Monday, April 14, 2014

HOLY WEEK (Batman)!

Yes, it is that week we call Holy.  It is the week we remember Christ's passion.  It is the week of endless services.  It is the week we have got to go through to get to Easter.

Now it can feel like this is the week we have got to get through, kind of like a last form of penance before we can enjoy the celebration of Easter.  If you have seen The Passion of Christ  then this is a week when you might feel really bad for what we humans are capable of doing, but you are nonetheless anticipating that it soon will be over.  No matter whether we are liturgical or not, it is easy to want to skip over the multiple services this week and save up all our church-going for Sunday.

Having been a pastor for over 25 years now, I know that the combined worship attendance throughout this week will not even come close to what we see on Easter morning.  Nonetheless, I would not give up these markers along the road for all the tea in China.  I cannot jump so easily into the resurrection without first experiencing the horror of our humanity.  The older I get, the more I am aware that this life will have an end (it usually sneaks up on me when I'm thinking about some of the moments of my 30's and 40's), and while I do not fear death, I must say I have a deep and abiding respect for it.

Rather than focusing upon the blood and the brutality of the passion week, I believe it is enough for me to drawn into the reality of the grave this week.  That is painful enough.  Yet, without wrestling with that reality the promise of Easter seems almost superficial to me.  Maybe it a Ying and Yang kind of thing, but without all those services remembering the Last Supper and the march to Golgotha, Easter seems just too antiseptic for the realities of my life.  I need the grave in order to know the grace.

Yes, there are a lot of services this week.  Yes, I am glad that I get to be a part of them because its exactly what I need to get ready for Easter.  How about you?

Peace,
Pal

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