A Different Holy Week & Easter

Holy week means something more to me this year.  Maybe it’s the unusual pace and lack of activity this uncomfortable season brings. Perhaps it’s the plethora of resources and content available on social media.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that although my current “suffering and discomfort” doesn’t pale in comparison to the range of emotions Jesus felt so long ago, my empathy is a bit heightened.  

I had the privilege to travel on a remarkable trip to Israel this past fall before this all went down.  The experiences were rich and exceeded my expectations. To walk the path that Jesus took into the city, to wander under the trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, to stand in the tomb and walk out of the grave.  Words will never do it justice.  

Whatever the reason,  Holy week has felt more, well, Holy this year.  More sacred, more special, more set apart…. 

As we move towards Easter Sunday, many of us are struggling with the fact that it will look very different.  It will be an Easter that we likely reference for years to come.  

But, just as Holy week has drawn me closer to the heart of God this time around, perhaps Easter will yield similar results.  

I’d encourage you this Easter, wherever you are on your faith journey, to allow Jesus in and see it with fresh eyes and with new meaning.  Let this Easter be different and set-apart, not with resistance, but with open hands as He places a unique opportunity in your grasp this year.  

“See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland”  Isaiah 43:19