Holy Week and Easter

Holy Week is the most important week in the Christian Year. It is the time when we walk to Jerusalem with Jesus and share in his passion and death on the Cross. This year we have we can pilgrimage our way to Jerusalem by walking the Labyrinth at Saughtonhall United Reformed Church and then walk through that Holy City as we follow the Stations of the Cross around the garden of the Church of the Good Shepherd. Both of these activities are designed to help us experience the true meaning of Holy Week and alongside the services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday to journey with Jesus to Golgotha. 

Holy Week is a stark and difficult few days but we do not journey through them on our own. We journey alongside millions of Christians around the world and with our brothers and sisters closer to home. As we pray for those we are concerned for and for our own concerns as well, we do so in the knowledge that others will be praying for us, just as we will be praying for them. In doing so we help each other carry our own crosses, just as Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry his Cross.

On Maundy Thursday we gather to celebrate the Eucharist and to commemorate the Last Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples and followers. We then journey with him to the Garden of Gethsemane and keep watch until he is taken by force and betrayal. Good Friday sees us walk the way of the Cross and to symbolically stand by the Cross until Jesus dies. It is a hard couple of days and they are days filled with emotion and personal pain for many of us.

Holy Saturday, is almost a 'nothing' day as we see Jesus laid in the tomb but ........ we have the glories of the Resurrection on Easter Day to look forward to and in doing so we hope for new life and for light to shine in the darkness.