For Your Holy Week

Music, prayers, art, and poetry for my favorite week of the year

If you missed the virtual retreat I offered on Walking Through Holy Week, you can watch the full session here or listen to it as a podcast. Here’s a prayer I wrote for the retreat, too:

Jesus, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
As we walk in your way this Holy Week,
help us to find your truth and life in each day:
In our Hosannas and holy walking on Palm Sunday,
In our preparations on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,
In the twists and turns of Holy Thursday,
from the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane,
In the long road to Calvary on Good Friday,
In the aching waiting of Holy Saturday,
And finally in the glorious race to—and from—Easter Sunday’s empty tomb.

May we walk close to you, our companion and guide,
Through each day of this holiest week.
Open our eyes, our hearts, our bodies, and our minds
To your presence among us.
Transform our lives in the light of Easter joy and hope.
May we know we never walk alone.

Amen.

1. New to me this year: James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross. I’ve only listened to part of the work thus far, but it is incredibly powerful. Here are the composer’s notes/text and a version on YouTube or Spotify. Worth a dedicated listen in the quiet hours on Good Friday.

2. A few favorite reflections on Holy Week: Become the Branches (Palm Sunday, still worth a read). The hidden days of Holy Week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday). The footwashing (Holy Thursday). The two days we need (Good Friday & Holy Saturday).

3. A friend asked me for poetry recommendations for her junior high students to read during Holy Week, so I thought I’d share them with you. The Poet Thinks About The Donkey by Mary Oliver. A Poem For Thursday by Drew Jackson. Gethsemane by Mary Oliver. Looking at Stars by Jane Kenyon. And one more that might be too much for teenagers, but I trust you can handle: Descending Theology: Resurrection by Mary Karr.

4. Art & Theology is full of sacred art and music from around the world for your reflection every day this week. 

5. Finally, a poem for the hope that draws us forward. I cannot find the author despite my best searches, so if anyone knows the source, please let me know. For now, keep its song in your sights. Now is not forever, and forever will be beyond all telling.

And it will be like long lost love returned
When grief had shut the door on any chance; 
like songs entombed in heartache all relearned 
in one great burst of melody and dance.

And it will be like green, so green you cry 
when pain had paled the world with ash and brine; 
like empty larders suddenly supplied 
with singing stores of bread and laughing wine.

And it will be like justice far and wide 
when wrong had claimed a victory complete; 
like gaudy thrones of power tossed aside, 
like someone come to kneel and wash your feet.

(Easter Song, unattributed)