St. Paul's Lutheran Church
Messenger

625 W. Gibson Road, Woodland, CA

March 2010

Greetings

I pray that you are celebrating with joy the season of Lent. Yes that's right: Celebrating With Joy!

But Pastor, one might say, isn't this a time of penance? Isn't this a time to focus on how Jesus had to suffer and die because we were such terrible sinners? That's why we have purple hanging in church, right? To remind us?

Biblically, purple is not a sign for penance, repentance, sorrow for sin or anything along those lines. Purple was a sign of royalty mainly because of its expense. It could only be made from a small gland in a small clam in a limited region of the Mediterranean. Its bible use is in making the curtain which separated the meeting place from the holy place in the tabernacle and later in the Temple. It represented the division of the holy presence of God from unholy people.

But after the atonement of Christ we read this: Heb. 10:19- we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

So do you let purple remind you of guilt and penance or oneness with God, Hope, and a Priesthood of Royalty. In Christ the purple curtain of separation because of sin is destroyed and a royal priesthood established; designed to spur and encourage each other to declare his praise in word and deed. That is something to celebrate with joy.

Blessings,
Pastor Scherer