Have I told you that worshiping with you fills me up? It fills my cup. And makes me whole. I want to say special thanks to Nikki Glantz for so much amazing music, Ali Eleam who played the chimes, the choir for an amazing anthem, and Bob Miller for the clarinet offertory.
This coming Sunday (3/24), we have lots of special music once again: Ali Eleam will be playing the chimes again during one of our hymns; Bob Miller will accompany the choir on clarinet, and Allie Mason is offering Gounod's "O, Divine Redeemer" as special music. I don't know about for you, but music is certainly one of the ways that I pray: singing, and listening, moving and being still. I am so grateful for this congregation's ministry of music and the leadership of our Music Minister Nikki Glantz!
The question we will wrestle with this week is the one that Jesus asks his disciples: "Who do you say that I am?" Perhaps you, like me, have wrestled with the question of who Jesus is. Who do you say that he is? My answers have shifted. They've changed and evolved over time. I love that our scripture is full of answers and some of those answers are very different from each other. While the answer that Peter gives "You are the Messiah" (Mark 8:29b) is echoed in its own way in each of the Gospel tellings.
The Greek word is Christos, and it means the anointed one, the one who has been chosen. The ancient Israelites believed that the Messiah/Christos would be the one who would come to free the Israelites from under the Roman Empire and lead them as the *new* King David. They weren't expecting someone to save them from their sins. They weren't expecting God incarnate. They weren't expecting a servant leader. They weren't really expecting Jesus Christ.
"Who do you say that I am?" Who do you say that Jesus is? And how have you experienced Jesus that way?
I look forward to wrestling more with this question with you on Sunday, as we celebrate Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
