House Cleaning

House Cleaning (1,120)

April 18th, 2011

The religious system calls it “Holy Week”—those days leading up to the capture, trial, crucifixion and ultimate resurrection of Jesus Christ. Candidly, I can think of other weeks in his life that were much more holy—like that series of days when he taught the Sermon on the Mount, opened the blinded eyes and interacted in hope and joy with his fellow-humans.

But that’s just me.

I don’t use the alleged “Holy Week” to commemorate the insidious crime of killing off the Prince of Peace. Instead, I use it for house cleaning—and also, since it occurs in the spring, it seems appropriate.

What I mean by house cleaning is not dusting off tables and vacuuming floors, but rather, entering my own life and finding the areas that are really of my choosing and distinguishing between them and those that are still imposed upon me by my upbringing or my fears. For after all, the one thing Jesus promised us was to be free—and I can’t be free as long as I’m following the doctrines and precepts of other people, many of them long gone, or if I’m imprisoned in a cell of my own terror and trepidation.

I invite you to join me on this journey this week. It requires a bit of bravery in the sense that many of the caves we will be exploring may seem dark at first—until our eyes adjust and we begin to see more clearly. But I think you will find that the payoff is well worth the challenge.

Here’s where we’re going to go, so you’ll know.

Tomorrow I’m going to talk about what I feel, then what I believe, what I think, what I want to do and finally, who I am. It will demand that I separate myself from traditions and family loyalties to uncover what really makes me tick so that my clock of life can move forward instead of stopping or going backwards.

Let’s make a real Holy Week—because the word “holy” literally means “to be whole,” and I can’t be whole until it’s my faith that causes it. So tomorrow we begin with what I feel, which needs to be separated from what I was told to feel.