(picture taken May 27, 2009 ... by Sara Holben. Candles in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, beside the site named as "Gologtha")

Wednesday of Holy Week ... March 31, 2010. This week always feels a bit "suspended" in time for me. Lots to do to get ready for worship services over the next few days. Yet, it feels in some way as if time is standing still. I know that it's my mind playing tricks on me, of course. And yet, in another sense, it seems as if all that is important in time comes pressed in upon these few days. Maybe that's what "kairos" - God's time - feels like.

So on this Wednesday, the day before Maundy Thursday ... I pray:

Christ our Savior,

on the cross you embraced all time

with your outstretched arms:

Gather all the scattered children of God into your realm.

Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.

Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.

Jesus, redeemer of the world, grant us peace. Amen.

(from: Book of Common Worship, p. 266 ... Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993)