Growing up Baptist, the only Lent in my life was in my belly button. (Okay, it’s really spelled “lint,” but it had to work for this analogy.)

Then after getting married I joined another church that was solidly evangelical, but also observed what could be called Liturgy Lite. No robes or swinging, smoking things, but we did give ascent to things like Lent, Holy Week, and Advent – and observed them, in our own quirky, post-hippie ways. (I guess we were Ancient-Modern before it was Modern.)

But I’ll tell you what, I had never truly experienced Easter until I had experienced Good Friday (and to a larger extent Lent). To sit in a somber service on that Friday, coming face-to-face with the suffering Savior, and to leave the room with him still in the tomb makes for a powerful, truly celebratory Resurrection Sunday.

Try it if you haven’t.

And here are some thoughtful Holy Week quotations at CT, to help you in your reflections. In fact, there are six statements. Just take one a day this week and really think about it throughout your day. (Gasp! That’s a spiritual practice!) Be careful…you may be changed…