I grew up with awareness and engagement of Holy week all my life. The rhythm of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter have a familiarity to them that feels like part of my being.
Three years ago, that rhythm was interrupted, and I engaged Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter in a much different way.
Three years ago, we gathered at Mary Free Bed for Easter. We were catching onto the fact that my Dad, although in good spirits and assuring us of a deep sense of peace, may now be facing a life-ending diagnosis. We did not have a sense of how soon the end would be, but all of a sudden, the Easter cliches didn’t seem to hold the same promise they had in the past.
I remember that year really understanding that Jesus’ death on the cross offered us hope, not just for any day or every day, but for days exactly like we were living. For the messy and uncertain days. For the days when life felt like it was going to end and no matter how much we wanted it different, we could not cling to life here on earth. We were invited to consider a deeper understanding that Easter. I continue to embrace that deeper understanding every day since that Easter, the Easter when resurrection power became about every day. The year that I longed for a hope that I could feel and looked for assurance that all God’s promises might reveal themselves throughout every day when my heartfelt uncertain of all I knew to be true.
And so, if you are living that messy, uncertain, unsettled, disruptive, longing for something different kind of Easter weekend, I invite you to cling to the cross and celebrate the empty tomb in a new way. Cling to the cross and rejoice in the empty tomb in a way that allows the sorrow and the celebration to be felt every day. I can’t assure you of much, but I can confidently proclaim that His Grace is Sufficient for All!
Love so amazing, so divine
Blessed be His name!
