Dear People of Christ Church,
Come to Church!
Tonight at 7, tomorrow at 12pm or 7pm (kids' Stations of the Cross at 6); and Saturday at 7pm and Sunday morning as usual. I'm reprinting some of the background info on Holy Week from the brochure I put together; to read more about each service, check out the brochure linked here.
What is Holy Week?
Holy week is the week between Palm Sunday and Easter. It begins with Maundy Thursday, continues on Good Friday, and culminates in the Great Vigil of Easter on Saturday Night. These are sometimes called by the Latin Triduum (meaning "three days."). They are, technically, one service-there's no final blessing or dismissal from Thursday's opening until the end of the Great Vigil on Saturday. Often times the observance during the week might include the Stations of the Cross or a simple Eucharist on Holy Monday and Holy Tuesday, and a service called Tenebrae is held on Wednesday. At Christ Church, we have Stations (lead by a lay person) on Tuesday, are home on Wednesday (St Paul's in Brookline has a lovely Tenebrae service a few of us attended several years ago), and then have church Thursday-Sunday. In 2013 a children's Stations of the Cross is added in on Good Friday at 6pm.
Why Holy week?
Holy Week is, spiritually and theologically, the high point and center of the whole church year. Having gone through the journey of Maundy Thursday, the depths of Good Friday, the watching and waiting of the Vigil-the celebration of the Easter resurrection is that much more powerful-and honest. Our liturgies aren't museum pieces; they draw us into a deeper truth of our faith. They are in some ways a mirror of our own experience. Jesus Christ was fully human. Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself. (Philippians 2: 5) Jesus emptied himself and took on all of the uncertainty, pain, and suffering of human living. Nothing human is alien to the heart of God because of Jesus' closeness to us. This week, Jesus enters the depths of human love, and also human grief and suffering. This week is about us, not just about God. "Wash each other," Jesus tells us in Scripture, and as we do, we wash Christ himself. This week, we observe and participate in this sacrificial closeness God has to us.
Where do the services come from?
Our liturgies come from the pilgrimage diary of a fourth century Spanish nun, Egeria. We owe our own Book of Common Prayer liturgies to the discovery of her account of her travels. Egeria was a remarkable woman who wrote and traveled at a time that many women couldn't do either. We know she was Roman, so she was a convert to the Christian faith. Our celebration of Maundy Thursday goes back even further, to the account in Scripture of Jesus' last night as described in the Gospel of John, when he washes his disciples' feet as he models servanthood. It is also the time we remember the institution of the Holy Eucharist; we say the same words from the Gospel on Maundy Thursday and every time we celebrate communion: This is my body, this is my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.
Look with compassion dear God, on this your family. Be with us especially this Holy Week, as we observe the events of Christ's Passion. Lead us into your truth and guide us in your righteousness as we await the One who will rise in glory. Amen.
Blessings,
Sara+
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