This weekend begins our observance of Holy Week and our journey with Jesus into Jerusalem and the cross. What a comfort to know the rest of the story. It doesn’t end at the grave where a memorial is set up to the world’s greatest Teacher. Our Lord burst forth on Easter. No memorial needed. In fact, the exact location of the tomb is not even 100% certain. But what is sure is that when Jesus said, “It is finished” on the cross, it was. The debt of our sin was covered by the shedding of the innocent blood of the very Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

On Sunday, we will also observe Confirmation at the 10 am service. I’m sure when our five confirmands were younger, they asked, “Are we there yet?” It might be a question asked at Confirmation: Are we there yet? In other words, do we now know all there is to know about the faith? Obviously, the answer is no. There may be no more formal Confirmation classes, but being confirmed means that one wishes to continue to be identified as a follower of Jesus and live each day in His love. In other words, the journey continues.

And where does the journey go? Just as we observe in a special way during Holy Week, so is it always: to the cross and then the empty tomb, confessing our sins and receiving forgiveness, renewing our vows of love and, empowered by the Holy Spirit, living in that love that we might know not only the security of being with our Good Shepherd, but also being empowered by the Spirit to serve Him as we serve others, going through even the darkest of valleys and, in the Lord’s time, arriving at journey’s end – the Father’s House where we shall dwell forever.