This Week

I had a teammate on a church staff I led who didn’t like the season of Lent. He had a particular distaste for acknowledging the events of Holy Week. It was too dark, too morbid, too unsettling and in his mind tended to ignore how the story ended...with a joyful resurrection.

             

I have worked with other church staff members who came from religious backgrounds where the historic church calendar wasn’t acknowledged. They had to learn what lent was, what it meant and why anyone would spend any time with the events of Holy Week.

             

This Sunday marks the beginning of what the historic Christian church has referred to as Holy Week. Holy is a great word. Its etymology has to do with “unique”, “special” and more literally “a cut above.” This week is unique among all other weeks because of God’s ultimate demonstration of love, the sacrifice of His only begotten son, Jesus.

             

Modern authors and screenwriters couldn’t match the drama, suspense and the complicated plot of Holy Week. Then again, their subject matter isn’t the pivotal event in all of human history!

             

One of my personal traditions during Holy Week is to watch Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ. It allows me to be intimately involved in this week and elicits a powerful reaction from me. When I finish the movie I am exhausted emotionally and spiritually and need to be alone to reflect for a while. Even though I know that will happen, I will watch it again this year.

At ECRC we will have a service on Thursday to relive the events of Jesus’ celebration of the Passover with His disciples, and a service on Good Friday to recall what took place that day. These services are not celebrations. They are not filled with joyful music or motivational messages. We are reminded of Jesus’ suffering and death and our part in it. We are also reminded that the events of these days are the ultimate demonstration of God’s unconditional love for us.

             

The reminder and rehearsal of these events aids us in embracing God’s love for us and enhances our celebration for Easter. As spiritually draining and emotionally painful these events are for us, without them we couldn’t celebrate Easter!

             

So, I invite you to embrace Holy Week; a unique and special week; a week that is a “cut above” all others, knowing that as we rehearse Jesus’ ultimate acts of love, we will be more than ready to burst forth with joy on Easter!