One Note at A Time
| “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” – John 17:3 Dear Friends, We’re just days away from the start of Holy Week – kicked off each year with Palm Sunday, one of the most joyful celebrations in the church calendar. This year, it’s even more so, as we’ll be celebrating 50 years of Kenton’s music among us that evening. Just in case you had missed it please come out on Sunday night – 6:00 PM in the sanctuary, no tickets are required. We’re hoping to pack the place out for a celebratory concert in Kenton’s honor! That’s right, we’ll have choirs, soloists, ensembles, several speakers, a few hymns and Kenton will also grace us with his own shared talents on the piano too! For everyone who has appreciated Kenton’s musicianship over the past five decades – both within our church and beyond it – this is a not-to-be-missed event! We continue with our Maundy Thursday (7:00 PM) service on March 28, our Holy Saturday Prayer Vigil in the sanctuary (10:00 AM-1:00 PM) on March 30 and culminate with Easter Sunday worship on March 31 at 8:30 AM & 11:00 AM (with a brunch in between) – and I’m so very much looking forward to all of this with you! It leads me back to the beginning of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden, recorded in the 17th Chapter of John – where Jesus recognizes that the hour has come. That hour, as we know, is when he will be arrested, tried, convicted, crucified, killed and buried. And yet, in Jesus’ prayer, he includes a different word: Glorify I don’t usually identify false charges, imprisonment, torture and capital punishment with glorification. And I know, we can look beyond Thursday and Friday to Sunday and see the glorification of Jesus upon his resurrection… but I think that’s too simplistic. If we go back to Jesus in the Upper Room, around that table… how does he begin? By dis-robing and washing smelly feet. He demonstrates what it looks like to be the very Lord of the Universe – sacrificial service. You and I glorify winning. God, in Jesus, seems content to glorify service and sacrifice for the sake of others. We can’t skip the sacrifice and go on to the celebration. It would be like Kenton showing up as an 18 year old High School graduate and telling the newly formed session of Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church that they should throw a big party for him. That probably wouldn’t have flown. No, he put in the time. He practiced and practiced, he honed the gifts and talents that he was given. He became a master of his craft, by painstakingly sacrificing time doing other things so that he could serve Christ and this community with these gifts. In the process, he’s helped us all, draw closer to God and find real life. We touch a little bit of heaven each time Kenton klinks it up on those keys. We experience a foretaste of that life that is found in Jesus when we allow that music to wash over us. That music has helped us all, know a little bit more of God and Jesus Christ. And I, for one, am grateful to be experiencing it here with you – in music, in worship and especially during this upcoming Holy Week! Welcoming You to Grow in Jesus one Day and one Note at a time, Pastor Don |