A Truly Holy Week. . .

Here we are in the middle of what most Pastors call "the busiest week of the year." Everyone I talk to says that Holy Week seems to have crept up on them this year. And it's true--it seems as if we just recovered from Christmas, and now we're in the middle of another holy season. But for me, though this week always brings a bit more busyness than usual, Holy Week is a chance for reflection and thought about what our faith is really all about.

Why did Jesus die on the cross?
What is up with the resurrection?
What does all this mean for me today?

These are all big questions, and for many of us, they are lifelong kinds of questions--the ones that really may never get an answer. But Holy Week is all about asking those questions. This season confronts us with our uncertainties, reminds us that they are neither new nor original to our generation, and helps us begin to answer them, each in our own way.

This year, we are marking Holy Saturday in our church, a new service for us as a congregation, but a very old service as far as the Church is concerned. During our Vigil, we will be reminding ourselves of the "between-time" and "between-space" that Saturday of Holy Week provides--from this vantage point, we can glimpse both the cross and the empty tomb. And then, at the end of the service, we will renew our baptismal vows. And I think that's appropriate, because it serves as a reminder that we always glimpse the cross and the empty tomb at baptism, for we have "died with Christ," and we are raised again with him, in the promise of eternal life.

So, if you have the answers to any of the above questions about Easter, let me know. I'll want to talk to you about them, because I think that what you will probably discover is that our "answers" to such questions can only ever be tentative, at best. But thanks be to God, when Christ appears to us again, "we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

A Blessed Holy Week to You,

David