Rectors Ramblings – 03/01/2024

We are fast approaching the liturgical heart of our faith: Holy Week and Easter. It holds the key to all else that we do and believe, and very early on,

it became clear to Christians, that it held a truth that could not be fully understood by just words about what happened.

In order to really understand the faith, Christians needed to walk with Jesus through the last few days of his life and to experience what the early followers experienced.

Only having done that, could you really understand what happened on Easter and rejoice in the miracle of new life.

So it is that every year, we recreate this journey so that we can immerse ourselves in the events of more than 2000 years ago,

events whose ripples and blessings still touch us today.

So, I invite you to attend as many of the Holy Week services as you can make, and I promise that if you do, your Easter will be more joyfully and more meaningful.

For only when you have walked the way of the cross, will the way of life become visible. And bring your children, they, too, will better understand what we believe when they

not only hear about what happened but experience it first-hand.

We begin our Holy Week Celebration with Palm/Passion Sunday. It is designated that way because it is a day that has a liturgy that both celebrates

Jesus’ joyful and triumphal entry to Jerusalem where he is hailed as the Davidic king, and then points to the coming trials of the week.

We will begin outside with a joyful procession, waving our palms, as we welcome Jesus, along with the crowds, into Jerusalem.

But with the Gospel, the service turns darker, for we will be reading the Passion Narrative from Mark. Reading it in parts, we will re-enact the events of Jesus’ betrayal,

his trial, and his death. We who have joined the crowd in welcoming Jesus will also join the crowd, fickle as crowds are, in demanding his death.

On Thursday, we gather for a simple meal with Jesus and his closest disciples, as they celebrate the Passover.

During that time, we will follow Jesus in washing the feet of Jesus’ disciples, as well as having our feet washing.

After our Eucharist, when Jesus tells his disciples that the bread and wine will now be his body and blood, we will share that simple meal together.

At the end of the service, we will strip the church of all ornamentation in preparation for Good Friday.

There will be the option for people to sit in vigil with Jesus, either in the church or at home, as Jesus prays in the garden about what will come next.

On Good Friday, we will have two services, one at noon and the other at 5:00.  The noon service will be focused on some of the Last Words of Christ on the Cross,

according to the Gospels. Interspersed between the meditations, there will be hymns and prayers. At 5:00 PM, we will be using the Good Friday liturgy from the

Book of Common Prayer, with the Solemn Collects, the reading of the Passion Narrative in parts from the Gospel of John, and the remembrance of the cross.

On the eve of Easter, we will begin our celebration of Easter in the Great Vigil, the most important service of the year, and the heart of our Christian faith.

In the early Church, it was the time when all new Christians were brought into the church through Baptism.

On Good Friday, traditionally all fires were doused, and at sundown on that Saturday, a fire was lit, to symbolize the light of Christ returning to the world.

The chanting of the Exsultet, one of the most glorious prayers there is follows.

Then the community listened to Bible readings all night. (Our service doesn’t go that long!) Just as the sun rose, new Christians were baptized, and then the

whole community began their Easter celebration. If the Palm Sunday service goes from joy to sorrow, this service begins in darkness and ends with an explosion of light, sound, and joy.

At sunrise on Easter morning, The Rev. Sarah Guck will lead a Sunrise service, beginning at

 6:30 AM at La Capilla, and at 9:30 AM we will have our Easter morning Eucharist.

Having walked through this journey, we will be strengthened, so that we can celebrate Easter, not just for one day,

but for the whole 50 days of the Easter season.

Come and join us and let God’s love enter ever more deeply into your hearts and your lives.

Blessings,

Tara+