Pledge of Love

This coming sunday, Sunday 8 April, is Easter sunday. It is the crest of the Christian calendar, the high point of Christian faith, as we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

It is also the last of our lenten meditations on lament.

Last night's lament was a journey through the seven last words of Jesus on the cross, with the small group of women and men who remained with him, who took him from the cross to the tomb, and who returned after the sabbath to anoint his body only to find it gone. And we joined together to return to the Lord with our wounds, because he is wounded to.

‘Come, let us return to the Lord;
   for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
   he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
   on the third day he will raise us up,
   that we may live before him.
Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
   his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
   like the spring rains that water the earth.’
      Hosea 6:1-3

This sunday's lament is called 'Come Lift Up Your Sorrows: Rejoice With Those Who Rejoice, Weep With Those Who Weep.' During this meditation we will be celebrating the Meal, the Lord's Supper, communion, the eucharist, in the manner that the Anabaptist martyr (and my personal hero) Balthasar Hubmaier offered, which includes a liturgy called The Pledge of Love.