progressing through holy week . . . .

holy week; traditionally the time christians recognize between palm sunday and easter.  palm sunday begins with the triumphal entry of jesus into jerusalem with people shouting (nice words) like 'hosanna', and waving palm branches and putting blankets on the road before him as jesus rides on a donkey; various activities happen through the week -- one of which is that jesus gets mad about the money changers at the temple and causes a scene that is on the lips of the entire community in no time; this became known as 'church gossip'!

then, on thursday, things begin to heat up; the disciples, jesus' faithful following, has supper together.  jesus washes their feet and gives new meaning to this traditional passover meal celebration.  jesus tells them that this will be an ending of sorts for them; jesus is betrayed and arrested as he prays in the garden.  the church calls this maundy thursday, 'maundy' meaning commandment -- as in 'a new commandment i give you, to love one another'.

on good friday, an oxymoron if ever there was one, jesus is placed on trial, sent for sentensing, mocked and finally hung on a cross to die, known as crucifixion, and is buried before sunset.  all this because the religious authority was scared of his power!  today, we see public mud-slinging by politicians and others in the media; this isn't nearly as painful, but it gets the job done; anything to destroy another person's reputation, and thus 'kill' the public persona.

holy saturday is a time of rest and preparation.  and then on sunday, when the followers -- basically the women -- go to the tomb expecting to take respectful care of jesus' dead body, they discover that jesus is not there, just as he said; he has risen.  sounds too good to be true?  but, the reality is, this IS true!  easter becomes perhaps the biggest church day...even if you don't go to church much, you often find yourself wearing new clothes, dying boiled eggs, and heading out to brunch, where chocolate bunnies abound!

in reality, this is my holy week; i'll go out walking, spend time in my office, participate in centering prayer, read and do preparation for easter and beyond, participate in a presentation on visitation by our care provider, serve communion to a group of retired folks, and do typical office 'stuff', followed by an unusual thursday, friday and saturday. 

unusual, in the sense, that our focus for holy week will be on prayer instead of sitting in worship.  we'll 'walk' -- be it  with our feet, our fingers or on the computer -- in prayers these last days of lent as we did to  began this season, with the labyrinth.  it takes more energy and more physical/emotional/intellectual/spiritual stamina to be in prayer than it does to be in worship.  worship, for the most part, can be passive; non-participatory.  but in prayer, we become entwined with god; we become attentive to what we say and what we hear; we can become one with god at a very deep level.

holy week is not the time to be passive! this is the time to really begin to give our all in faithful service to god who has been actively involved on this journey of life with us, in the one known as jesus. 

think of holy week as the 'dancing with the stars' event of a lifetime; for those who watch that show, there is nothing more intimate, publicly at least, as dancing; you're vulnerable, passionate, in tune with the other (your partner), and the best dancers loose themselves in those dancing moments.  everyone else disappears.

so it is with deep spiritual praying.  when we are able to loose ourselves to god, and fully open up to the great possibility that we are one with the jesus in our midst -- WOW!  how powerful is that!  there isn't anything that we can't achieve (ok, i'll never be on 'dancing with the stars', but you get the idea!) with such intimacy.  we can become renewed, refreshed, revived -- receive new life (the resurrection message of easter) and, like mary, share this good news.  we become empowered to serve god and one another, helping to make life for others, and the world, just a little bit better.

so, come join us in prayer; walk the labyrinth thursday and friday; 11:30-2 and 5-7; check out our website for further information http://www.umcmerced.org/ and make this holy week a journey toward easter that you will never forget!  and why not join us in celebration on sunday at 9:30 -- welcome coffee at 9; come comfortable, or wear your new duds!  just come and join the celebration!