Dear Friends,
Here we are already on our journey through Holy Week. On Sunday, my church school children brought our countdown paper chain to the joyful Palm Sunday procession and trimmed the loops until the chain of red that marks this week. We sang and waved our palms and cheered Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. But, we also heard the reading of the Passion.
We are still in the beginning, having not yet arrived at the Triduum and yet we have been thrust into its narratives at the same time.
But wait. Slow down. Let’s allow Holy Week to unfold in its own time.
Prepare Ye The Way Of The Lord
Recalling last week’s post on staying present, let us relish what remains.
Breathe. Live into the whole story.
In addition to the above breath prayers from Little Way Chapel, friend of the newsletter, Rev. Emily Garcia has some lovely social media-ready prompts for the week over at A Good & Joyful Thing.
In the liturgical life of the church, Holy Week can feel overwhelming, can be an experiencing of emotional and practical whiplash. We’re banging gongs, washing feet, venerating the cross. There’s always some new thing to be done that is outside our normal practices. But when we zoom out, there’s a real rhythm to this time. I think the Godly Play lesson, Jesus and Jerusalem, demonstrates this well -
(Also, I’m not sure what materials Amy is using here! It’s not the standard Godly Play Resources or Latvian set!)
Taking our time as we travel through Holy Week is the precedent we need, I think, to prepare us for the fullness of Easter. When the egg hunts are over and the frilly clothes hung back up, it is still Easter. There is still so much more.
Unfold The Story
It is almost Easter, almost time. And the culmination of Jesus’s Passion is the Easter Vigil.
Go slowly. Listen to our history.
Creation.
The Flood.
Isaiah’s Promise of Salvation.
New Life Breathed Into Dry Bones.
How will you tell it? How will you usher in the first light as a family or as a community? Through art or through song. With bells or candles or pictures. With a baptism or the recollection of your own.
Whatever it is, let us go slowly that we may really experience it all – for Easter is the peak of everything, the scandal. There are reasons John Chrysostom’s Easter sermon is one of the most celebrated texts of our tradition –
Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!
Let us build to that glory by experiencing the fullness of Holy Week.
Take it slow.
I’ll be back with my usual content for Easter II after I sleep off the Holy Week hustle and bustle and the beginning of Easter joy.
Peace,
Bird