Live Through and Stretch Beyond Holy Week
Rev. Dr. Kerri Parker, WCC Executive Director
It is Holy Week. We don’t know specifically what the news will bring – except we do know.
People will gather to share meals and share stories, to find commonality and maybe a measure of hope in being together. If not exactly hope, then a sense of stability. If not stability, then comfort by being in one another’s presence.
People will gather, sharing stories, bread, and ideas. The Powers That Be will be unsettled by others taking up space and time, resenting the presence of this rabble in public. Gatherings must take place in The Right Places for The Right Reasons. The Right Causes must be honored in The Right Way. The Powers That Be will seek compliance.
Someone(s) will comply, because they believe it will save others from still greater harm. Or perhaps because they believe it will save their loved ones. Or give them a place from which to do good, for a while, a seat at the table. They will come to realize what it has cost them.
Loved ones will be turned over to the authorities; good people will not know what to do. Some will fight, some will weep, some will run away. Terrible things will happen in the dark of night. Chosen family will disappear, to be glimpsed again from a distance, in pain, through tears. It will seem that The Powers That Be have won, that Death and Evil reign.
And yet, their dominion is so much smaller and more temporary than they think.
Holy Week calls us to live through and stretch beyond the most difficult parts of the story. We may not be able to see Easter quite yet, but perhaps we might be able to imagine being surprised once again. Or to be agents of hopeful surprise for someone else. Live in ways that remind you that it doesn’t end here. Whatever takes place in the news, or in your own sphere this week, know that you are not alone. Your friends at the Wisconsin Council of Churches are here, even in the complicated parts of the story, building new connections and putting together resources to equip us all for whatever we face next.
Cry Out! by textile artist Mimi Goodwin depicts Jerusalem road after Jesus's entry. A scattering of green palm branches remains. Shouts still echo. Stones and seven mountains watch. How could enthusiastic hosannas fade away? How could people change so quickly and completely? At first, they join Jesus in challenging Roman system of domination. Then, they stand with Pilate's order to crucify Jesus. Would I, would you, would we be any different? A kaffeyah on the stones cries out reminding Christians that we follow a man with brown skin from Palestine. White supremacy is reinforced with historically inaccurate portrayals of Jesus as white. White Christian Nationalism includes the Seven Mountain Mandate. This strategy "retakes" control of society. Religion, family, government, education, media, arts/entertainment, and business all become dominated by "Christian" values. Mimi Goodwin is a textile artist, poet and faith leader. She lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Sitka, Alaska.
Cry Out! is from Repenting from Christian Nationalism series © 2025 by Wisconsin Council of Churches. Subscribe for more resources. Creative Commons licensing available.
