UPDATE: If you’re already a subscriber, these mini devotionals have already arrived via email in April’s Reflection. If you haven’t subscribed to my monthly reflections, you can do so by clicking here. For new subscribers, the Holy Week audio will arrive daily in your in-box beginning on Sunday, April 5th. I hope you’ll join me!
On my last few shopping trips, I’ve drawn a wide circle around the Easter aisles, partly because of the siren’s lure of chocolate coconut eggs, but also because of bunnies and baskets and the temptation to over-accessorize my home with them. The Easter aisles carry with them a whiff of Christmas commercialization, and I have a hard enough time focusing on Jesus without being tempted to purchase another pair (yes, pair) of silver cake molds in the shape of rabbits.
Over the last few years, I’ve taken baby steps towards observing the important seasons of the church calendar, while also keeping up with the typical celebrations. It has given shape to my year, adding a new depth and richness to my days before they slip past me in a haze of egg dying and chocolate consumption.
Lent has been an interesting addition to the rhythm of my year, as I could use a break from my own penchant for lament, and I’m not naturally prone to self-denial. Honestly, are any of us?
As the days of Lent draw me closer to Easter, I find my thoughts often turn to the witnesses of the crucifixion and resurrection. I try to imagine the inner turmoil of John or Peter or Mary Magdalene. I stand beside Mary, mother of Jesus, and my mother’s heart feels bruised with the pain of her own. I imagine the bravado of the soldiers, the anonymous crowd shouting “Crucify him!”, the wife of Pilate shaken awake in a film of sweat and dark images.
When Jesus exhaled his last breath and the earth shook and an opaque darkness descended, I wonder what thoughts filled their heads? What lies had their eyes and ears told them? Perhaps the same words written by the poet Yeats nearly two thousand years later were birthed in the minds of these witnesses at that very moment.
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.”
It seemed as if the center of their lives, the world, the entire universe, could not hold when crushed by the weight of the crucifixion. However, I like to believe there was an invincible hope inside each witness that flickered like a flame, daring them to believe that somehow God would gather all of the broken pieces back together again.
Last Easter, I wanted to spend time with these men and women a little longer, so I created something for us to share during the Easter season. I recorded an audio devotional for each day of Holy Week–a meditation on the Journey to Resurrection through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it. These short audio devotionals are meant to help us center our thoughts on Jesus in the week leading up to Easter Sunday.
If you’d like to join me, the first devotional will land in your in-box on Palm Sunday, and will arrive daily thereafter until the day before Easter. Each installment is short and sweet–listen while you run errands, wait in the car line, or stuff plastic eggs with pocket change and chocolate.
