Rev's Reasonings - Holy Week towards Easter (Vicar's Blog)

The Lenten journey is coming to an end. How has your Lent been? Have you taken up anything or left behind anything?

This has been the Lent that keeps on giving. Trade Wars, political economics that affect the most vulnerable, airport disruption, natural disasters. Deaths both celebrity and perhaps those lesser known but known to us via family and friends. 

We marked the 5th Anniversary of Lockdown of which we remember the many that were lost and known to us - not least in this community of Peckham/Nunhead. Lent is a time of reflection, struggle and wilderness experiences. We now switch towards Holy Week, the key story coming to a climatic end but more consequential than a streamed drama series on our preferred provider that may involve teenaged young people!

Why ‘Holy’ ? Holy means set apart, distinct for worship or an offering, usually for God. This week in the Christian calendar is a distinct week particularly in the life of Jesus Christ as it is his last recorded week on his life in the biographical accounts called the Gospels ‘Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’. Jesus goes to the capital - Jerusalem to achieve his final mission. It is a roller coaster for Jesus, his followers and crowds. The powers that be are plotting how to finish him in the most public and violent way. The drama is political, spiritual and also personal. A city that wants a saviour to liberate them, to one that chooses a criminal disappointed and given misinformation of true liberation. A then superpower who when faced with political decisions and questions around truth and justice - asks ‘What is truth?’ ‘Are you the Christ?’ and delivers a public execution which is a miscarriage of justice and distortion of any legal process even in the religious context set. 

Friends who were staunch at the beginning and then flaky featuring deniers, betrayers, absenters and the indifferent. A loneliness like no other. A cruel death and women who were left to pick up the pieces. A mother who lost her son violently and publicly witnessing the burial of her beloved firstborn is abnormal and heart-breaking. These episodes in the story are still fitting for our social media society in 2025 where sometimes online encounters are like a public execution and the same human traits are displayed if we choose to be honest and see.

This is why this is arguably the greatest story ever told that resonates with our humanity if we choose to explore even in the depths of what seems on the surface an ultra modern and sophisticated society.

May I commend you to discover for yourself with the last week of Jesus Christ’s life beyond the chocolate and food! 

Maybe ask yourself the question - who do I identify with the most in this story and its relevance to yours and my life?

The elements of faith, hope and love are never far away and journeying through Lent brings us to that Holy Week - distinct and consequential I believe for all of us who choose to enter into this story. This is what makes 'Living Hope' for you and I.

We will be exploring this story in various ways both in person and online at st Mary's and would invite you to join us and be curious both this Easter and beyond.

Peace be with you

Rev Dean