Semana Santa

I was trying to explain to a good friend what it's like to spend "Semana Santa" in Guatemala. This friend doesn't speak Spanish at all and gets frustrated with me when I do. So, in order to do her a favor, I translated "Semana Santa" to it's English counterpart: Holy Week. In the process I managed to convey the assumption that she'd never heard of this Christian phenomenon called Holy Week. We laughed, I apologized, and proceeded to reminisce.

Good Friday in Guatemala was one of the most powerful experiences I've had. People spend hours and hours creating carpets of colored sand, flower petals, fruit, and other materials to line the road in order for the statues of Christ to pass over...they create beauty for ruin because they know it's an honor to do that for Christ.

Today is the day we remember Christ's sacrifice--I don't even know what to say about it right now--the thought is overwhelming. I'm humbled and wondering what I can offer Christ out of response to his sacrifice. Often I'm tentative to fully release areas of my life, my future to the Lord because I don't know what the result will be. If only I could cling to the truth I found on the streets of Guatemala--ruin in the eyes of the world is beauty and privelage in the Kingdom of God. As Paul sums it up in Philippians, "whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ."

May we all lose today because loss is gain in our risen Lord's economy and because the mercy Christ is offering from his place on the cross is so much greater than anything we create or comprehend on our own terms.