The Trouble With Holy Week

As a Christian, the most important week of my year is Holy Week. It is a time that is set aside for the people of faith to contemplate the week leading up to when our Lord, Jesus the Christ, was killed for healing the sick, forgiving sinners, and preaching good news to the poor. Jesus' radical understanding of God's preferred future for all of creation is that love and equality must prevail. This scared the powers of this world so much; they hung him on a cross till he died. They buried him knowing full well that was the end of it.

We need to, as a people, dwell in this story. We need to embed our lives in the movement from shouting "Hosanna" to shouting "Crucify!" This week is about watching Peter betray his best friend. It is about shouting "Release Barabbas!" It is about Simon of Cyrene being forced to carry Jesus' cross. It is about the soldiers mocking Jesus and dividing his clothing. It is about Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of our Lord, and the other women watching as their best friend died alone.  

Jesus' journey from Galilee to Jerusalem was all about preparing for this brutal week. The stories Jesus told, the teaching of God's word, the healing of the marginalized, all help us understand how powerful Jesus was and how threatening that is to the world order. In many ways we seem to be in a perpetual Holy Week.

For generations we have struggled to fully comprehend the full weight of the first Holy Week. We have tried every which way to avoid living fulling into the radical nature of the Way of Jesus. We hedge. We overexplain. We twist the stories. All to get out of under the heaviness of the Gospel that calls us to radical love. We must admit that we just do not want to live in that kind of grace.

It is easier to just go along with the world and shout "Crucify him" so that we do not need to change.

And that is why Holy week is trouble for us. It is easier to just go along with the world and shout "Crucify him." Then we do not need to change.

This is why we need to experience Holy Week. We need to remember all that Jesus has done for us, because we cannot do it for ourselves.

Join us on Palm Sunday at 9:30 am when we process with our branches and sword ferns hailing the coming of Jesus shouting "Hosannah!"

Wednesday in Holy Week we will gather online at 7pm for a short healing service, a reminder that Jesus heals us in so many ways.

Maundy Thursday we will eat together at noon and 6pm. We will have "Dinner Church" where we will hear the story of the giving of the Great Commandment and the institution of the Lord's Supper.

Good Friday we gather at 7pm to hear the story of our Lord's trial and condemnation through readings and song. It will be a powerful evening.