Volume 3 Issue 24

• Welcome to this final issue of Volume 3. Volume 4 will commence next Sunday, Easter, as Growing in Christ enters its fourth year of cyber-ministry. For Western Christianity, of course, today is observed as Passion/Palm Sunday which begins the Holy Week leading to the faith’s holiest day. When I was in the active pastorate, this day’s observance was almost as confused as Easter’s. I found it interesting that our Book of Worship had this to say:
  
• It is important not to let the celebration of Palm Sunday crowd out the observance of Passion Sunday. The passion narratives in Scripture are highly unified and dramatic, and we need to experience the story in its wholeness before we reflect at greater length on its various parts during the following weekdays. We need also to remember that many persons who attend on Passion/Palm Sunday will not be in church again until Easter Day. Going directly from the lesser joy of the entry into Jerusalem to the joy of Easter, without being addressed by the passion and the cross of our Lord, misrepresents the gospel. There is no triumph without suffering, no crown without a cross. (The United Methodist Book of Worship, copyright 1992, The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, TN)
  
• That today is also the first day of spring seems so appropriate. For those who have been following the daily Lenten journey on the ‘Sermons’ page they know that there is finally “light at the end of the tunnel!” It is not by coincidence that Easter is scheduled around the vernal equinox, just as it is not by coincidence that Christmas occurs very near the winter solstice. The symbolism of darkness yielding to light, of seeming death returning to life is nature’s powerful metaphor for the significant movements that take place in our spiritual calendars. You are invited to make GiC a part of your daily pilgrimage to the Cross and the Resurrection this coming week.
  
• I have been reminded that going into the ‘Newsletter’ and ‘Sermons’ archives can be somewhat intimidating, especially for anyone who wants to get back to the ‘Home’ page. Following these steps will hopefully make it easier: 1) at the upper right column ‘About Me’ box, click on the ‘View my complete profile’ link; 2) that will take you to a page with the heading ‘Rev. Mark A. Hanna’ where a ‘Contact’ box in the upper left column has a ‘My Web Page’ link; 3) click on the ‘My Web Page’ link and voila! you will be taken to the GiC ‘Home’ page where you can do it all again. Readers capable of putting these instructions into a more comprehensible form are invited to do so (just e-mail them to me at: RevMAH@aol.com) and we’ll make them available in future newsletters. As always, any comments or suggestions you have regarding the GiC content and/or format are welcome.
  
• Until next time………Shalom!