Holy Journey

Good evening,

It has been a while since I've updated this blog. Since I last posted, we finished getting our home ready to put on the market, I spent 10 days in Haiti, and we are now journeying with Jesus to the cross and beyond during this holiest of weeks!

I love this time of year when Winter threatens to stick around and Spring teases us with its warmer weather, budding trees/flowers, and the opportunity to sleep with our windows open. (I also love the Easter candy...the best around in my opinion!) I love the Lenten season when we are urged to reflect deeply on our faith and its role in our lives. Every year I anticipate Holy Week wondering how God will reveal Himself to me and how the "old, old story" will be made new to me this year.

I approach Holy Week with a great deal of purpose and intentionality as I immerse myself in Jesus' journey to the cross. I love to experience the power of Jesus' last supper with His closest friends on Holy Thursday and then journey with Jesus to the cross on Good Friday. I try to make sure I do not look too far ahead...knowing that Easter is right around the corner. Jesus' friends and followers did not have the benefit of knowing what we know. For all they knew, this was the "end" of Jesus. The new kingdom they had longed for was not going to be realized. The range of emotions must have been extreme and they, no doubt, did not look upon these events as we do today. They lived it. They experienced it.

I try to do the same. I believe it is vital to our faith to walk this Holy Week path with the purpose of going deeper and striving to experience each step of Jesus' journey to the cross as genuinely and authentically as possible. I have found in my own faith that it is very difficult to experience the power of the resurrection without understanding the powerful experiences that lead up to the empty tomb. By approaching Holy Week in this way, the Easter experience has proven to have a more transformational impact on my life.My hope for all of us is that with every experience we have walking with Jesus, we will be transformed by the power of His presence, our faith will be deepened, and our purpose in this world realized and embraced. What makes this journey even more exciting is that we get to do it together!

Have a Holy Week,

Pastor Don