Holy Week & the Shadow of the Cross
Dear friends and members of St. Matt's,
As we find ourselves in the midst of Holy Week, I hope that you are finding ways to travel with Jesus to the cross. There are opportunities (sometimes more than one!) every day this week for you to plug in and journey with us. Take a look at the section of the e-news that includes the worship schedule for Holy Week. Make a plan to come visit our Outdoor Sanctuary and experience Holy Week in a new way. (You ought to think about coming back at the end of the week, too - to see how the space has changed and to find a few Easter surprises!)
This week lies at the heart of who we are. The story of this week, the events that unfold each day, mark for us the outline of something familiar - but this outline looks different each time we come to it. While the story doesn't change, we do. Each year we come to Holy Week with new eyes, new experiences, new context, new triumphs, new losses. And that should allow us to see Jesus and his journey, his sacrifice, his love in new ways. This story never stops teaching us if we're willing to listen and be changed by it. And it is our work as Christians to spend this week in the shadow of the cross, acknowledging our own brokenness and the brokenness of the world around us - before we can take in and be grateful for the gift of Easter.
I hope that you will make room this week for this story - whether you've heard it once, five times, or 200 times. Listen again with a heart that breaks for the world around us, for our neighbors, for those we love and see no longer, and for the wounds we carry ourselves. Look again at Jesus on the cross and let God change you. Acknowledge the losses of this season, of this last year. And prepare yourself to give thanks for the light of Easter.
There are quite a few important pieces in our e-news today. So please take a look at all the opportunities to connect, at protocols from our Bishops, and news for the week ahead. May God bless you as you wait in the shadow of the cross. And may we come together to that Easter joy that is prepared for those who love God and their neighbor.
Faithfully,
--Marissa +
Tags: Welcome from the Rector