Holy Week ~ Monday ~ Prayer

 

God as the “Hosannas” fade and the palm branches start to brown, we enter our holiest week.  We can’t quite wrap our heads or heart around Your gospel medicine of prodigal ways in this world.  We let the words and wisdom of yesterday sink and settle and sing to our souls.  How Jesus came in the back door of Jerusalem because the front door was a parade of propaganda and propping up Caesar.  What parades are we attending?  Do they protect our bubbles or burst them?   We ponder the oddity that Jesus rode on, rode on in majesty ~ not of military might or zealot revolution ~ but on a humble donkey where he had to keep his feet from getting stuck in the sand.  We join with the people crying, “Hosanna”, save us because we can’t save ourselves.  Yet, we know how quickly, those chants turned from prayerful pleas to angry mob spitting out the words, “Crucify him,” perhaps because the people got impatient and wanted Jesus to get moving already.  We crave a quick fix, the money back guarantee, the instant and immediate solution to our problem.  Our self-salvation projects continue, O God, now being offered with Zoom classes where for 49.99, we can listen to someone tell us how to have our best life now.  God, save us, because we cannot save ourselves.  We still fall for the same narratives, gospels, of domination, revenge, retribution, and winning on the imaginary score board of life.  We still blame others because the shame within our mind offers endless color commentary.  This week, help us name and notice where we need to take off our outer coats that shield and shelter us.  Help me release the cloaks of needing to be needed or seen as successful or “winning”.  Help me be open and honest about the “me” I hide because I am convinced that if anyone saw beneath the veneer I would be voted off the island, my torch extinguished, and the tribe spoken.  Hosanna, God, for the aches that sit on the shelves of my soul ~ physically, emotionally, relationally.  Hosanna, God, for the ways I let the gospels of the world be the tune I dance to rather than the music of Your prodigal love.  Hosanna, God, for this community where we ignore the homeless, the hungry, and hurting.  Hosanna, God, for legislation being passed that treat our LGBTQIA siblings as less than Your holy beloved.  Hosanna, God, for on-going racism and seeing Creation as a resource rather than Your creative testament.  Hosanna, God, for our church being drowned out amid all the preachers whose voices alienate and judge others.  Hosanna, God, for me in my own human woundedness that needs You to ride right into my soul and help me, save me, let Your shalom hold me every hour this week.  In the name the One who walks this valley with week us, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.