Holy Week - The Sunday Edition

Well, here we are in mid-April already. For Christians, this is the end of Holy Week. For many of us, this week has not felt holy. Rather it could be characterized as a very scary week. Palm Sunday in Egypt saw two churches attacked and many killed. In just one week, Trump has fired missiles at Syria, detonated the largest non-nuclear bomb ever, on Afghanistan and issued combative tweets at North Korea. It feels like we are living on the edge of something catastrophic. How do all the folks who voted for him feel now? Is this what they wanted? It is what many of us feared and what Hilary Clinton meant, when she declared him "temperamentally unfit for office."

If I think about the world situation too long, it's too upsetting and so I try to find something positive, some goodness and perhaps even some holiness in my busy life. We spent last week taking care of our young grandchildren. The opportunity to spend time with them is one of our greatest blessings now.

Yes, it is exhausting work but it's a privilege to be along for the journey, as they develop and discover the world around them. You get to answer profound questions such as,  "Why does Humpty keep falling off walls?" and hear such pronouncements as, "Oh, that's a monster poo!"

A high point for me this week was working on the Easter eggs with my mother. Not many people my age get to walk into their childhood home and work with their mother, who still wants to make Easter eggs for the whole family. It's a family tradition. Her mother started to make them, back when my mother was working in a downtown office. That would be back in the 40's. She made thirty eggs this year. Everyone gets one, with their name on it. If anyone has tried to teach me about goodness and holiness, it's mom.

So often, it is CBC radio that makes me feel better, opens my mind and restores my faith in humanity. 

On March 5th there was a short item on the Sunday Edition that was simply so moving. It's about a book club that takes place in prisons. A former prisoner, Jarrod Shook, recited a poem that he wrote, about his experience with the book club. He uses the phrase, "me the least" to describe himself. It reminded me of a hymn we used to sing back in the 60's. The line is "Whatsoever you do, to the least of my people, that you do unto me." It refers to Jesus' teaching, about the importance of showing love to the "least" among us, the needy, the vulnerable. This young man saw himself as among the least and was so appreciative of the book club. He is now working on his second university degree.

That short item was a welcome reminder that there really are so many good people in the world. Shook's poem is a reminder that all of our actions and interactions matter. We're all in this together. For a short reprieve from our troubled world, for a moment of holiness and hope, click here: The Sunday Edition

Here's wishing for a Happy Easter, a Happy Passover, a Happy Spring!