Holy Week
Rice and beans. Not my favorite meal. Not even a meal I enjoy. But that was what I got. All Lent my family was only eating what our Compassion kids would have. My mother spent hours researching the cuisine of the poorest of the poor and much to my disdain, served it to us. I understand that this is how most of the world lives, and I know that I really didn’t have it that bad,but as an egocentric middle schooler, this was the worst. I did not like it and I did not want it. Not every meal was dreadful, but most consisted of rice and beans, oh, and some bread. The bread was good. It was the only almost “normal” part of the meal. As an adult, I can see the value in practices like this and actuallynow seek them out, but as a child I dreaded the five weeks leading up to Holy Week. Then came Palm Sunday when everything changed.
Palm Sunday was an annual turning point for me; it ushered in one of my favorite Church traditions, the Holy Week festivities. On the Sunday leading into Holy Week, we had the community Palm Sunday service. Thursday, we had our Passover Seder. Friday we would often go through the stations of the cross (set up for my hometown by my mom), then we would go to a Good Friday service. It was a lot but I loved it. I grew up with a healthy mix of unique experiences and traditions designed to help me remember Christ’s path to the cross.
Frequently, my mother, being someone who helps plan community Holy Week festivities, comments that typically people want to include a glimpse of hope for what’s to come on Sunday morning. They want to include “Up From the Grave He Arose” or something else upbeat in the Good Friday service. She would help me see that this misses the point. I would just shrug and move on. Now as an adult I can see that she was right. As I look back on this tradition, I clearly see its value, to remember and reflect. Lent and Holy Week are supposed to be uncomfortable. They are times of introspection and challengethat lead us into deeper understanding of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. It isn’t supposed to be fun and that’s okay. Life isn’t about having fun; it’s about growing deeper into relationship with Christ. Holy Week can be a jump start for this, and we need only to embrace it.
This Holy Week I challenge you to make the most of it. Seek out discomfort that will cause you to reflect. Watch Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and feel uncomfortable. Sit with scriptures describing torture and execution and put yourself into the story. Imagine that you are watching the events of Holy Week unfold. Visit the stations of the cross and a worship service. Know that it is your fault that Jesus was tortured and killed. Own up to your role in this story. Sit in that discomfort and fight the desire to skip ahead to Sunday. It’s because of meand you that Christ died. This week, I charge you to find ways to remember what Jesus did for you. Feel what you feel in the processes but do not celebrate. It isn’t time yet.
