Social distancing has messed with my sense of timing.
This is Holy Week. Starting with Palm Sunday (and the Triumphal Entry) through Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday (aka Easter), this week is the pinnacle of the Christian faith.
If all the changes in your life have got you off your stride and you’re struggling to get in the spirit of the Holy Week, I’ve got something that will help you center your heart on Jesus and His sacrifice.
I go nuts this time of year. My sins were paid for. The debt I could not manage was blotted way, and I became a child of God! How exciting is that?
Normally, my wife and kick off our Holy Week with a Christian celebration of Passover. We were planning for 160 people at our church this year. But the pandemic put a stop to that.
One of our pastors reached out today and asked if we had a devotion they could do as a family that picked up on the spirit of Holy Week and the Last Supper.
What a great idea! I just finished a book about the Christian observance of Passover, so everything was very fresh. I have badly missed all the preparation that our celebration brings, so I was super happy to sit down and put something together.
Now I’m sharing it with you.
It’s designed to share with your family and draw your attention to Jesus’ sacrifice that is the main focus this week. It’s interactive and can become the centerpiece of an evening.
Have fun with it! This season is important, and we should have permission to make a big deal out of it!
I wrote it all up in a PDF document you can download from my website.
You’ll find a section that will tell you what you need to do to prepare and get ready. Odds are you might need to make a quick run to the grocery store for a few supplies. Matzah, onions, grape juice, applesauce…. Just a few simple items.
Then there’s a section that walks you through the devotion. You’ll want to read through it and get familiar with the material, then you can lead your family through the discussions. It is designed to be thoughtful and draw your heart close to Jesus.
The devotion itself has 4 sections. You can do them all in one setting – I think it could be done relatively quickly.
OR
You could do one section each evening leading up to Good Friday. That would help bring the right spiritual focus to your Holy Week for sure!
Either way you do it, I just pray that this season your heart is able to zero in on the real reason why we celebrate the Resurrection. It’s not about bunnies or colored eggs. It’s about a sacrifice, a payment and a resurrection once and for all.
Here’s the link to the PDF one more time.
God bless you this week.
HE IS RISEN!
Dennis
PS. If you think this study is interesting, and want to know more, check out my book As Often As You Do It. In this book I delve much more deeply into the Last Supper and what it means to Christians.
