Holy Tuesday- Reflections

I was asked recently about what I would recommend for one to focus on during Holy Week.  They wanted to hear something a bit different then the usual sort of "atonement" linked progression towards the cross and crucifixion.  So, I thought for a moment, and I said, focus on relationships.

This week, with all of our reflection and worship, we consider, hear, and remember the acts of the passion.  The entrance with Hosannas, the supper, prayers and betrayal, and the jeers of the world.  Through this all, there is a relationship of God and the Son.  There is also the relationship of the Son and the World.  Some people use this sort of logic to call others to "bear the crosses" in their lives.  I do not advocate for such an approach, because I believe this logic has often helped continue a cycle of violence and unsafe environments for many in the faith, and no doubt some that sit next to us in the very pews we share each week in worship.

Rather, I told this person who asked me, to focus on the relationships that that person shares with others.  With family, friends, fellow congregants, and the strangers they pass on the street.  At the heart of the cross is the idea of Christ wanting and choosing to be in relationship with and for us.  We cannot do anything to stop Christ in this act, nor can we do anything to deserve it.  All we can do is accept it, I believe.  This acceptance then, leads us to respond out of love, joy, and thanks.  Because its really all we can do.  Our response then is how we love our neighbor as ourself.  Its how we create and build relationships with our family and extended family, and its how we serve and meet the stranger in the world wherever they may be. 

If Lent is a journey, just as Holy Week is as well, I believe this journey is something we can all relate to a little bit, at least in the sense that we all are in a journey of life- full of the unexpected twists and turns.  This journey is full of opportunities and relationships as well.  We may not know where we will be led and called, but we trust that we are being led and called some place.  We just hope to hear that call, and some times the best way to do this is to focus on our relationships with others, because that call certainly could be coming through them.