"Reminders on this Good Friday"

The weather is like it always is on Good Friday ... or so says my mother. "There will be moments in this day when the clouds roll in. There will be dreariness and rain." I have heard this since my early childhood years and have grown to look toward the skies on Good Friday. I think that I shall do this every Good Friday for as long as I live. Yes, it is cold and rainy and dreary this morning. I need to remind myself ... "It's Friday, but Sunday is coming. It's Friday, but Sunday is coming. It's Friday, but Sunday is coming." That is our faith, my friends ... "It's Friday, but Sunday is coming!"

May you not weep alone on this Good Friday.  May God hold you steady at the foot of the cross.

Anything But Routine

Sunday, we left our palm branches
on the pews
and stopped shouting "Hosanna!".

Monday was just that ...
... a Monday with its same old routines.

Yesterday, people milled about
as if this week would prove
to be like last week.
No different.

But this week IS different ....
An upper room is being prepared.
A betrayal is in the final stages of planning.
Intimate prayers will soon be heard.
A command to 'remember' will be demonstrated.
Feet will be washed by the Servant.
Hands will be washed by one in power ...
washed to remove responsibility.
Disciples will fall asleep as Jesus prays.

Soon, there will be a kiss -
a kiss that will ultimately move us
to the foot of the cross
and finally to the victory
of an empty tomb.

This week is anything but routine.

O God, help us to walk together through this week as faithful, wide-awake disciples. Amen.