Life is busy.
And it seems like the week leading into important spiritual holidays like Christmas and Easter are even busier as there’s often a lot of preparation to do for the holiday itself… preparing meals, organizing family gatherings, participating or serving at extra worship services.
If I’m not intentional, I can find myself on Easter morning completely unprepared spiritually, not having taken any time to think, reflect, and pray about what the Good Friday and Easter are all about.
Ever happen to you?
So, I’m curious… if you’re a Christian, what do you do spiritually to prepare yourself spiritually for Good Friday and Easter?
I know some people who give things up for lent. Some who have stopped blogging and tweeting so they can focus & avoid distractions.
I have several friends who make a point of watching The Passion of the Christ movie every year to remind themselves of Jesus’s sacrifice for us.
A couple of years I fasted from Friday night until Sunday morning. For each mealtime during the fast I read one of the four gospel accounts of Jesus death and resurrection.
What are you doing this year to ensure that you don’t skim over or miss entirely the celebration of Jesus death and resurrection?
This is a good question to think about, especially for those of us who work for the church. Today is a great example of how busy things can get this week. I’m up here right now, taking a short break (it’s after 5:00) and I fully expect to be here until late this evening. I’ll be up here late tomorrow evening, and the next, and the next, maybe even some on Saturday.
2 things are helping me: 1) as you mentioned, I’m fasting during Lent, which makes me think about things every day. I also intend to do some kind of more intense fast on Thursday through Sunday. 2) I’m working on praying as much every day, every hour, as I can, following the example of Frank Laubach and his “Game with Minutes.” (see my website) That has helped immensely, and I’m noticing that for the first time in 10 years of working for the church, I don’t feel stressed, and feel much more focused on why we observe and celebrate this week.
Chris, that sounds great. I read several posts on your blog. Pursuing a attitude of “ceaseless prayer” is really awesome! I’ve been trying to do that lately myself.
What’s funny (to me anyway) is that I’ve been thinking that one of the reasons I personally find ceaseless prayer to be a challenge is because I am such a focus person. I can lock into a task for a lot periods of time and ignore everything around me – including God. I was reminded by your post that a lot of people find ceaseless prayer a challenge because they are easily distracted. So, I guess we all have our challenges, don’t we? 😀
I usually watch the movie “Matthew” and participate in observances for Maundy Thursday.
Hmmm, I haven’t seen that one. I’ll have to check it out.
I’ve been doing some more focused quiet time this week. I’ve been spending more time reading my bible. Today I spent some time just reading about Jesus’ death and resurrection. I was in Mark 14-16. Instead of just reading quickly through it, today I spent some time meditating on some of the passages that spoke to me to really consider all that Jesus did for us.
Great question to ask!
Good stuff, Bill. Glad you’re making the time to slow down & reflect.