A Pondering for Tuesday

 

Tuesday comes, as often it does, with demands, decrees, things to do, and places to go.

As we nibble on a small corner of the chocolate Easter bunny’s ear, unable to wait until Sunday,

We wonder, what is this week really about?

What does a bite of bread and a grape really teach us about grace on Thursday?

When ordinary, everyday, just like the loaf in our cupboard and the juice in our fridge, becomes sacred.

On Tuesday, we question whether we really need to go to church two more times before Sunday.

After all, we hypothesize and rationalize, we know the story.

A Last Supper is celebrated.

Jesus’s “friends” desert…deny…and betray.

Arrested in a garden, led away to his death.

Alone.  Afraid.  Misunderstood. 

Hung on a cross as his mother, Mary, bravely watches.

It seems too much in this weary, worn-out world.

If we want pain, we can turn on the news or talk to that family member who hides knifes in words.

We snap off the other ear of the chocolate Easter bunny, lost in thought.

Why this rollercoaster of a week?  Can’t we just fast-forward?  Why not jump from “Hosannas” to “Alleluias”?

The clock chimes reminding us of the to do list.  The questions unanswered recede into the recesses of our minds.  The questions slowly take their place on the shelves of our souls.

Perhaps we never fully “get” Holy Week, but we know that in the midst of hopeful “Hosannas”, broken bread and juice given gracefully and lovingly in the face of pain, death, silence, and life there is a truth our lives need to hear especially here and now. 

So we go to the closet to find something to wear to church on Thursday.