The suffering of Christ has brought me great comfort. I know He GETS it. We don't talk enough about suffering in church. It's so important not to skip Holy Week. Many of us feel like we are stuck in that space, but we can take heart in the knowledge that it will end well eventually, just as it did for Christ.
RE: Skipping Holy Week. This is my first Holy Week in 35 years where I'm not actively involved in planning for or participating in a Holy Week service. Life continues to be busy and I'm surprised how strong the pull is to avoid Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services. But I've always said that God's people miss so much if they simply celebrate the triumphant entry on Palm Sunday and the triumph of the tomb on Easter.
Yeah, I can't pull myself together enough to show up in person because it's 45 minutes away, but my church is going to stream Friday's service. So, I'll at least do that. But yeah, planning services kind of takes some of the contemplative part out of it.
Mark - I truly loved this perspective, that Jesus died not only for our sins, but bore our grief and sorrow. This will be so meaningful to many.
As always, thanks!
The suffering of Christ has brought me great comfort. I know He GETS it. We don't talk enough about suffering in church. It's so important not to skip Holy Week. Many of us feel like we are stuck in that space, but we can take heart in the knowledge that it will end well eventually, just as it did for Christ.
RE: Skipping Holy Week. This is my first Holy Week in 35 years where I'm not actively involved in planning for or participating in a Holy Week service. Life continues to be busy and I'm surprised how strong the pull is to avoid Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services. But I've always said that God's people miss so much if they simply celebrate the triumphant entry on Palm Sunday and the triumph of the tomb on Easter.
Yeah, I can't pull myself together enough to show up in person because it's 45 minutes away, but my church is going to stream Friday's service. So, I'll at least do that. But yeah, planning services kind of takes some of the contemplative part out of it.