Today is Wednesday in Holy Week. This is the calm before the storm, so to speak. The Triduum begins tomorrow evening with the Maundy Thursday meal, foot-washing, final Communion of the week, and the stripping of the altar. But today . . . today I have one more day of rest.
The second of two renewal of ordination vows for diocesan clergy happens today in Eugene. Normally I attend these because it's a time to gather and worship with friends and colleagues I don't normally get to see. This year, however, I chose to remain home because I did not want to cancel our own Wednesday Eucharist during Holy Week. And, truth be known, I have at least two more sermons to write, as well as wanting to get out and pay a visit to a person or two whom I haven't seen in awhile.
Today is a good day for doing all of those things.
I hope you had an informative, productive, and blessed Lenten season. I hope you were able to follow your discipline throughout the entire season; and if you weren't, I hope you will revisit it again at another point in the year. Those disciplines, remember, aren't about what you are doing for Lent, but how you are drawing nearer to Christ.
One of the ways we can draw closer to Christ is to participate fully in the events of the Triduum. We can be fully present at the supper and desertion of Maundy Thursday. We can try to remain awake for one hour with Jesus in the garden the night before his arrest. We can journey alongside Jesus as he makes his way to Golgotha, the place of his crucifixion and death on Good Friday. We can mourn with Mary, Mary, and the others as the lifeless body of Jesus lies in a tomb on Holy Saturday. And we can be both dumbfounded and ecstatic as light overcomes the darkness in the early morning and celebrate the risen Christ on Easter Day.
This single liturgy that spans three days is the main event of Christianity. Its all here: life, death, and resurrection; servanthood and glory; betrayal, denial, and forgiveness; promises broken and promises kept; doubt and the seeds of unwavering faith.
Easter is wonderful and bright and joyful and good. But there's no Easter without the cross. It's just as important for us to experience Friday as it is to celebrate Sunday. I invite you, therefore, to participate in all three days of this great liturgy that begins tomorrow night.
But before that . . . today is Wednesday; and today is as good as any to remember the words of Christ in Mark 6:31: Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile.
Amen.
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