Here we are in church on a Thursday. We might think of making time to worship God in the middle of the week as an interruption. Yet, we take time out from the everyday craziness to come into God’s presence. In worship, we should encounter profound things, things deep enough that we cannot fully understand them. We may simply stand in awe of the things we encounter while worshiping God. In worship, we encounter sin, God’s love, our ultimate destiny, the redemption of all creation. We will never completely fit our minds around those things, and so we allow ourselves to wonder at the mystery. Worshiping God opens us up to these experiences so that we gain a new perspective on our everyday lives.

            If worship lifts us up above the everyday into the mystery of God and life itself, then the events of this week become even more profound. We cannot overstate the significance of what we commemorate this week. We certainly do not discount the importance of Jesus’ miracles or teachings, but they would mean nothing without the Crucifixion and Resurrection. The miracles and healings point to the wholeness that Christ’s resurrection opens for us. Those miracles and healings blessed the people who received them in the first century, but those specific acts, along with Jesus’ teachings, would mean nothing to us now without his crucifixion and resurrection. The meek will inherit the earth¹ only in the Resurrection. The last will be first² only in the resurrection. During this week, we encounter the very heart of our faith as we worship together.

Holy Week and Passover

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