I am working on my midweek Lenten worship series this week. Good thing — Lent is just a little over a week away. I looked at a lot of published stuff for ideas, but wasn’t thrilled by any of them. I find it very hard to use someone else’s stuff. So I took out a harmony of the passion of our Lord and just read through it to see what catch my interest or imagination. I jotted down these images:

• a kiss
• hands tied
• a slap in the face
• spit in the face
• hands washed
• the tears of denial

Each led me to something we all deal with:

• when you receive affection from someone who then turns on you,
• when you feel like your “hands are tied and can’t do anything,”
• when someone’s comment is a “slap in the face”
• when you’re treated like dirt,
• when you just want to be out of a situation, and
• when the tears of failure come.

We find in Christ so many opposites, such as a God who wipes away our tears, who uses spit to heal, who washes feet, and binds up our wounds. I don’t have all the dots connected, but it’s coming together. I am thinking about tying it together with the theme Deal With It, but I want to let it simmer a little, and then I’ll taste it again.