holy holy holy week

although i did preach the easter vigil, i did it without a manuscript--a first-person account of the resurrection from mary's perspective (according to the gospel of john), so i don't have a manuscript to post.  but i do have some holy week reflecting to share.

for as long as i can remember, i've worshiped on good friday.  this is mainly because i was the acolyte for my home congregation's tenebrae service of darkness which we did with the episcopal congregation.  then it became habit.  i came back during college for good friday and easter sunday.

this holy week i realized something about good friday and easter.  you see, i don't always like lent.  by the end of lent i am ready for it to be done.  i like my alleluias.  i like singing "this is the feast."  and i get a bit down during lent.  don't get me wrong, i think it's important, it's just not my favorite time of the church year.

what i realized about holy week, though, was twofold.  1-i need good friday.  2-i love easter.

i need the experience of good friday each year.  i need the time to be sad and to face the deep darkness of christ's death on the cross.  i need to sit with those feelings, those emotions, those thoughts.  i need that space to be intentionally created and good friday is the day that that happens.  it is the day--of the entire church year--that sadness and darkness and hopelessness are recognized and are felt communally.

i need good friday so that i can love easter.  alleluia!  christ is risen!!  joy comes to the world!  death is not the ultimate power!  god is more powerful than even death!  on good friday the powers of the world that we renounce during baptism do their worst to a god who has come to love us.  and on the third day, god wins.  god responds with more love than even death can handle.  god responds with resurrection.  i love easter.  the joy, the hope, the brightness of all the colors of the rainbow combining to make that perfect light.

i love easter.  it saves me.  easter is resurrection.  it is god's ultimate outpouring of love, which begins in the beginning of all creation and continues through jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection.

so, this week has been holy.  as is every week.  and its particular holiness comes from good friday and the power good friday has to make easter so much bigger and so much specialer. 

what about you?  which church holiday do you need?  which do you love?