Tonight I speak at a Maundy Thursday service. The mood of this night troubles me.

Events in the ministry of Christ increased with rapid intensity. More activity is recorded in Scripture about Holy Week than any of the three years of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The direction of events changed dramatically. Fear, shock and confusion set in among the onlookers. Travesties of justice ruled the night and the next day. God the Father did not stop them and Jesus the Son did not avoid them.

The darkness of these events awakens in me the reality that the terrible cannot be avoided but must be experienced before the wonderful new day appears. Going through them transforms. Denying them destroys us.  One way or the other we will never be the same.

It is true in the Christian faith. Sins must be atoned for, and then confessed before the resurrection and new life.

It is true in life. The dark most of the time, precedes the opportunities and victories of a new day.