“Then taking the Twelve aside he said to them, ‘Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man is to come true. For he will be handed over to the pagans and will be mocked, maltreated and spat on, and when they have scourged him they will put him to death; and on the third day he will rise again.’ But they could make nothing of this; what he said was quite obscure to them, they had no idea what it means.” Luke 18:31-34

The beginning of Lent marks the start of a journey to Jerusalem. That’s what it really is, although few of us will actually “go up to Jerusalem” to remember and “see” what happened there 2,000 years ago. In the environs of our congregations and communities, we will “go up” in our worship and the devotions of Lent and rec…