Art from Guatemala

Kindred in Christ,

Have you ever been so sure that you knew what was going to happen, that when it did happen, you almost missed it entirely because things didn’t go the way you had imagined?

Like when my daughter was so sure that her flu shot was going to hurt that she cried and wailed until we told her, “Hey, it’s already over!” And then she composed herself and said, “Oh, I didn’t even feel it.”

Or like the time I proposed to my now spouse, Kim, during the month of October with a bunch of carved pumpkins spelling out “will you marry me?”.  And her first response was, “Wait? What? Now? Here?!” Thankfully, she eventually said “yes.”

As we enter into Holy Week, we are reminded that with Jesus things are never as we would anticipate, and that to be open to God requires us to be open to the unexpected. Regarding Palm Sunday and Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, author and activist, Shane Claiborne writes, “As Jesus rode a donkey into Passover, it was a lampoon of power, political parody at its best. Kings didn’t ride donkeys. They rode war horses with an entourage of soldiers. It would have been like the president riding a unicycle to their inauguration.”

Join us this Sunday as we celebrate Palm Sunday and explore what it means to put our expectations aside in order for them not to get in the way of the new thing God is doing in our present. See you on Facebook Live!

Alongside you,

-Rev. Paul Ortiz