|
Dear Friends in Christ,
Today our Lenten devotions take a turn as we move into Holy Week. We begin with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. He's greeted with palms and cries of Hosanna--a shout of praise and a cry for salvation.
While Jesus is welcomed by the people, the religious authorities and the ruling government are not as happy to see him. He has just raised Lazarus, whom we heard about last week, and his fame and appeal is increasing across the populus of Jerusalem. There is real danger in his heading to Jerusalem for the Passover, a danger that foreshadows the events of the week.
In the liturgy for Sunday we turn almost immediately from the joyful cries of welcome and expectation to the story of Jesus's passion and death. The shift is jarring, disconcerting, and unsettling. As it would have been for his disciples. As it is still for us.
Our own attention is turned--from our focus on our own sins, from our fasts, from our prayers--to the very real understanding that sin is more than just personal. That sin, that evil, actively tries to kill the very Son of God this week. That Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, is apprehended in the garden, tried, scourged, and executed as a spectacle. That the powers of death dealing we know so well in this world actually come after God's own self.
There's horror and pathos in the events of this week. And we remember them again even as we know of Christ's resurrection, which we celebrate in just a week's time.
But for now, come and sit at the foot of the cross. Meditate on Christ's passion. Receive the shocking reality of his love for us, even unto death. And don't despair--for we know he is truly risen.
Let this be your priority this week.
Come and hear our Lord's own last words from the cross in James MacMillan's powerful setting this Sunday evening at 7:30pm before Compline.
If you love the daily office, come for Tenebrae on Wednesday as we walk a mini version of Holy Week in sung psalms and canticles and scripture and sermons.
And mark the Triduum, the three days of the passion, with Maundy Thursday's institution of the Eucharist and Christ's servant leadership among his disciples.
Watch with Christ as he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane--there are still spots for the prayer vigil in the Lady Chapel.
Come to the cross for Good Friday as we remember his death and burial--as we venerate the cross, that strange instrument of death that God changes into a sign of life, of hope, and glory.
And mark together Holy Saturday, his descent among the dead. It's all one long liturgy--one long event that marks each of these stages, places, and times.
And after we've marked these three days, we'll gather and celebrate the triumph of Christ over evil, sin, and even death.
But first, let's wait and watch together.
Welcome to Holy Week.
Yours in the hope of Christ,
| 
