Disciples, Apostles, and Saints!
I have a confession. While I love Easter and Holy Week and Lent (and it is really our best time of year, if we’re being honest) and we make our best church during this time, it is always so exhausting and I get anxious and start to dread the experience. I even said out loud in the middle of last week “I wish the week were over already.” And even as the words came out of my mouth, I realized I didn’t really mean it.
Yes, I meant it emotionally in the moment, but not truly. I was trying to speak to my anxiety and fear, which make everything harder to do when they are raging and in control. Like when I have a lot to do / worry about / fret over / wait on / wonder about. All of it.
I didn’t fully mean it, though. Because Holy Week and Easter Day are the best. The Triduum, with its serving and heartache and rejoicing over the course of three successive days is always beautiful and moving and exciting in equal measures. They really never disappoint.
And then Easter returns with joyous grace and we gather again with renewed generosity and hope. And we see people we miss because this is the time they show up and this is still home and we rejoice in it.
The familiarity and newness of both the day and the season of Easter is always a renewing delight for me. And it couldn’t come at a better time. Because I always need it when it arrives. I welcome it again with open arms and great reunion joy. Like new buds in the garden, blooms on the tree, a cat sunning itself on the patio chair, the neighbor mowing his lawn for the first time this year, the sun returning like one of those friends we welcome back, happy. And still amid this all, I yearn for a nap, and with confidence I will receive it, mercy.
With love,
Drew+
