Dear La Côte Church friends and family,
This coming Sunday 29 March, churches across the world begin Holy Week, embarking on Jesus’ “Great Descent” from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem towards his ignominious death.
Holy Week shows God’s Kingdom breaking in at every step of Jesus’ journey amid the turmoil of Jerusalem, the hype of festival fever and hopes of rescue. Holy Week can also be an inner journey that questions our attitudes and actions, our thoughts and words. As Malcolm Guite eloquently puts it:
“Palm Sunday
Now to the gate of my Jerusalem,
the seething holy city of my heart,
the Saviour comes. But will I welcome him?”
Will we welcome Christ this week to challenge and change us, in the turmoil of our outer and inner worlds?
On Palm Sunday we will meet God, humble and on a donkey with her foal.
On Maundy Thursday we will meet God in one who washes his disciples’ feet and shares bread and wine with them.
On Good Friday we will meet God at the foot of the cross, as Jesus suffers and dies.
On Holy Saturday we will meet him in the Garden of his burial with our grief and sorrow.
On Easter Sunday we will meet him in the Garden of new life and a new creation.
In Holy Week, God’s Kingdom will indeed break in, though not in the way we expect, demand or prescribe to God, because something else is going on that is more mysterious, life-changing and far-reaching than we will ever fully grasp.
Wherever we are during this most holy and healing of weeks, we can pray Malcolm Guite’s words for ourselves:
“Now to the gate of my Jerusalem,
the seething holy city of my heart,
the Saviour comes.”
…
“Jesus, come break my resistance and make me your home.” Amen
(Guite’s full sonnet can be read here )
We would love to see you over this coming week – you are warmly welcomed.
Carolyn
