April 10th – Palm Sunday Message: Serenity

On Serenity

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

I have been drawn to the language of the Serenity Prayer for as long as I can remember. Those words hung in various forms in the bathrooms or kitchens of my childhood, and my paraphrase for it has become a mantra for me over the sleepless nights in the more difficult times of my life – “give it to God, and go to sleep.” My spirit is often restless and my mind unsettled – the phrase has been an important grounding factor in my life as I seek peace and rest at the end of a busy or emotionally draining day.

As I grow as a person and a parent, I find that despite all the chaos and strife and worry, I would not change a thing about how my life has been running its course because here is where I was meant to be, and without those experiences, I would not be what I am. However, I would not consider myself having enough wisdom to know the difference between what I can and cannot change.

This past Sunday, like most Sundays when my children join me for the service, I was pulled away from the message to run to the bathroom. Despite how much I love my children, the semi-predictable interruptions have been mildly frustrating to me because I enjoy the time, even if I am not actively listening (sorry, Pastor!). I spend the sermon considering elements of the message and allowing my mind to take whatever course it does, God willing it leads me to something transformative on my own. Anyway, I was unsettled on Sunday already, hurrying my younger son to the bathroom, and I looked up at the Serenity Prayer on the wall in the ladies’ room which I had not noticed for some time. God chose that moment to draw my attention to center and remind me what was important, as well as tie in the reflection thoughts I had noted in the parts of the sermon that I did hear.

Something I pondered during the sermon and often since, what would it be like to know your untimely end is coming and knowing that it will be a terrible, tormented death? Did Jesus hear the cries of Hosanna (from Hebrew, Pray, save us) and shudder inwardly knowing what saving them would cost, knowing that they would turn on him? Jesus, when he pondered and prayed in the garden, knew he was going to serve a purpose, the culmination of the purpose of his life, but would that change how He would greet the gruesome events leading up to His death? Did Jesus ask His Father for change? Peace? Courage? I think at some point, He asked for all (and more), but He knew what had to be done.

Why did God choose crucifixion for this beautiful and glorious act of servitude to ransom our souls for eternity? The answer I keep coming to is that something of this magnitude, the entire salvation of our people for the rest of eternity, must have great cost in the form of pain, torment, despair and death. Though Jesus cried out for his Father while he was on the cross, God was there with him, feeling and experiencing every agonizing moment. As a parent, have you ever watched your child hurt? You feel their pain in a visceral, strangling way that cannot be escaped or lessened. God must have been silent in that moment when Jesus called out for him, unable to act or move, waiting for His son to be released from His agony.

In His Passion, Jesus had the wisdom to know that he could not change his destiny, but I am certain He asked for courage to do what He needed to fulfill His purpose and resist the temptations from the crowd and the devil. Did Jesus also ask for serenity as he accepted the events leading up to his death on the cross? Knowing he was going to be tempted, betrayed, abandoned, and denied by his closest friends and then demanded to be killed by those that shouted his praises only days before, was He afraid? He was mortal and fragile like all of us, so it would be easy to imagine His fear.

May we all feel so close to God that we can ask for courage and serenity in the face of our most difficult trails and have that be enough to endure them as Jesus did.

Many Blessings during Holy Week,

Hannah