I confess to you that I am arriving to this Holy Week distracted and frazzled. I had such high hopes for Lent, for what I would give up, for what I would do, for how I would spend time with the Lord. Some of these have worked out, but many of them haven’t.
Although I am rushing and collapsing into the week, I know I come in time. There is still time, in these next days, to draw close to Christ. I can still quiet my heart and mind and let Jesus be the center. This week we are invited to journey with Jesus, to walk alongside him as he approaches the cross. We are invited to offer him the attention and love and companionship that he offers us every other day of the year.
One of the ways I join Jesus is through a sense of wonder. I wonder what that last week was like for him. He clearly knew what was coming and hoped against it and yet walked forward faithfully. What was it like to be in his body that week? To feel his feet stepping firmly on the earth and count his footsteps? To wash his hands and marvel at the calluses and creases, the marks of a life that was coming to an end? How do you be present to life when you are confronting death?
These are some of the questions I hold, as I join him on the road. I hope for you to find your own questions, your own sources of wonder, your own ways to come alongside him this week. And I so offer you this blessing, to seal your holy journey.
A Blessing for Holy Week
However you arrive here –
Centered and prepared,
Distracted and rushing,
Robust or fragile -
It does not matter.
It simply matters that you are here,
At this holiest of weeks.
This week has been waiting for you.
Can you feel the weight of it?
There is a slowness, a solidity to it.
These days ask you to slow down with them.
They ask you to let the weight hold you in place,
That you may be fully present,
That you may center yourself in Christ.
The same Jesus who companions you
Is waiting to be companioned.
Can you join him…
As he enters Jerusalem?
As he washes the feet of his beloved friends?
As he breaks bread and pours the cup?
As he eats one last meal?
As he waits for the betrayal of his disciple?
As he prays in the garden, begging the Lord?
And that is just the beginning of his walk…
May you hear the invitation of this week.
May you move slow with the weight of it.
May you arrive at Easter
Centered in Christ.