River Region Times

This weekend marks the fourth Sunday in Lent, also known as "Laetare Sunday," from the Latin word for "rejoice."  

The early church leadership knew that every difficult journey needs a rest stop along the way, and this Sunday is meant to be an oasis of rejoicing on the road to Golgotha.  Like Gaudete Sunday in Advent, it is a mid-way point in a penitential season, when the altar was decorated with roses, the organ would come alive again, and the church would know that Easter was getting very close.  

The roses on Gaudete and Laetare Sundays remind us of Christ,  who is "the flower sprung from the root of Jesse" (Isaiah 11:1).  It's a moment to shift from the Lenten focus on repentance towards the power of Christ at work in us.  In the ancient church, this was also the Sunday when new converts to the faith were taught the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer, and many Christians in England also use it as a day to go back and visit the churches where they were baptized.

We invite you to wear rose/pink to church this Sunday, as we confess our faith together, seek the healing that only Christ can offer, and make our way closer to the cross and the empty tomb.

Original source can be found here.