This week

We’re in Holy Week, that time on the church year where we focus specifically on the final days and hours of Jesus Christ.

How different will this Holy Week be from others you’ve experienced in the past? For that matter, how different is this week from any other? I’m sure you’ve “been there-done that” many times before. I’m sure that, in the grand scheme, this week may not be that different from other weeks.

Our lives have joy for sure! We have people, places, events, memories, in our lives we can look at and smile! For sure.

But perhaps in this week, we bring out the story of injustice, of the scapegoat, of pain and deep sorrows, re-directed in “sacred story”… and re-tell it. We re-tell it perhaps almost as a way to focus our tears and pain. We tell this story of suffering… but also of redemption! …Of pain… but also of healing!

We tell this story! We tell it in our hearts. We tell it in our own lives… every year. We tell it in the words not spoken. We tell it in the weary lines of our faces. We tell it in the unpacked boxes of our lives. We tell it in the not-telling of this story – the stories we dare not speak lest the images crack a bit more. We tell it… over and over… Lord, we tell it, let us tell it! Let us speak this story, Lord… in the story of Jesus. Let his story be ours… this week.

Lord, let this week speak to us! Let this week be something we live through! Let our living through this be the refiner’s fire. Lord, let our anger… our pain… our brokenness… come up and be identified… when the time is right. Let this week be a time to drop all our stuff on the story of Jesus- his pain, his suffering, his consequences.

And as this story progresses, let it lead us to redemption and resurrection… if not next week, then maybe next month, or next year. And let us re-tell this next year again!

Lord, let this week be different for us.

I pray this with tears in my eyes for all those who are in pain. Let us tell this story together.

This week, let’s hang on to each other, looking at the story of Jesus’ final days and hours.

This week… let’s be together- present in body, spirit, or heart. This week… let’s mourn together our unspoken losses. This week… let’s grieve the emptiness of broken memories. Lord, let’s be together this week.

And let’s look up together once more… let’s look up together once more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMz8fKkG2g

This week… let’s look up together!

Amen!

God bless you!