A Gift for You This Holy Week
Hello, friends!
Beginning this April 10 (Palm Sunday) and continuing through April 16, I will be sharing daily reflections through Holy Week of biblically-reflective, honest, personal lament stories— in a the context of the church’s Good Friday tradition of speaking to the Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross.
Keep reading to see how you can receive one story in your inbox each day through Holy Week.
What We’ll Be Lamenting
Each year during Holy Week I invite several friends to share their own experiences of suffering so that we may look together for the true Christ, always present to the suffering in us and around us. The guest writers tell stories of walking with Jesus on the path of suffering and include every sort of mourning - illness, relational disillusionment, anxiety, joblessness, death of loved ones, and death of dearly-held dreams. Their stories have helped form my understanding of suffering and I believe they could also encourage you too.
Somewhere along the decade of my thirties, I realized I needed a sturdier foundation for all the grief I saw in my own life and in the lives of people around me. I began to rely on others who could sit with me in my grief rather than try to persuade me out of it. This became the sort of value that defined my relationships -- those who welcomed me into their own suffering and shared mine became my dearest friends.
About ten years ago during Lent, as I researched a writing project, I stumbled on the words of Ranier Maria Rilke in his Requiem for a Friend:
“Once, ritual lament would have been chanted; women would have been paid to beat their breasts and howl for you all night, when all is silent. Where can we find such customs now? So many have long since disappeared or been disowned. / That’s what you had to come for: to retrieve the lament that we omitted.”
This phrase "retrieve lament" added to my understanding that part of Christ's ministry to us through His life, His Spirit, and His people is to "retrieve the lament that we omitted". In the act of sharing each other’s lament, your stories have helped my understanding of suffering and I believe they could also encourage those who read with us this Holy Week.
Last year during Lent, I began meditating on two quotations from theologian Soong Chan Rah and from pastor Eugene Peterson. In our Lent retreat this year, we practiced lament - teaching “one another how to take seriously these cadences of pain.” This reminds me of holding a vigil or the Jewish custom of sitting shiva. We gather together in our homes, churches, neighborhoods, and even online to tend to each other’s disorientation and grief.
Who will be telling this year’s stories?
Meet the guest storytellers joining me as we keep company with Jesus this Holy Week.
Tamara Hill Murphy - Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Arthur Going - Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
Michelle Van Loon - Woman, behold your son … Behold your mother.
Lan-Vy Ngo - My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
April Swiger - My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Amy Willers - I thirst.
Marcie Walker - It is finished.
Sheli Sloterbeek - Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
Each guest storyteller this year is an answer to prayer and I’m moved by the hospitality they offer us to listen with them to the lament of Jesus through the lens of their own stories.
What the Stories Will Look Like
Each short story will be paired with an image, a Scripture passage, and a prayer. This year I’ve curated a series of contemporary icons from Ukrainian iconographers. As we hold space for each other’s stories, we take shelter under the outstretched arms of Christ for every story of suffering around the world. In order to lean toward the suffering in Ukraine, one of our storytellers is giving us the opportunity to send help to two organizations on the ground in Ukraine and neighboring friendly countries, and to receive a special thank you gift from Michelle Van Loon in return.
How to Receive the Holy Week Series
I've made it simple for you! Just fill out the form below to sign up for the series. Then, you will receive our daily reflections in your inbox throughout Holy Week. Then pass this post along to a friend.
I hope by the end of the week we’ll have a sense of companionship as we keep vigil with Jesus, each other, and our own hearts as we await resurrection.