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Dear Friends,

At the beginning of this Lenten journey, we set out with a shared desire: to live a Rule of Life that helps us “Desire God” more deeply, more truly, more fully. Through the season, we’ve walked through practices of prayer, simplicity, justice, and surrender. We’ve turned our gaze toward Christ and asked what it means to follow him—not in theory, but in the grit and beauty of daily life here in Vancouver and in a world groaning for peace and justice.

Now, we find ourselves at the gate of Jerusalem. This past Sunday, we stood with the crowd waving palms—joyful, confused, desperate, hopeful—as Jesus enters not in power, but in humility. He rides a colt, not a warhorse. He receives praise but knows betrayal lies ahead. As Luke tells us, even the stones would cry out if the people were silent. Creation itself is caught up in this moment.

And then, swiftly, the story turns. We enter the Passion. We move from celebration to suffering. The readings draw us down the road toward Golgotha, into the depth of Christ’s self-emptying love. Isaiah’s servant speaks with a word that sustains the weary. The psalmist cries from a place of anguish, “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress”. And Jesus, at table with his friends, breaks bread, shares the cup, and sets his face toward the cross.

One of the beauties of our faith is that Holy Week is not just a commemoration of ancient events—it is an invitation for into mystery. Jesus does not walk this road so we can observe from a distance. He walks it to meet us. To meet the people in our streets who are sleeping rough. To meet the families fleeing war, and the young people in our city who are wondering whether hope is real. He walks this road for the overwhelmed parent, the exhausted frontline worker, the doubting faithful. He walks it for you and for me.

And the invitation? Walk with him.

This week, let your faith be embodied:

  • Attend the liturgies of the Triduum: Maundy Thursday’s foot washing and Holy Communion. Good Friday’s stark honesty. The dazzling hope of the Vigil. Each service is a step deeper into God’s redeeming work.

  • Pray daily with Scripture: Use the Passion narrative from Luke as your anchor. Let it speak to you. Let it disturb and comfort you.

  • Practice silence: Take five minutes each day—perhaps on a bench in Stanley Park, or walking the seawall—just to be still before God.

  • Reach out: Write a note of forgiveness. Give generously to someone in need. Offer a meal. Let the mind of Christ—who took the form of a servant—shape your actions.

  • Invite someone: Maybe a friend or co-worker needs the invitation to Easter hope. Don’t underestimate what a simple invitation to worship can do.

Because the road does not end at Golgotha.

Even now, beneath the weight of injustice, sorrow, and confusion in our world—from Gaza to Ukraine to the streets of the Downtown Eastside—we proclaim that resurrection is coming. God’s love cannot be silenced. And we, the Church, are called not just to remember it, but to live it. To be Easter people in a Good Friday world.

So walk the road. With open hands. With tender hearts. With the deep desire for God that has shaped our Lent.

And let that desire carry us all the way to the empty tomb.

 

Blessings,

Dean Chris