The printer has offered the worship materials for the coming week ...
a Holy week ...
a busy week ...
the photocopier is cooling down and clicking quietly
after running to copy and print bulletins, inserts, announcements and other items
needed for the seven services we'll celebrate in the next eight days ...
now in the quiet lull we catch our breath
before rushing headlong into the dark shadowy corners
that mark the journey from Hosannas to Hallelujahs ...
O Holy One ... hear our pray for the coming days ...
be with us as we follow the path your servant
took through dry dust streets of a long ago city ...
be with us in the jarring moments
of suffering, denial, abandonment and death ...
be with us in the long shadows
that await us as we kneel before the cross ...
hold us in the darkness as we weep for a world
that would kill its Hope and deny the Love ...
guide us through the long lonely nights that lie before us ...
take us by the hand and lead us ...
hold us when we stumble ...
and carry us when we fall exhausted ...
... and yet, as difficult as it is,
and as tempting as it may be,
don't let us hurry our way from the Hosannas to the Hallelujahs ...
but rather be with us in the slow deliberate journey that we must take
a journey that leads us
from the triumphant entry into the city,
past the overturned tables and bruised egos,
to the table where the body is broken and the blood is poured out,
to the place of abandonment and fear of friends turning away and running,
on to the thunderous quiet of the place of suffering and death
the place crowned by the rough cross
etching the sky with its reminder that here,
in this place,
our last hope perished ...
be with us as we linger
in the long quiet moments of despair and loneliness,
be with us as we linger ... afraid ... uncertain ...
be with us ...
that we may once again stand before the empty tomb
and know the full glory of the Resurrection ...
but not yet ...
when it is time ...
let us take each step
carefully,
thoughtfully,
and faithfully ...
guide us into the dark shadowy places O Holy One ...
guide us with the sure and certain knowledge
that we are not alone ...
be with us in the coming days ...
in your name we pray with out ceasing ...
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