Friday, April 3

revgalblogs Friday Five: Time Out edition

Holy Week is almost upon us, I suspect that ordained or not, other revgal/pals calendars look a bit like mine, FULL, FULL, FULL........

Jesus was great at teaching us to take time out, even in that last week, right up to Maundy Thursday he withdrew, John's gospel tells us he hid! He hid not because he was afraid, but because he knew that he needed physical, mental and spiritual strength to get through...

So faced with a busy week:

1. What restores you physically? Sleep. A good 7-9 hours of sleep. Also, exercise - a nice brisk walk, stretching, deep breathing all help. Of course, I'm much better at getting the sleep than the exercise!

2. What strengthens you emotionally/ mentally? Reading, watching movies, talking with friends, crossword puzzles, creating something - I've just resumed a counted cross stitch project and will probably plug away at it in my "down time" in the coming week.

3. What encourages you spiritually? Silence, candlelight, friends

4. Share a favourite poem or piece of music from the coming week. I am always moved by Ah, Holy Jesus. The words hit at the heart for me - my heart and the heart of Holy Week.

5.There may be many services for you to attend/ lead over the next week, which one are you most looking forward to and why? If there aren't do you have a favourite day in Holy week if so which one is it? I LOVE the Easter Vigil. Anonymous Lutheran does not do the vigil, but I'm participating in one at a church up the way a bit. Really looking forward to it. Of the services we're doing - Good Friday. We're continuing our lenten focus on the cross by doing an adoration of the cross service, rather than tenebrae, which has been the practice at ALC in recent years. I love the silence, the time for prayer, the music.

3 comments:

Barbara B. said...

I am also better at getting sleep than doing exercise! :)

(And I also grew up in North Dakota! Yay!) :)

SHMT said...

That's my favorite hymn for HW, too!

MaineCelt said...

I love the Easter Vigil too...had never experienced it until a Greek Orthodox professor at our seminary led one on campus. Having grown up low-church Methodist, all the "smells and bells" were quite a sensory treat!