I have prayed for convenient timing: send the snowstorm after an event, may the person die before vacation…
I appreciate a well-thought-out plan. I dislike drama. I am 100% with the leaders, avoid the riot.
Palm to Passion Sunday unsettles me. I usually avoid parades, marches, picket lines or rallies, yet Holy Week pushes me to confront my discomfort and set aside best laid plans.
Jesus’ way to the cross pushes boundaries, involves confrontation, points fingers, shows angst and is ripe with less savoury emotions. There is nothing about the way to the cross that is convenient.
Life is not convenient. The world changes overnight: extreme weather, war, mass shootings, pandemics, crisis, famine, homelessness, mental illness, all immediately upend well-thought-out plans. Inconvenient circumstances are lined up on the way to the cross, waiting for Jesus through his followers to address, confront, advocate and be in relationship with the people affected.
I am unsettled by the Passion because this journey to the cross calls me into inconvenient places with drama and chaos. I will be uncomfortable, without a well-thought-out plan.
God help me! Amen. — KM