holy holy holy

last night my sunday school class hosted a prayer and worship service on some land set aside to build a new church. last night was maundy thursday, the night before Jesus was crucified. i've been reading the gospels; matthew, mark, luke, and john and the accounts of the last days of Jesus and finding all the significance of that night. the last supper, washing of the disciples feet, Jesus praying in the garden, and his betrayal and arrest- deeply personal, reflective acts.

our class wanted to offer a gift to our friends, family, and church; the opportunity to come to a quiet place and come face to face with our own inequities and our need for the Jesus on the cross. we wanted to ponder what it must have been like on that thursday before Jesus was crucified and ultimately rose from death.

as we sang, wrote confessions, prayed, meditated, took Communion, were blessed, and washed feet it rained and subsided, rained and subsided. it was dark, cloudy, and solemn. the weather fit the darkness that was coming when Jesus was crucified. my sweet jessica was singing "my sin held you there" and i sang out "Jesus" and the rain came upon us, hard. while we cried out our brokenness it felt like we were being washed clean. it was holy. then the rain cleared away.

sometimes in the day to day i forget what is holy. i get busy, don't stop and look. i wrap myself in what seems so important; and leave behind what is holy. when i don't stop and invite God to be the center of my life, to pray- to listen. i miss God's blessing.

i don't know who reads my words. i put them out there because i need a place to share my heart. my heart for today is this; ask God his heart for you. be still, but cry out if you need to. life is more than the day to day, Easter is more than bunnies and candy. it's about a God that loves us beyond measure and wants to give us life.

The curtain tore and the saints awoke and the whole earth seemed to tremble, at the fury of God's anger, or was it the fury of His LOVE? - andrew peterson