Holy Week

We come to the end of Lent which is culminated in the various observances of Holy Week (the week between Palm Sunday and Easter.) In our neck of the woods, we observe Holy Week by hosting the ministerial alliance Holy Week lunches, and each day, Monday through Friday, a different church provides the food and their pastor brings a devotion or message. We also have a Wednesday evening prayer service, a Maundy Thursday dramatic portrayal of the last supper and Passover seder meal, a Good Friday drama, an Easter SonRise service and of course, Easter Services. During this week I will be bringing the devotional message at lunch on Thursday, leading the prayer service on Wednesday, telling the story of the passover seder on Thursday night, playing Mary the mother of Jesus Friday night, and bringing both messages at the services on Sunday. Whew! Great stuff right? Did I mention I lost my voice. It is a good thing that I do not have to talk with this blog, because it would not be happenin' right now. I know, I know you probably want to know if I want any cheese to go with that whine, right?

However, it does leave me time to think as shutting your mouth almost always does. And I thought about the responses of Jesus as he is standing before the various powers of his time at an unfair and predetermined trial in which his life hangs in the balance; he said very little. Did he feel helpless or frustrated? Did he feel without a voice in the proceedings? I would imagine, God or not, he did feel helpless and frustrated. How much more frustrated can you feel than to know you have the power to calm the storm and even to stop the injustice of your situation, but to look at the smug faces of those around you who think they have all the power. How he must have felt voiceless in the midst of all the noise coming from others, the lies, the injustice, the hatefulness. What do you say when you turn the other cheek?

So as I sit voiceless, but not without a voice, I remember that I am to be the hands and feet and voice of Christ, reaching out to a hurting world with love and hope. I suppose that St. Francis had it right after all: "preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words."

Blessings for Holy Week.