The Anglican Cycle of Prayer readings for yesterday and today together comprise Job 42, the book's last chapter. I might wish that it ended with verse 6, leaving Job standing in silent repentant awe before God, but the author/editor seemingly needed to tie things up, and so provided us with a 'happy ending.'

It sits uncomfortably with the material I'm working on today—the entire sequence of Holy Week, from triumphal entry to resurrection, through Gethsemane and the cross. I sometimes refer to this week as the 'clergy marathon,' because of the number and variety of the liturgies, and also because they take us through the gamut of human emotion and experience.

There's a lot of busy-work involved in getting ready for this week—making sure the Altar Guild is fully briefed, lining up readers and eucharistic ministers, proof-reading bulletins. But the real preparation goes deeper...

On this week we celebrate the central mystery of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth—to state the obvious. What is not obvious is the meaning of the week's events. There are many and varied interpretations and understandings of the cross and the empty tomb—some more popular than others, but all pointing to the mysterious truth behind the week.

The Holy Week story does indeed have a happy ending, but it is wrapped in mystery in a way that Job's is not.

Let us now enter into mystery.