Wholly Holy Week

If you were in Church on Sunday you will have heard me give my usual Palm Sunday encouragement for you to let the story of your life be caught up in and transformed by this great story of Holy Week.
Each of us has a story, a reality, stuff we carry to Jerusalem and lug around with us. My story this year has been one of learning. Some of you know I have been learning a whole lot about neurological symptoms which attach themselves to migraines. I decided at the beginning of Lent that I was going to be kind to myself, take the same advice I give to all of you, and to bite off only what I could chew. I had a very small appetite.
But I am coming into Holy Week feeling a lot better than I would have been if I was carrying a whole lot of resentment about not doing a whole lot of stuff. There is one thing I would like to have got done, but it will happen.
The story of the Passion is peppered with encounters between Jesus and various other people. I notice time and again kindness - especially towards Mary. That moment from the cross when Jesus tells John that Mary is his mother now and he is her son - it is not some bizarre feel good moment - but a kindness - to make sure she is provided for.
This compassion and care is something which I hope I will carry through the next few days. Our God is a kind God. God understands that we are not superhuman and that there are those times when we just cannot sprint up and down those mountains. Sometimes a single step is hard enough and God rejoices in that, especially when it is made with a joyful heart.
Kindness leads to gratitude and gratitude to joy. I know I lose sight of that sometimes in this busy and demanding world but even when things are not exactly the way I might choose, it is still true that Jesus meets me on the road, even as he carries that heavy cross, and worries about my concerns, and engages with my story. My response must only be to do the same to others.