For those of us in the church Holy Week can be a bit stressful. Four services in one week combined with the regular amount of email, phone calls and other tasks can be a bit overwhelming. The staff is stressed with bulletins and decorating the sanctuary, the pastors are stressed planning the services, and I am stressed practicing a dance for Good Friday. It doesn't sound like a very "Holy" week to me...
But in the quiet moments during the services, God came to life for me. While two women sang "Via Dolorosa" it brought me back to my colorguard days when we were cheering for the Sr. Guard while they performed the song. And though I already have an emotional connection to the song, it also hit me, really hit me, that Christ knows what it means to suffer. He felt pain just like we do. The line "crown of thorns upon his head" led me to imagine what that must really feel like. Large jagged thorns, digging deep into the skin. And then I thought about my own thorns. Jesus really does know my pain.
And then there were the quiet moments early in the morning, practicing my modern ballet piece to "Thief" by Third Day. These have always been my favorite times with God. Moving to music in an empty, beautiful sanctuary. His Sanctuary.
And then on Easter morning as I was setting out Easter eggs outside the church and I heard the choir and the brass begin to play the first strains of "Jesus Christ has Risen Today" and I felt chills. The good kind. I spent a worshipful morning glorifying the King who has risen from the dead.
It seems that maybe Holy can refer to God's presence in the stress, the pain, the music, the movement. God is Holy in all times and places.
May every week be Holy Week in our hearts...
