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For the first time in eight years I am not spending Holy Week drowning in the paperwork that comes with five worship services in eight days.
It is good.
Instead I am spending a near perfect vacation gathered in a room of friends, new and old, working on an embroidery project.
It is good.
It is magical to sit down with a blank piece of fabric and a pile of threads and watch something come to life.
It's a little God-like.
It's amazing to stand back, to look at your creation and the creations of others and say
"It is good."
One topic of conversation that frequently comes up at events like this is the idea of process versus project.
For some people, the end project is the goal. They like to purchase a kit or a pattern, follow instructions more or less exactly, finish the sewing, get it framed or sewn together and proudly display the finished piece. There's a lot to be said for having something to show off after all of your hard work.
For most stitchers that I know, however, it's the process that's important. We usually love the finished project, or we wouldn't have bothered with it at all. But what's most important is how we get to the end. We change threads. We change colors. We make creative adaptations rather than mistakes. We try new stitches or new techniques. While it's a joy to get to the end, we're really there for the journey.
I'm pretty sure God is process-oriented not project-oriented.
If God was project-oriented, we'd still be living happily in the Garden of Eden.
If God is process-oriented, then the work of his creation has so many possibilities, so many paths to travel down. When Adam and Eve were tempted and ate the forbidden fruit, God's creation project took a totally different path. Different threads, different stitches, different colors.
What would have happened if Moses had walked past the burning bush, and Ernie had stopped instead? Different threads, different stitches, different colors.
Despite all the times that people have turned away from the life that God intended for them, God still steps back, observes the results of this creation and says
"It is good."
Holy Week and Easter are a great journey. Every year different details of the Passion story stand out. Springtime creates a different color pallet each year. And every year through the miracle of the resurrection, we have a clean fabric on which to begin stitching the story of our new creation as children of God.
- Ann Warner
St. Stephen's will observe Holy Week with worship services at 7:30 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We will host a community breakfast on Easter Sunday beginning at 8:30 am, with Easter worship at 10.