Circumspect Celebration

It’s hard to hold two seemingly opposed emotions together. Most celebrations don’t require such tension. You just celebrate a good day – a birthday, a wedding, a graduation. Others are more complicated – the anniversary of a loved one who has passed, the successful end of cancer treatment. Take this week for example – How do I hold the gruesome and heart-wrenching sacrifice of Jesus on the cross alongside the glorious soul-exalting resurrection of our Lord? My grandfather used to say that the disciples would never have called “Good Friday” good, but rather it would have felt like “Black Friday” to them. What makes it ‘good’ and a celebration to us is death … and let’s be honest – that’s strange. As we come to Passion week, we must be circumspect. A circumspect person is watchful, guarded, and thoughtful. It is only as we thoughtfully consider the death of Christ that we rightly celebrate what He accomplished and can truly marvel in the victory of Easter morning. Being circumspect is not being depressed or down-in-the-mouth. Rather it is about avoiding superficiality and a casual light-heartedness that takes the finished work of Christ for granted. The death of Christ to save sinners ought to slow us down because we know that we are those sinners. Then the victory of the cross and the empty tomb are all the richer and fuller as we celebrate the end of the story. Praise the Lord that we know the whole story, from darkness to light, so we can praise the One who saved us with all our heart, mind, and soul!