A Holy Week Experience Like Never Before

by Pam Ronstadt 

“The call to discipleship… means both death and life… [It] sets the Christian in the middle of the daily arena against sin and the devil. Every day he encounters new temptations, and every day he must suffer anew for Jesus Christ’s sake. The wounds and scars he receives in the fray are living tokens of this participation in the cross of his Lord” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

As we prepare to celebrate Easter we often overlook Holy Week, looking forward to the culmination of our joy as Christians but forego the pain and suffering of the days prior to Easter Sunday. In doing so, we miss out on the message God reveals in each detail. A message of how He works in the world with human     beings, how He reveals in Jesus and his sufferings an important touchstone and truth in our own journey as Christians.

The significance of the Cross and the sufferings it brings is much more than a prologue to the resurrection It, in the end, teaches us about faithfulness, servant-hood, and the commitment of serving one another even when that service is not wanted. Holy Week shows us about the power of love, God’s commitment to a failed humanity, faith and grace that risks all and should not be cheapened by our easy dismissal as we rush to the celebration.   

Yes, Sunday morning will come, but first we must take the Holy Week journey that is fraught with great risk. This journey  calls us to view ourselves, our call to discipleship, setting us into a daily encounter with death—the death of the old man who is called to serve and worship his God. And with each step, we take up our personal cross and, time and again, we must confess our dependence on our God. As we follow the Via Dolorosa, we gain courage, face the darkness with hope, persevere with a faith that does not always see the end but trusts God as we follow. And then, finally, we are face to face with the truth that in God, endings become the stepping stone to new beginnings.

We invite you to fully participate in the journey God set for His Son, and ultimately, for us. This year, during Holy Week we observe that journey nightly, through prayer and meditation, through Scripture and experience, through song and silence. Take the time this year to come, perhaps for the first time, face to face with the importance of the journey and you will find that when you return to celebrate on Easter morning, it will never have seemed so sweet.