633 sligo avenue, silver spring, md 20910
633 sligo avenue, silver spring, md 20910
Rev. Susan G. Astarita
April 9, 2006
Holy Week to Holy Day -- Preparing for Easter
Christian believers have always observed Lent as a time of preparation, beginning with Ash Wednesday and continuing through the forty days of Lent. It is a time of preparation for baptism and a time for reflection and spiritual discipline. Lent culminates in Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and leading up to the Great Vigil of Easter and finally our great festival day, Easter itself.
You've heard what I am going to say next many times before, but it can't be said enough: Holy Week liturgies should not be missed if we are to come anywhere close to experiencing the rich meaning of Easter. You can't have Easter without Good Friday! You can't have it without Palm Sunday, or Maundy Thursday or even Tenebrae either! These ancient and sacred liturgies are the Church's symbolic way of marking the rhythms of joy and suffering and meditation and new life and hope that color all of our lives.
Palm Sunday - From Triumph to Tragedy: This Sunday actually has a dual name - the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday. We remember Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, hailed by the crowds as a popular hero and king. Each service begins with a special brief liturgy in which we bless the palms and hand them out before processing into the neighborhood.
After the Palms, the mood of celebration turns somber and then tragic. The youth of the parish read Mark's version of Jesus' Passion. We listen to the story of betrayal and hear our own voices joining in the call to "Crucify him!" We share communion, the broken bread and wine poured out -- God's own self offered in Jesus' sharing of the human predicament.
On Monday, experience the Stations of the Cross with music from the Taize repertoire. Walk through the story of Jesus' life and death using repetitive chant as an aid to meditation. On Tuesday at 7:30 we invite you to Holy Eucharist and healing. It is an opportunity to lay before God all accumulated grievances, disappointments, feelings of rejection and anger, things done and left undone, as well as emotional or physical disease. Tenebrae, the service of light and shadows, is offered Wednesday. In this dramatic service candles are gradually extinguished until a single candle, considered a symbol of the Lord, remains.
Maundy Thursday the drama heightens. We remember our servanthood in Jesus as we observe the foot-washing liturgy and gather for a communal meal. Finally on Good Friday we observe silence and meditations for children at the stations of the cross as well as the Good Friday liturgy. In the evening we all attend Trinity, Piney Branch, for "the Seven Last Words."
The Vigil of Easter is the first service of Easter Day. We carry the paschal candle, sing the Exsultet and rehearse the story of our faith with readings from scripture and musical response. If you have not attended an Easter vigil, plan to be a part of this service in 2006. Finally, we all gather for Easter Sunday worship and witness the baptism of James Patrick and Elizabeth Mary Cavanaugh. The vestry provides a festive breakfast at nine a.m. and the children join in an Easter egg hunt after the service.
We sing Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
Faithfully,
Mother Susan +