A “threshold” is commonly understood as a strip at the bottom of a door, over which one must cross in order to enter a different space. We cross a threshold from room to room, or from indoors to out. But there is a secondary definition to this word: a magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomenon, result or condition to occur or be manifested.
We are at the threshold of Holy Week. We are about to relive the events that steer the momentum of this story toward Jesus’ death. The liturgies of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday pull us into God’s time and space. Our worship this week is structured differently. It has a unique rhythm. It highlights a unique reality.
Certainly, death is a threshold; a transition from one life to another. And this year, as we prepare to commemorate Holy Week, we find ourselves poised at a different threshold as well. For the first time in three years we are able to experience Holy Week live, in our church. We will be able to walk in community through the final week of Jesus’ earthly life. We will be able to gather in person to enter the magnitude and intensity of this sacred time and space.
I hope you will join us at 9 and 11 am on Palm Sunday, 7 pm on Maundy Thursday, 12 noon on Good Friday. There is a third definition for the word threshold: a level, rate or amount at which something comes into effect. The intensity of what we experience during Holy Week opens an expansive portal into the miracle of Easter. May we experience this familiar story anew this year, and may we move toward that miracle prayerfully, and together.
