Remembering the story of Easter after four days off-grid in the wilderness

Woman Alive deputy editor, Jemimah Wright finds herself unexpectedly reoriented to the sacred rhythm of Easter Week. With fresh perspective, she reflects on the unfolding story of Jesus’ final days.

I returned last Sunday from the ‘Leopard Trail’ a four day hike in Baviaanskloof, a vast, rugged wilderness area in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, (we sadly didn’t see any leopards). There is something about stepping off-grid, with no signal or wifi, that rearranges your sense of time. After four days hiking through the beauty of the Baviaans, where the rhythm of life is set by footsteps and sunlight, we returned home last Sunday dusty, tired, but refreshed. That same afternoon, we collected my husband’s mother, who had been staying with friends. As we loaded her bag into the car, her friend called out, “You’re missing Palm Sunday at church!”

I realised I had completely lost track of where we were in the Easter calendar. I was reminded that while I had been walking through wilderness, the Church had been walking through a different kind of journey.