Tuesday of Holy Week & Blessed Harriet Monsell
Dear Siblings in Christ,
As we enter this most Holy Week, in which we follow in the footsteps of our Savior and we wend our way towards the Sunday of the Resurrection, know that I am grateful for you and for the ministry that we share. In many ways you will give of your self and your time to make this week meaningful and holy for the people of God who gather for worship. My prayer for each one of you is that you take time to reflect, to pray, and to pause in the midst of the busyness of this week. Ground yourself in the why of this week, because you cannot give what you do not have!
This week is about connecting the deep pain, the harsh betrayal, the excruciating loss, the spiritual hunger, the senseless suffering, and the overwhelming triumph of Jesus with those of his siblings in our midst who live in the shadow crosses not of their own making. We live in a world of deep division born out of anger and fear, and you and I live in the border of the holy, bridging the pain of the cross and the emptiness of the tomb to those in profound need. Bishop Barbara Harris often said, “We are an Easter people living in a Good Friday world.” She was right! Walk the hard road to the cross so that you can proclaim the good news of the empty tomb. Resurrection without crucifixion is just fiction!
In the midst of sermons, bulletins, rehearsals, and planning be reminded that your offering to God is enough. Things will go wrong, pieces will be forgotten, bulletins will have errors. Remember God’s reign is not hindered, hampered, or helped by us getting it right, but in following the One whose cross we preach and whose empty tomb we proclaim. Know that no matter what this week may hold, no matter how busy you maybe, no matter how overwhelmed and under water you may feel, God’s got this and God’s got you! Know also that I love you, and I am grateful for all that you do to be an agent of God’s love and a carrier of Christ’s hope bound up in the passion of the Holy Spirit.
May this week be holy, and may you be surrounded and carried by the love of God in all ways, always.
Abundant Holy Week blessings
+Deon
P.S. It was a delight to my heart to gather with many of you to renew the vows of our baptism and ordination together. I know that you are tremendously busy and holding each other as a priority and walking as companions for a time this week as we gathered to be reminded of our calling is perhaps the most profound witness against the drumbeat of the busyness of this week. Thank you for show up for one another!