Dear Partners in Mission:
“But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hand.” Psalm 31:14-15
This line, from the psalm appointed for the liturgy of the passion, struck me deeply last Sunday. “My times are in your hand.” The last 365+ days have been a year in which you and I have thought a lot about time. You have counted days/weeks in quarantine after being exposed to Covid-19 or had a positive test. You marked time since we saw a loved one, went to worship in person, or had a job. You recall how much time it has been since a dear one died, whether from this disease or another cause, and how much time til you can properly honor their loss together with other loved ones.
The psalmists proclaims that all these times are in God’s hands. A proclamation and reminder in the midst of a psalm fraught with grief and anxiety that you are God’s and your trust in God is not misplaced.
This Holy Week, as you recall the story of the passion, participate in the ancient rituals of our faith, take seriously sin and death, and finally wake to Easter joy, I pray for you all that the Holy Spirit will bring you this comfort and peace. To know that you can entrust yourself, all that you are,all of your times, to a God who does not let the powers of this world, even death, have the final word. And then that you are Entrusted with this story to proclaim, God’s mysteries to steward, and your neighbor to invite to know this truth and with it, share our joy.
Holy Week is a busy time in our lives even in “normal years.” So may God bless you all in this Holy Week time. To our pastors, deacons, worship and administrative staffs, cleaning crews, digital ministry teams, lay volunteers, everyone who makes the liturgies and opportunities of this week happen, you are daily in my prayers.
A blessed Holy Week,
Bishop Gronberg