Holy Week is sneaking up on us. Palm Sunday is THIS Sunday!
So if you want to get the most out of Holy Week, now is the time to start preparing.
If you want to REALLY “get” Easter this year—if you REALLY want to experience Holy Week for the earth-shattering set of events that it is—here are a few suggestions for how you can start preparing for Holy Week now.
SLOW DOWN
Slow down. Create blank space in your life between now and Easter. Let these next ten days be a reminder that nothing is more important than your relationship with your Creator. Leave room for God, for family, for prayer, for silence. Intentionally create some space to start preparing yourself to experience the holy today.
FOCUS
What should we focus on this week? Part of the story of Holy Week is the story of suffering and death. It’s the hardest part to face, so it will require our focused attention.
If we’ve been faithful during Lent, then we’ve prepared ourselves for Holy Week by acknowledging our sin. As we get closer to Good Friday, though, we should become increasingly aware that our sin is not painless or harmless—it has its cost.
Easter loses much of its meaning if we avoid Good Friday’s cross. Start focusing now on God’s redeeming act of self-sacrificial love.
BE AWARE
When we read the biblical accounts of Holy Week, we learn that the Jerusalem of the first Holy Week was a place of energy—of almost supernaturally tangible electricity.
So tune yourself to a new awareness as the Infinite starts to break into our world. Listen as the Eternal crackles to life. Begin to sense the Ground of Being rumbling deep inside you.
Don’t let anything crowd out time to listen for—and begin to feel—God’s presence next week.
READ
Read scripture. Read the prophets (Amos 5, Micah 6, Hosea 6, Isaiah 61). Hear strong words of justice and mercy and salvation. Hear powerful voices proclaim a future that is better than our present or our past.
Read the words of Jesus. Read the parables in Luke and Christ’s teaching in John and the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.
Hear in the words of the prophets a vision that challenges the current order of things. Hear in the words of Jesus a radical and revolutionary message that consistently calls us to side with the weak and the forgotten over the powerful and the well-connected.
Marvel at the courage to speak so boldly, and realize just how powerful words and ideas can be.
PRAY
This is a week to pray. Pray for forgiveness. Pray for God’s mercy. Pray for justice and righteousness. Pray for courage. Pray for a new vision that allows you to see our world as God sees it. Pray for the coming of God’s kingdom. Just pray.
WORSHIP
And finally, this is a week to be in church. We worship each Sunday at 8:45 and 10:55.