When I was a teenager, I played football for Pecos High School. Compared to the schools in Austin, we were tiny. One year there were only 22 players on the entire varsity squad, and we played 11 man football. When we had a big game, the night before we played, the whole town would gather on the lawn in front of the courthouse for a pep rally.

Probably the biggest pep rally was my senior year the night before the last game of the season against our arch rival, Monahans. If we won, we would have at least a share of the district title. The enthusiasm could not have been greater, the cheers louder or the band music more spirited. But the next night, the team did not play at that level; we played one of our worst games; we missed tackles, fumbled and dropped passes and we lost. I do not know what happened to us; but our playing was not at the same level of excellence as the pep rally the night before.

That first Palm Sunday, the followers of Jesus were involved in something like a combination pep rally and inauguration parade. The disciples and followers of Jesus sang the right songs. Their cheers were the right cheers. It was a great event of faith, hope and anticipation.

But something happened between Sunday and Friday. After that big Palm Sunday pep rally the disciples and followers played their worst game. One betrayed Jesus; another denied even knowing him; and all of them fled into the darkness when Jesus was arrested. What went wrong between Sunday and Friday?

I suspect that what went wrong then is what goes wrong now because I believe we humans have not changed much in the last 2000 years. There have been some social and political changes; the way the economy works has changed; technologically, there have been fantastic changes. But deep down within us human beings, deep within the heart of our humanity, we have not changed much, if any at all.

Therefore, when I wonder what happened to those disciples and followers of Jesus between Palm Sunday and that horror-filled day we call Good Friday, I am really wondering what happens to us. To some extent, each Sunday is a Palm Sunday. We gather and sing all the right songs, and we say and hear all the right words-at least to the extent that the words sung and said are true to the message in the Bible. We commit ourselves to following Christ and doing what God wants us to do. And most Sundays, we leave feeling better, with renewed commitment and higher expectations of ourselves.

But all too often, we are like the crowd that first Palm Sunday, and before the end of the week, we are behaving as they did that terrible week we call "Holy." I know what happens to me, and I suspect it may be what happens to you also. We lose our focus, and the result is we lose heart; we lose our nerve-or more accurately stated, we experience a failure of faith and hope. What happens to us is not unlike what happened to Peter when he tried to walk on water.

You probably remember the story. There was a storm on the Sea of Galilee; the disciples were in a boat and afraid. Then, through the darkness of the storm they saw Jesus coming toward them, walking on the waves of the storm. Peter wanted to go to him, and Jesus told him to come. As long as Peter was focused on Jesus he was able to walk on the waves of the storm, but when Peter focused on the storm rather than on Jesus, he sank into the storming waves.

All too often, sometime between our Sunday experience and the end of the week, we lose our focus, and we are overcome by the storm. The words and songs of Sunday seem to melt away in the deluge of what we sometimes call "the real world." Focused on the storm, we forget we are children of God. Focused on the storm, we forget God is for us and not against us, and before we know it, we are in stormy water over our heads.

Like Peter, we think our commitment is deep and strong. But the storms of life can be frightening. We try to keep our eyes on Christ, but when we see storming waves of the terrible injustices in life, we sometimes lose heart and sink. We try to keep our focus on the love of God, but in the so called "real world," what we often see is God's love crucified, and those who live by that love being viewed by the world as being fools-sometimes, even as enemies.

When we see this happening, we begin to understand why Jesus cried out: "My God why have you forsaken me?" His cry becomes ours, and like the disciples and followers that night Jesus was arrested, we melt away into the darkness, and without saying the words Peter said, we do the same thing with our behavior-we deny we ever knew him. We try to stay focused on Christ, but when the pains and problems of life overwhelm us, all too often our faith fails and our hope evaporates-and feeling God-forsaken, we forsake God.

However, we need to remember, there were some women and the disciple, John, who were with Jesus to very end. What was the difference between these few women and John who stayed with Jesus to the terrible end, and all the other men and women who ran?

Those who stayed with Jesus at the cross were not merely loyal to Jesus. They had something more powerful than loyalty. They loved Jesus. It was love that kept them near. They loved Jesus even when it appeared their hope that he was the Messiah was wrong. They loved him as God wants us to love one another. This is why they did not abandon him, not even when it appeared that his life and ministry were a total failure and that he was God-forsaken. They were there with him, even then, to the very end because they loved him.

And it was some of these friends who had stayed with Jesus to the end, some of these women whose love was stronger than their faith or their hope, who were among the first to encounter the risen Christ. Is this merely an item historical trivia, an interesting coincidence? Or is there a message here?

I think the writers of the four Gospels are careful to tell it the way it was because the way it was is the way it is. Why did most of the disciples and followers drift away? It was because they lost their focus and had a failure of faith and hope. It is probable that the friends who stayed with Jesus to the painful end also experienced a failure of faith and hope. From all they could see, those with all the worldly power had won-once again. But they stayed with Jesus, nevertheless. They stayed with him because they loved him and refused to abandon him in his humiliating and painful death. And it was some of these friends who stayed with him at the cross who were among the first to be aware of the resurrection.

When life is at its worst, when we feel God-forsaken and we experience a failure of faith and hope, it is those whose lives are characterized by love who do not drift away and thus who are most likely to be among the first who experience the reality we call Easter. As Paul said: "Faith, hope, love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love." Love is the greatest because love endures-even in the midst of crucifixions.

God, help us be more than pep rally Christians. Enable us to live lives of love so that even as we deal with the worst situations in life, we are in a position to see Easter when it happens. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:
God, at this time in the life of our congregation, we know that each of us needs to seek your guidance because we are in the process of making decisions that will impact the way this congregation will be doing ministry for the next forty or fifty years. And yet, O God, we tend to avoid seeking your guidance. Forgive us. Forgive us when we are so focused on ourselves and our agendas that not only are we insensitive to your presence and deaf to your will, we even convince ourselves we do not have time to seek your will. Forgive us when we hide our selfishness under the camouflage of being too busy to pray. Forgive us when we avoid situations and information that might awaken us to your will.

And, God, we need more than simple forgiveness. Rescue us from using the excuses we so often use to avoid making room in our schedules for prayer and meditation. God, help each of us to seek your will. Help each of us to be open to your guidance. As we prepare to make our personal decisions about the capital fund campaign and the future of this congregation, God, motivate each of us to seek your will and then enable us to do what is pleasing to you so that each of us will be at peace with you and at peace with ourselves and so that we will experience the joy of faithfulness.

All this we pray, remembering Jesus was teaching us to live when he taught us to pray: "Our Father …"