Alleluia, Christ is risen!

This year, my Lenten experience has been...interesting. Of course, by 'interesting,' I don't necessarily mean in a good way--I mean both terrifying and exhausting.

I struggled during this Lent with a host of time management issues that have arisen from a perfect storm of my own desire to study theology (in my spare time, mind you), reintegration from deployment, everyone wanting to spend time with me, and my difficulty saying "no." While each is a good thing on its own, I've been swamped by what has become "too much of a good thing."

It all came to a head during Holy Week, when I was getting up at about 2 or 3 in the morning to write papers for school, then heading out to get to work by 7, then doing other stuff after work. By Maundy Thursday, I was exhausted, crushed, and ready to just drop everything and walk away.

I stayed in the church after the Maundy Thursday service. I watched and prayed for an hour--something that I'd done once during my first Holy Week, when my church had organized a rotating watch for the night, in remembrance of the disciples at the garden at Gethsemane, whom Jesus chided, "Could you not keep awake one hour?" (Mark 14:37). The activity died down gradually, and after about twenty or thirty minutes I found myself alone in the church. I prayed as Jesus revealed his vulnerable humanity, "Let this cup pass from me; yet not my will but your will be done" (paraphrase from Luke 22:42).

I "slept in" on Friday morning, until 6am. I returned to the church to pray for an hour before the Good Friday service. The Good Friday service was more to my mood at the time--very somber and solemn. Then I was jarred when Father Jim slammed a wooden cross onto the stripped altar. It was as though I was struck by something. It was a reminder--or perhaps anamnesis (a Greek word that translates weakly as 'remembrance' but also includes a reliving and a present experience)--of the nails being driven through Jesus and into the cross.

Incidentally, this is also a special time for all those who have served in the military. It was a centurion who, at the foot of the cross of a condemned rabblerouser, confessed, "Truly this man was God's Son!" (Matthew 27:54). And the guards posted by Pilate have their own empty tomb experience, albeit in a very different way (Matthew 27:65-28:4). (A good novel that deals with the aftermath is The Centurion's Wife, by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke. The centurion of this story is the one whose faith is praised by Jesus (Matthew 8:5-13) and who (in this novel) is assigned by Pilate to investigate the disappearance of Jesus' body from the tomb.)

I thought Easter Vigil was a bit early in the day this year, since the sun was still up after the service, but that's not important. What's important is the anamnesis of Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, all done for us in accordance with God's will.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!