Were You There?

It’s easy to skip from the pageantry of Palm Sunday right to the pageantry of Easter Sunday. But what about those hard days in between?

by Don McAvoy on March 23, 2022

I am one of those persons who doesn’t have a “burning bush” moment to pinpoint the start of my Christian journey. I grew up in the Methodist church, went to a Methodist college, began serving the Methodist church upon graduation and then went back to seminary at SMU. As I have pondered the “When did you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior” question, I always associate my own awareness of God’s great love with the Good Friday worship services of my youth at St. Stephen UMC in Amarillo. It’s why I love the season of Lent and especially the drama of Good Friday.

For me, the old spiritual, “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?” (UMH 288) is a key element to my Lenten journey. It’s easy to skip from the pageantry of Palm Sunday right to the pageantry of Easter Sunday. But what about those hard days in between? Were you there in the Upper Room when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet or celebrated the Passover? Of course not, but through ritual and story, we can gain new insights. Were you there as Jesus stumbled on the Via Dolorosa? Of course not, but we can meditate at the Stations of Cross and remember His suffering. Were you there when they laid in him in the tomb? Of course not, but you can be present on Good Friday night when the Worship Center is stripped of all of our faith symbols as we symbolically roll the stone into place.

The drama of Holy Week causes me to “tremble, tremble, tremble” as Christ’s story becomes my story. May those same “trembles” carry us over to Easter as well. When we get to the 4^th stanza of “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” on Easter Sunday at 8:45, you might just see this old choir director get a little leaky around the eye sockets. When I left music ministry behind in 2018, that first Easter without a choir or congregation was really rough and honestly, it didn’t get any better in the following years. 2022 will be my first Easter since returning to the local church. Resurrection is real! I hope you find ways to experience the “trembles” as our journey on this Road to Resurrection continues.

Thanks for being a companion along the way…
Pastor Don

Tags: good friday, holy week, maundy thursday, jesus, lent, tomb

About the Author

Don McAvoy

Don is an ordained Deacon of the Rio Texas Annual Conference. He has served in executive, worship and music leadership roles in churches, church agencies and community agencies. Some churches which may be familiar to Bethany members are: Coker UMC, San Antonio; FUMC, Kerrville; and McFarlin UMC Norman, OK. He has also worked with the Hill Country Youth Orchestra, the Methodist Children’s Home, CASA, and the Brazos Valley Chorale. He provided leadership on the Board of Ordained Ministry in the training of provisional clergy seeking ordination. Rev. McAvoy holds a BA from Southwestern University, Ministry Certification from Perkins School of Theology and a Master of Sacred Music from Luther Seminary.

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