FULL CIRCLE

Today’s devotional “Full Circle” looks at the significance of the events that occurred to Jesus during the Holy Week starting with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter morning. 

THOUGHT: 

It’s funny what you remember from a childhood long ago. Some memories are so acutely pierced in your recollection, but so confusing as to their deeper meaning. It is almost as if the memory stands alone, without explanation, not to be a distinct replay, but instead to stand as markers for our lives. They can be recalled whenever needed in order to explain the importance of its representation.

I remember going to PALM SUNDAY service with my dad every year and coming home with a green palm in my hand, so excited to give it to Mom and follow behind her as she placed it in a sort of “place of honor.” In fact, when my younger brother grew older, Dad had to make sure we each got a palm to exuberantly bring into our home. Sibling rivalry tends to taint a ceremonious act. We would watch in anticipation when the palm frond was placed in my parents’ bedroom, at the top of the mirror on their vanity. There it would hang until PALM SUNDAY next year, continually reminding us of an incredibly special day in the life of the church. As a child, I certainly did not realize the significance of that flimsy green leaf. Now though, looking back, I am able to comprehend the strength and enormity of this simple act of Christianity.

You see, when the new palm was put up, the old palm was taken down and brought to the church to be burned. The old, dead, brown palm is ceremoniously burned to ashes. Then, those ashes will be utilized the next year on Ash Wednesday when the Lenten season begins. So, from the new life of a beautiful green palm frond to a flaky, dusty, and dilapidated palm….it has come full circle.

During Holy Week, Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem, on a donkey, being praised as the King of the Jews! He is welcomed as a royal, with the persons in the crowd, throwing down palm fronds in front of Jesus. This symbolic gesture let Jesus know that they recognized Him as their King and that they wanted to honor Him. Jesus has been healing and bringing persons back from the dead! He has been chastising the leaders of the church and the government. He is bringing new life to the Jews. As the days went on though, later that week, that same Jesus, would be tried, tortured, and crucified. From beginnings to endings. From new life to death. Full Circle.

Please note that the palm frond is symbolic of that cycle. It starts out new, fresh, and green and represents the victory of the King. Then, only a brief time later, it has changed color, changed form, and has died.

Still……the ashes come to life on the forehead of the believer, in the shape of a cross, as the Lenten season begins. We ask the Lord to take our sins and the darkness of our heart and transform us, through reflection, study, prayer, and worship. As we attempt to comprehend the amazing sacrifice that Jesus made for us, we also ask to be cleansed from our sins so that we can start over, fresh, and anew. We start, each year at Easter, with the glorious concept of new life. Through the ensuing days, our human frailty and sinful nature crawls out again, aging our spirits and burying the recent promise to do better. Then, when we receive the Imposition of the Ashes (made from old palms), we start anew in our quest for forgiveness and new life.

PALM SUNDAY………. Maundy Thursday………. Good Friday…………………….

PRAYER: 

See me, Lord. On my knees. Sinful, degraded, ashamed…. human. As I lay palms down to welcome you this Holiest of Weeks, change me. Transform my human frailty into acts of generous giving, compassionate love, and…………. NEW LIFE.

Amen.

EASTER

Full Circle.

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