The Danger of Holy Week Liturgy

Yesterday I shared that if all that happens during Holy Week is that we ponder the death of Christ and feel bad about how much He suffered for us, beating ourselves up a bit for the pain we caused Him, we will miss the point completely. Rather, our calling is to enter into solidarity with Christ, not by sympathy or sentiment, but by each of us actually living out the way of the cross in our own daily lives. This is the problem I often have with liturgy: While it can function as a vivid sensory reminder of our solidarity with Christ, inviting us to enter into the way of the cross with Him, too often the ritual becomes a substitute for my own experiential identification with Christ. I read about the seven last words of Christ, or watch Mel Gibson’s movie, or I walk a ‘stations of the cross’ experience set up somewhere in Seattle. Thus having ‘felt His pain’, I delude myself into thinking that I’ve done something of value. The value, however, doesn’t occur until I am pouring my own life out for others in service, laying down my rights, laying down my life, bearing with other’s weaknesses, and stepping into the suffering and pain of the world, then we’ve missed the point. It’s all about union with Christ, as seen here and here.