19 - “By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust and to dust you will return.”

Psalm 51:7-10 - “Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Give back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice. Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.”

Ash Wednesday is observed by most Catholics and a few Protestant denominations. The exact start of the tradition is lost in antiquity. It is quite likely that it was practiced, in some form, back in apostolic times. It was not formalized until the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD when a date for Easter was established.

Perhaps, you may be asking yourself, why doesn’t our church/denomination observe Ash Wednesday? By and large, Evangelicals, for much of their history, have moved away from these annual Church Year events, as they were not specified in the Holy Scriptures. It may have started back in the time of the Reformers when State Churches were beginning to be established. For example, in Germany and Scandinavia, it was the Lutheran Church; in Great Britain, the Anglican Church and so on. Not wanting to follow any state church, Evangelicals decided to reject entirely the Church Year calendar along with the liturgy that went with those observances. Personally, I miss it.

So, is it wrong to observe these days? It is not wrong to observe them so long as it is done appropriately and for the right reason. If it is done from a desire to be trendy or feel connected, in some way, to the church at large it is wise to refrain. But, if on a personal level, there is genuine reflection, repentance, fasting and meditation on Christ and His sacrifice, it is not wrong. Keep in mind Jesus’ teaching in Matthew’s gospel (6:5ff) where He says not to be obvious, as the hypocrites, when participating in these observances. The Pharisees would pray publicly on street corners where everyone could see them. When fasting, they would look miserable and disheveled so people would admire them for their fasting. “Rather, when you pray, Jesus said, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Heavenly Father in private. And, when you fast, clean up, fix your hair, so no one will know you are fasting.” While there is historical support as a tradition of the church, there is no direct biblical support to observe these days. For this reason, Evangelicals did not generally observe them as I mentioned.

If you have had questions about Ash Wednesday and why it may or may not be observed, I trust this helps. 

A prayer for Ash Wednesday: Dear Father, I ask you to search my heart this day. May your Holy Spirit convict me of those areas in my life where I have sinned and fallen short of your glory. I confess my sins to you. I am reminded that without your mercy and grace, I would be dust. I repent now and ask your forgiveness. As with the Psalmist, I ask that You remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. As I enter this Lenten season, may I draw near to You. Help me in my weakness and by your Spirit give me strength to overcome the enemy. Amen.

Bill Erickson

Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash

Finding our Way: Walking with Jesus

Written by Bridge Church Elder Dave Norbeck

Do you ever feel like you are a bit lost? Perhaps a tad confused on what God is up to, or just forlorn for all the things that you have lost in the last 2 years? Perhaps you find yourself angry at the world or maybe even at God. Or maybe you just feel a loneliness that is haunting your soul. When we get like this, we have a need to figure out why, and then to determine what we will do about it. As disciples of Jesus the answer is straightforward. We need to get back on the path and walk with Jesus.

This year The Bridge Church will be having a series of sermons during the Lenten season starting on March 6th. They will be based on the concept of “Walking with Jesus.” We will be looking at sharing life with Jesus and rediscovering and sharing in His mission and vision, His heart, His future, His friendship and family, His temptations, trials and sufferings, but also sharing His joy and victory at Easter. You may ask that since we are not Catholic nor Anglican, what is Lent to us at the Bridge? Historically the Evangelical Free Church broke away from the State Lutheran Church and from all liturgy that was not based on Scripture.

Lent traditionally is a season where we, as the church, examine our lives to see where we have drifted away from Christ. Lent began in the early 4th century around 330 AD and was begun to allow those who had recanted their faith to find a way back to Christ, to confess and find forgiveness. We hope that this Lenten season will be about walking with Christ to discover the holiness that suffering can bring. We hope it will be about bringing good where evil has been and about bringing love where hate has been; about transforming the base to the beautiful and bringing light from darkness. We hope it will mean living as Jesus lived: for the sake of the sick and suffering, the lost, the poor, the downtrodden and for the sinner who see themselves as weak and forsaken. Lent can be the season that teaches us that darkness may overtake us but will not overcome us as we follow Christ and work for His Kingdom. Grief and suffering can be replaced by victory and bear witness to what God has done.

Our hope is that Lent can be a time that allows us to see where we have strayed from Jesus, and to be reconciled to God; to refocus us to the way and the goal of Christ. Lent is often associated with practices of confession, fasting, reading and meditating on God’s word, as well as a renewed prayer life. Perhaps we need to repent of the dillydallying on the road to God and to repent of the time we have spent playing with dangerous distractions and empty diversions. Or perhaps we need to repent of our senseless excesses and our excursions into sin, our breaches of God’s justice, our failures of honesty, our estrangement from God, our savoring of excess, our absorbing self-gratifications and our addictions and habits that lead away from God. May it be a time where we ask the Holy Spirit to confront us with what we have become and prod us to open our hearts to a new deeper time with God in prayer and His Word.

We pray this season will be a time to open ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit that will enable us to face ourselves, to see the weak places in our lives, to feel the wounds in our souls, and to determine once more to live life in a deeper walk with Christ. We will confront our desires for the physical, to rise above the greed that consumes us, to swear off the pride and anger that destroy us, and to fight the sloth that keeps us from a deeper walk with Christ. We hope to swear off the shrine of self and come to the cross and the empty tomb. But most importantly, we come to see what God’s love has accomplished. We end in the glorious victory of Christ over death, and we share in that victory!

It is our prayer that we will walk this journey together, sharing our burdens and stories. During the season we will have more posts on our Bridge Blog that discuss Ash Wednesday and confession, as well as fasting and prayer that can be tools to help us in our journey. It is our hope that it all leads to a deeper and closer relationship with Jesus. Won’t you join us?

Dave Norbeck

Photo by Thomas Willmott on Unsplash