“Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her.” – Isaiah 66:10
A couple of weeks ago, I wore blue to church. Not that that’s important, but I also decided to add a pocket square that had small pink and maroon flowers printed on it. Not thinking much of these clothing decisions, off I was to teach my Sunday School class.
The first person in the room wore clothes that were reddish in color. Then a few more people came in and, wouldn’t you know it, they also wore some shades of red. There were only five of us in the room, so I commented on the coincidence in a light-hearted way.
As others came in, my smile got bigger because I was amazed. Everyone was wearing some kind of red!
Why red? If St. Patrick’s Day happened to fall on that Sunday, I would understand if everyone had on green clothes. If it was the Fourth of July, I wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch of folks donned red, white, and blue. But colors in a rosy red family? Why those?
I kept telling the class that I knew God was doing something, but I didn’t know why He was doing it. The Holy Spirit must have had a good reason for this move, but I had no idea what it could be. Neither did anyone else!
With a chuckle, I told them that this was going to bother me. While I appreciate what the Lord does, I also want to be in on His reasoning.
We went through the class material, then attended the service, and that was it. I left the building, still wanting to understand what God was thinking, but no closer to a solution.
Except when I told my father about it later that day, he mentioned that it was Laetare Sunday. I’d never heard of this, but a blurb in his church’s bulletin explained that vestments and banners were rose-colored in honor of the fourth Sunday of Lent.
This was new to me, so I had to Google it. It turns out that’s all correct! Here’s a simple explanation: “Laetare Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, takes its name from the Latin word which begins the entrance antiphon (introit) for that day [from Isaiah 66:10, quoted above]. Laetare means rejoice, and this Sunday is marked by a relaxation of the penitential character of the Lenten season.”
And regarding the color, “Call it pink — or, more fittingly, rose — this change in color indicates a glimpse of the joy that awaits us at Easter, just before we enter into the somber days of Passiontide.”
So there you go! It looks like the Spirit prodded most of us members of a Sunday School class in an evangelical church to dress in a way consistent with a liturgical observance none of us were aware of. We know about Easter, but not Laetare Sunday.
Well, then, why did the Lord do this?
I have no specific insight, but turning to the Scriptures sheds some light on the subject.
The Bible stresses that believers in Jesus really are one body of Christ. There may be many congregations and denominations, but the church as a whole is the body of Jesus Christ on earth.
The apostle Paul repeats this phrase quite a bit.
“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” – Romans 12:4-5
He acknowledges differences among the members of Christ’s body, but it remains a single body. Jesus brings us all together in spite of the various ways we serve Him.
Or rather, because of the different ways.
“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.” – 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
If there’s one issue Christians disagree on, it’s the theology of the Lord’s Supper. That’s too bad, because Paul points out how the one loaf of bread captures the unity of the children of God gathered in Christ’s name. Our liturgy, the way we worship, most glorifies God and builds up people when it’s done with an eye toward harmony and wholeness.
“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body–whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink … 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” – 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27
Given our ecclesiastical differences, what brings us together? It’s not a what, it’s a Who–the Holy Spirit! He inaugurates our life in Christ without obliterating what makes each of us distinctive. This is true for individual Christians and for churches, too. If we follow the Spirit who brought us to Jesus in the first place, we’ll appreciate the value of our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
“And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.” – Ephesians 1:22-23
We have to make a decision. We can opt to focus on the fractured nature of the body of Christ and fixate on what drives us apart. Or we can open ourselves to the amazing spiritual blessing we’ve received by God’s grace. We are part of something magnificent, something greater than anything in this world, something for which the Lord deserves our unending praise!
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” – Ephesians 4:15-16
God sees His people as one, but He also knows it takes time for us to grow into that reality. Valuing and respecting one another will go a long way to helping us all become everything Jesus envisions.
So we have reason to rejoice! Regardless of our affiliations, we’re part of the body of the One raised from the dead! Jesus is alive and He seeks to express Himself through the Church, His people united in His name. When we cooperate with the Spirit, we learn to love, to serve, and to praise.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ!
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