Focus, for a week?

Tomorrow, we start holy week.  And as Christians following the church year, we are asked to do something that I doubt comes natural to hardly any of us any more.  We are invited to focus in on the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord for a week.   Yes, we people who digest everything in 30 seconds intervals are asked to focus for a week.  It will take discipline.

Some congregations will yield to this hard task early by feeding the entire passion to the people in one service.  And while there is no doubt some benefit to this practice, I always feel it ends up encouraging people to a Sunday only piety.  Why come to the other services during the week when their story has already been told?  I will only take my people as far as the Hosannas tomorrow.  There is plenty in the Palm Sunday account to swallow.

Let me encourage you to celebrate all of Holy Week.  Let the passion unfold slowly throughout the week.  Meditate upon each event.  Attend services during the week.  On the days when services are not offered in your congregation, read scripture together as a family.  The suggested readings for Monday through Wednesday are:

Most churches have services Thursday and Friday.  Holy Saturday readings are:

Treat this week as a Holy Week, not just a normal week with special bookends.  I will seek to do the same in my family and not give in to the exhaustion this week can bring upon pastors (and consequently their families).

Will Jesus love you more if you do this?  Nope.  That knob is already turned up to eleven.  But in meditating upon everything slowly, you may just end up loving him more having fully realized the depth and breadth of his manifested love for you.  Blessed Holy Week to all.