4-17-19 Midweek Musings "Holy Week"

For the last few years, I have been using Ann Weems’s book Kneeling in Jerusalem, Poetry for Lent and Easter as a seasonal devotional.

For your journey this week, here is her poem “Holy Week.”

Holy is the week…

Holy, consecrated, belonging to God…

We move from hosannas to horror

with predictable ease

of those who know not what they do.

Our hosannas sung,

our palms waved,

let us go with passion into this week.

It is time to curse fig trees that do not yield fruit.

It is time to cleanse our temples of any blasphemy.

It is time to greet Jesus as the Lord’s Anointed One,

to lavishly break our alabaster

and pour perfume out for him

without counting the cost.

It is a time for preparation…

The time to give thanks and break bread is upon us.

The time to give thanks and drink of the cup is imminent.

Eat, drink, remember:

On this night of nights, each one must ask,

as we dip our bread in the wine,

“Is it I?”

And on that darkest of days, each of us must stand

beneath the tree

and watch the dying

if we are to be there

when the stone is rolled away.

The only road to Easter morning

is through the unrelenting shadows of that Friday.

Only then will the alleluias be sung;

only then will the dancing begin.

Clay

Thanks to all who helped in any way with last nights Friends feeding Friends! What a great ministry!

Maundy Thursday Service will be at 7pm on Thursday.

PRAYER CONCERNS

Please pray for those who have lost loved ones.

Please pray for Rob Lamborn as he begins radiation treatments for a melanoma tumor inside his eye. Radiation treatments will begin April 14 and recovery from the treatment will be several weeks.

Please pray for Sue Shuford, a family friend of Richard Carlton’s. She is facing major back surgery due to osteoporosis and RA damage to her T12. A date has not yet been scheduled for surgery.

From Friends Feeding Friends: Please pray for Charlotte Arnold who has a spot on her lung.

Please keep Suzy Smith in your prayers as she copes with cancer. (submitted by Jane Shelton)

Please keep Matt Degutes and his family in your prayers. He was a neighbor of Richard and Ray’s and his daughter and family live here. His cancer has returned and the final decision is no further action.

Please keep Phil Shelton and his family in your prayers as Phil recovers from a stroke.

Please pray for Richard’s brother, Michael Carlton, who recently had a kidney transplant.

Pray for Jessica Forester who is stationed near Dallas, TX.

Please pray for Steven and the Denson Family.

Please continue to pray for all those in our church family with special needs: Bob Lamborn, Zee Martin, Toni Autullo, Harold Wilson, Melissa, and Walter.