This is not all there is.

Sometimes we forget. We forget the 1000g view. We look at someone who is going through their "stupid" phase and that's all we can see. Sometimes when we are in conflict with someone that is all we see. One of my favorite pastoral counselors use to say that his job was to help couples to rediscover each other and to see that what they think they know about their spouse is not all there is to know. As our loved ones come to the close of their lives we also need to be able to look at them and remember the long view. Remember all they have done and all they have been to us. When our friends or relatives suffer from dementia, poor health or poor choices we need to remember that this is not all there is.

That is first and foremost the foreboding we feel during Holy Week. This is not all there is. There is that gut wrenching moment when we see tears in the eyes of Jesus as he weeps over Jerusalem—oh not just Jerusalem, but weeping for a people, weeping for the blindness of humanity, weeping for the aloneness of trying to save a people who have no idea what it means for him to be the savior. There are those moments when there is something so strange in his voice as he breaks the bread and pours out the cup. There is something more to the Passover meal, something not just about remembering the past but looking to the future. This is not all there is. He prays in the garden. There is something more happening. These are not just the prayers of a devout Jew, not just the prayers of a leader looking for guidance, no, there is something more. This is not all there is.

I hope you will be with us as we journey through Lent, waving Palm Branches, breaking bread, praying and being a part of these moments of holiness. As we take in that this is not about the past, but these things have everything to do with our future. What we believe and how we live out that belief has everything to do with how the future unfolds for our lives, for our families, for our communities and for the world. If we are faithful witnesses then the lives of others will be touched and they and we will see most clearly, this is not all there is.

More yet to come.

Shalom, Cindy