46 :: Providence Baptist Church

Tonight we worshipped at Providence Baptist Church. This is Ash Wednesday and we decided to acknowledge the beginning of Lent. It ended up being pretty poignant. It also counts as my shortest worship experience on this spiritual journey.

First, a note about Providence Baptist Church. The church is (somewhat counterintuitively) on Randolph Road and not Providence Road. Many of Charlotte's largest and most ornate mainline churches are on Providence Road. Providence Methodist, Trinity Presbyterian and Christ Church Episcopal are great examples of Providence Road's expansive and beautiful churches.

Expansive and beautiful also describe Providence Baptist's campus on Randolph Road. 

Here's a picture:

 

Providence Baptist is part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship [link]. I  learned on the CBF site that there are seven CBF churches in Charlotte. My working assumption has always been that the word Baptist implies an affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention. 

Not so.

We pulled into the church a little after 6 pm as the sun was setting on a very cold day in North Carolina. We got into the small line of cars to wait our turn.

When we pulled up, we were greeted by Blake Kendrick, Head of Adult Discipleship [link, scroll down]. He explained that they wouldn't be imposing ashes physically this year. Instead, he passed us slips of paper that had a Bible verse on it. It had also been freshly painted with a black cross. 

He said a series of things that were deeply meaningful. 

He said that we were to reflect on Ash Wednesday to remember that we are from dust and will return to dust. He reminded us that this is the season to reflect on the mercy and grace of the God who dwelled among us. He declared that the time was coming where redemption and grace and peace would be victorious, and that we had to travel to arrive at that destination.

I can't recount each and every word, but what he said was deeply inspiring. As he spoke, the world around me started to fade. It was as if I had suddenly gained ears to hear and eyes to see.

It changed things.

Wednesday had been a day like most days, which means a great deal of stuff had come at us. Work, family, friends, kids, and some worries of the day. Neither Beth nor I were very focused on spiritual things at six o'clock. But Blake Kendrick's words changed that. 

I think we both said the word Amen when he was done. It clearly deserved such a finish. So be it!

He handed us the slips of paper with Joel 2:13 on them.

Return to the LORD, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.

We sat with it for a moment. Then we thanked Blake and drove away. 

I dropped Beth off and headed back to my apartment. As I drove home, I listened to Jeremy Riddle of Bethel Music sing This is Amazing Grace. During the version I was listening to, Jeremy sang the following lyrics - 

God, we stand in awe of You

We stand in awe of You

What King would leave His throne to die?

What King would leave His glory?
This is Amazing Grace
This is unending Love

And so it will be with the next forty days of Lent. 

We must ponder the vicious and unjust slaughter of the Theanthropos.

We must pass through a darkness during Lent that is so thick as to invite a loss of hope.

During Lent, we must deny our very bodies those things that we desire.

We must dance with darkness during Lent, while not indulging it - instead we will wrestle with the darkness of Sin.

Then, out of the corner of our eyes, we will eventually see a Light. 

The first time anyone saw this Light, it was but a small glimmer at a distance. This Light was seen by two Israeli women in 33 AD, as they walked to a tomb. As they approached the tomb, the Light increased. The women then saw the source of the Light, a Messenger. In the Gospel of Matthew, the face of the Messenger is described as being "like lightning."

This small glimmer of Light had been transformed by a declaration of lightning. 

Shocking, thunderous, unexpected, blinding - those are the characteristics of lightning. 

But this Messenger's countenance of lightning did something different. Instead of spreading destruction, it did the reverse. Whatever this lightning impacted became more alive, not less. Where this lightning struck, grace flourished.

Because the Tomb was empty!

He is Risen.

And that Empty Tomb is our destination. 

We must first walk a darkened path for the forty days of Lent.

Nonetheless... can you see the light? It's there, off in the distance.

Do you see it?

Look.

.

.

Amen