Throughout Holy Week we will encounter eight characters who had front row seats in the incredible real-life drama of Jesus' journey to Easter:
· Mary, friend of Jesus
· the Gentile crowd
· Judas
· Simon Peter
· a Roman soldier
· Mary, mother of Jesus and Salome
· Mary Magdalene
· The Disciples
Sometimes the events of Holy Week feel only like a story to those of us who have heard it so many times. But it was real. It was painful and rich and life-changing for generations and generations of Christians after it. But how much more so for those who lived then and loved this man named Jesus. Just as we have found that there are gifts in the wilderness, these people perhaps also found their place in the world, their true calling, as a result of a walk in the wilderness of life.
As we prepare to launch limited in-person worship again, Holy Week is the perfect time to reflect on these wilderness experiences of Jesus' friends and family, and upon our own journey into the wilderness over the past 12 months. Our own experiences of death and despair can be transformed into a resurrection of our spirit; a rebirth of our life together, just like it was for Jesus' closest companions. Journey through Holy Week, and remember the past as we look forward to resurrection.