Good friday in holy week 2012...

Good Friday is a full and emotionally challenging day in our faith community:  this will be the 10th year we've been exploring an experiment we call "doing theology with the arts" in worship.  As noted in another post, creating this genre-bending combination of contemporary and traditional music -with visual art of many types - in the service of a meditation on Christ's cross is theologically and artistically demanding.  All good and satisfying, to be sure, but it takes its toll.

These words from a clergy resource really spoke to me today:

Take care of yourself... pay attention to the simple, basic stuff of your life this week: healthy food in healthy amounts, sleep, exercise and - of course - prayer... Remember: you do not need to pick up and arrange the lilies because Joan forget that her sister was coming from out of town on Saturday.  No, you do not need to vacuum the worship space again because the custodian can't be there on Friday.  The women didn't go to the tomb to dust. If there are no lilies at all, God is not going to abandon this people... so stay focused and centered. You have permission to let everything else go.

And so I have...