Holy Week... and what it means for this blog

As we move towards Holy Week, I'm moving in a swirling vortex of longings to draw near to Christ, the need for personal silence in the wake of a difficult week pastorally.

There's an incredible film festival occuring this weekend, and I'd encourage anyone within driving distance of Seattle to come to at least part of it. As a mosque explodes today in Iraq, the issues of how we should live out our faith vis a vis issues of war and peace, economic development and oppression, pollution and consumption, is the issue whose time has come. A private faith is no longer an option, for public declarations have been made for too long lately, in the name of Christ, so that Christ's name has come to be associated with hate, war, greed, and consumption, rightly or wrongly. However it happened, it's time to change that, and thank God there are folks on the front lines of art moving us in this direction.

For the next week, up to and through Easter, I'm planning on simply writing my thoughts derived from the practice of Lectio Divina, an ancient means of contemplating scripture. I'll be meditating on passages related to Holy Week, and my entries will be more like a prayer journal. I'll return to other stuff later... but right, the convergence zone of personal issues, family issues, pastoral issues, and global issues, has created a need to spend more time just sitting at the feet of Jesus and less time editorializing. So here we go. Starting tomorrow - Lectio Divina journal entries from Isaiah 53. Hope you'll stay with me through this time of preparation for Christ's resurrection.

Cheers