Polishing our Alleluias

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. (Revelation 19:6 NIV)

A recent FaceBook meme of Batman and Robin shows Robin saying, "Allelu...." as Batman quickly stops him with a slap to the face as he reminds him, "Lent!"  During our Shrove Tuesday pancake supper at Holy Cross, both children and adults spend some time coloring pictures of "Alleluias."  We then "bury our alleluias" for the Lenten season by putting them in a box and hiding the box away.  Perhaps an occasional "alleluia" slips out during Lent, but I don't think anybody has ever been slapped for it!

Several years ago, Holy Cross participated in a community Good Friday walk.  It was of mixed denominations and most did not worship in liturgical settings and what transpired was that all along that walk people were singing praise songs and shouting "alleluia."  It felt really out of place for this dyed-in-the-wool Lutheran.  If ever someone should have been slapped for an alleluia.... (I'M KIDDING!)

So what is that all about anyway?  Saint Augustine once said,

"We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song. A Christian should be an Alleluia from head to foot."

So shouldn't we be like those folks on the Good Friday walk and offer up our alleluias no matter what day it is?  The thing is "alleluias" can get rusty with use and lose their meaning.  We need a period of time to polish them back up.  We need to reconnect to what "alleluia" means and what it means to be Easter people with an alleluia song.  We know that as Christians we have freedom in Christ.  Those Lenten disciplines and fasting... they remind us of what it would be like without that freedom.  As we put our hearts and souls into Lent... into fasting... into study and prayer... into extra worship and extra time with our church family... into drawing closer to God we find a building need within us for those "alleluias" to erupt.  We are ready.  We are ready to thank God for the wonderful gift he has given in Christ.  We are ready to thank Jesus for freeing us from the bondage of sin that we can never overcome on our own.

Lent is nearly over.  Can you feel that alleluia down in your toes and starting to rise?  Soon Holy Week will be upon us.  If we participate fully in Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, that alleluia will be almost fully upon us and on Easter morning it will bubble out in all its shining glory!  Over and over we will say it and sing it and each of us will be an Alleluia from head to foot for another year.

Father,
During these weeks of Lent, let us ponder what our lives would be without the freedom Christ brings us.  Let us prepare our alleluias for Easter Sunday.  Amen.

Joys:  a nice long walk in the warm sunshine; I can't say enough how much I love Daylight Savings Time!  It is worth the adjustment that takes longer thee older I get; The feel of Spring in the air.