Moving Further into the Season of Lent

Last week, the choir and altar party processed into our regular Sunday morning in silence and we did not sing the doxology. This Sunday, we will not have a hymn for the procession out of the service, and on the last Sunday before Holy Week, we will have no hymns at all. Why? Traditionally, reducing the music in our regular worship has been understood as a form of 'self-denial.' That's certainly one way to look at it. But there's more to this ancient practice. The silences open space for us all to listen, to pay attention to the still small voice of God's enduring love that so easily gets lost in the busyness of life, including worship. You have fewer pages to flip through, and only one book to manage.  Time to imagine what 40 days in the wilderness might be like. And then, on Easter morning when the music and the alleluias rise again full of glory and joy, they are so, so welcome. Last week marked the midpoint of Lent. Now we retrace the final part of the path into Jerusalem.