It is an important message to remember. Holy Week is about the darkness and suffering in the world. It is about injustice and the isolation felt when the weight of the world falls upon your shoulders. Holy Week is about the reality of cruelty and callous nature that resides in the seats of power and authority. It is about the inability to stand with those you love amidst their darkest hour. It is about betrayal and being sold out by someone you loved and welcomed into your circle of friendship and community.
Holy Week is about the suffering of the innocent and the victory of the ruthless. It is about forgiveness, sorrow, disappointment, anguish, abandonment, and death. Holy Week is about the worst of times and the crushing of dreams. It is about suffering and a diagnosis of death. Why does the church do Holy Week? Because these events remain in the world around and beyond us and the church is called to be present – amidst the bleak and darkened days of our world.
Frankly, I myself have no interest in a church that cannot be present and engaged amidst the worst of times, but chooses only to observe the most glorious of days.
Be present with the world in her suffering, be present with the church in Holy Week.