Holy Week!

As we worked with a realtor earlier this week to put an offer on a house I was totally useless as to the day of the month. Normally I'm good at knowing the day and the hour but Holy Week has a strange effect on a minister. Colleagues confess they too become disoriented with all the upcoming services, some of which don't fall on a Sunday.

This week we will make our way through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, then two services on Easter morning. The Thursday worship is rather mysterious with foot-washing and communion around a table. Good Friday brings us close to the cross, and this year we will be joined by St. John's Anglican, St. Andrew's Presbyterian, the Salvation Army, and our United Church neighbours from Trinity. I am delighted by this ecumenical turn of events.

A group of teens will be camping out in the church from Thursday evening until after our Good Friday worship, keeping their own energetic vigil. I don't know how staffer Laura and volunteers do this, but they tell me it is a meaningful and holy time.

As many of you know, I thank God that our early service on Sunday morning is not outdoors but in the warmth of our sanctuary. If God had intended for us to have outdoor services this far into the Northern Hemsiphere Easter would be in May. After early worship the men of St. Paul's will feed us pancakes, the only unleavened batter of the day, then we will join in the great feast of Easter.

As discombobulated I am by the calendar and home-buying and farewells I want this week to be God-blessed, for all of us to open our hearts to receive the living Christ.

Are you ready to participate in the drama of Holy Week and Easter, wherever you are?