Weekday Christians

As I was reflecting on Holy Week and what I might have to share with you today, I was thinking about the fact that I grew up in a Christian church that didn't observe Holy Week, or much of the liturgical year at all. In my childhood understanding, Lent, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday were all things that Catholics did, and they were just rituals with no meaning. And as for Easter, well, my childhood church said, "Every Sunday is Easter."

In my early adulthood, I learned (ironically, from a church within the same tradition as my childhood church)  that there could be a rhythm to the church year, a cycling through the scriptures and also through the life of Jesus and of the early church that we could mirror in our life together in our present-day church. I finally understood why Holy Week could be meaningful to so many Christians.

While there is some truth in saying that every Sunday we can celebrate resurrection and new life (Easter), what about every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday? I love what UCC pastor Emily Heath says in her article, "Holy Week and the Importance of Weekday Christians":

"To me, the most comforting part of Holy Week is not the waving of triumphal palms on one Sunday morning, or the flowers and joyous hymns on the next. It's what happens in between. It's Jesus on Maundy Thursday sharing a table with the people he loved the most. It's him washing their feet, and showing that the mark of a true leader is whether they can serve others. It's Jesus still loving those disciples even though he knew that, at best, they would abandon him, and at worst, they would betray him. And it's Jesus in the garden, alone, heart-broken, and struggling between what he wanted to do and what he knew he had to do.


And on Good Friday, it continues. The world turns against him, and the ones who cheered his entry in Jerusalem instead cheer his death. He suffers. He calls out to a God who does not seem to answer. He doubts. He feels pain, and loss, and grief. And in the end he loses the life he knew....


What if we became known not just as the people who knew what to do on Sundays, but the ones who knew how to stay with you when your life was falling apart, just as Christ asks us to do on Maundy Thursday? Or the ones who could stand by and still love and respect you even when you call out your doubts, as Jesus did on the cross? What would happen if we weren't just know for our Easter Sunday celebrations, but for our Thursday night solidarity? Our Friday afternoon compassion?


We have the capacity to be those people. We have it because Christ has called us to be those people. All we have to do is be willing to make the journey with him. Not just on Sundays, but on the days between. The world has plenty of Sunday morning Christians. It needs a few more of the weekday ones."

I hope you will join us this Holy Week, as it provides unique opportunities to join our own human journeys with that of Jesus and his earliest followers. Enter the story and share communion with us on Maundy Thursday at 7pm. Reflect on the crucifixion and pray for reconciliation with us on Good Friday at 6pm. And on Holy Saturday, wherever you are, spend some time in prayer for those who are hungry (sign up here).

I believe that as we practice being weekday Christians, we will find Easter all the more glorious.

Blessings and peace,

Manda