Liturgy 021: Holy Week

☕️ 5 Minutes to be present to God and self

🙏 A Prayer to Begin Holy Week

God who refused
to return violence for violence,
teach me to walk in your way.

Give me eyes to see
the palms and donkeys all around me

Show me
Your way of peace and humility
in a world of violence and quick profits

Give me eyes to see
A King willing to wash the feet
Of those undeserving

This week
May I walk in the way
of cross-bearing
love

So that Easter
might be a witness of
an ever present
resurrection power

Amen

📖 Matthew 21v10

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked,

“Who is this?”

🖼️ Reflection

Holy Week is a series of disappointments.

By the end, those who greeted Jesus with palms and shouts of Hosanna, call for his crucifixion.

On the night of Jesus’ arrest, unwilling to stand up for their Rabbi, the disciples all scatter into the night.

Peter, who days prior had confessed Jesus to be Messiah, denies that he ever knew him.

We are a fickle and forgetful people.

Which is why it is so important to prayerfully ask ourselves each day, “Who is this? Who is this man, Jesus?”

This week, I invite you to read the final chapters of Matthew. As you read, prayerfully and honestly ask yourself, “Who is Jesus?” And ponder what it might mean to confess him as LORD.

💡 Quote

“We can fail to know because we do not want to know - because what would be known would require us to believe and act in ways contrary to what we want.”
—Dallas Willard

🕊️ Blessing

May you hear the Living Christ ask, “Who Do You Say that I am?”

On this Holy Week, may your response be made in slow contemplation, and in earnest integration of faith with actual life.

In the Name of the One who takes up a cross and invites us to do the same,
Amen.