Holy Week 2024
From Allen's Desk
Holy Week Theme: Sticking Close to Jesus in Jerusalem
Lent
During Lent we journey with Jesus towards his destiny in Jerusalem. This is far more than simply “remembering incidents along the way” but more an “inhabiting these stories” so that we feel their existential pull in our souls. To that end I’ve been sharing my own story of learning to embrace the Cross, a process that is ongoing and will never cease. For those interested in the particulars, the Lent 2 and Lent 3 sermons highlight a bit of my struggle and developing understanding.
Holy Week
Once Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, the Gospels do an interesting thing: narrative time starts to slow down. In each of the four Gospels, over 1/3 to1/2 of the material is concerned with the incidents that occur once Jesus gets to Jerusalem. Of course, this is so that we will recognize that these events are central, but this also helps us “inhabit these stories” with a deliberation that is a step up from what we’ve been doing during the rest of Lent.
Each season of the Church Year (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany and finally Lent) leads us to this one week, the Triduum, the three sacred days (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter). Drawing from the Jewish tradition of physically enacting the central feasts, the early Church recognized that the Holy Week stories were more than stories, they were a “sacred space” within which a congregation could physically live into the events described.
This physical enacting is not some religious ritual which we perform for its own sake, but for the purpose of deepening our experience and love for Christ. I have found that parishioners who regularly participate in the events of Holy Week find that the rest of the Church year is informed by and interpreted by these events; they become a lens through which we understand God’s love for each of us and what it means for God to be “all in” with respect to the world.
Our Holy Week schedule is as follows:
Palm Sunday (March 24th) – interior procession with palms at the 9.30 service
Maundy Thursday (March 28th) – The Agapē Meal (two sittings 5 pm and 7 pm). This is an informal replication of the Last Supper using the form of a typical Roman meal, something the early church would have engaged in. You will be greeted at the door with a ritual handwashing which you can choose to participate in or not, it is the cultural equivalent of Jesus’ washing of the disciple’s feet when they came to the last supper (John 13).
Please look for ways to get involved in the preparations. Our preparations remind us that Jesus sent the disciples “on ahead of him” to prepare the upper room.
After the 7 pm meal we “stick close to Jesus and the disciples” as we sing a hymn together and “go into the night.” In reality we move to the sanctuary for a short service (at around 8 pm) in which the altar is “stripped” and religious ornaments stored leaving the sanctuary “unadorned.” This is akin to going with Jesus to Gethsemane.
Good Friday (March 29th) – 10 am. This year we will be using a “Stations of the Cross” format that will be “kid friendly.” We encourage families to participate and “stick close to Jesus” as he is moved through his different encounters and experiences towards his death. The focus here is not on the brutality of Jesus’ suffering but on God’s commitment to us to be with us in all that we go through in life, and to always be working for us and with us. With that as our focus, this service will be “challenging but safe” for children and youth.
The Great Vigil of Easter (March 30th) – 8pm at Christ Church Cathedral (930 Burdett). I encourage St. Philip parishioners to join with our sisters and brothers at the cathedral for the Vigil service on Saturday evening. This is a wonderful opportunity to be together with our Bishop and other Anglicans and visitors for the climactic declaration that Christ is victorious over sin and death.
Easter Sunday (March 31st) – 8 am and 9:30 am. -- Our “Day of days!” To celebrate the Resurrection comes to its true meaning in light of the other events we’ve observed and participated in. Those who only come to this service may leave on a momentary high, but those of us who’ve “stuck close to the proceedings" are privileged to know the deep joy of how God takes our deepest sorrows and moves us and the world towards the Shalom we’ve always craved, secretly hoped was possible, and now, in this great celebration, becomes our great promise!
Here’s hoping you can join us on the journey!
Allen+