Holy Week is almost upon us. Lent often seems like a long season for me until it nears its end, and then I’m left with a lot of feelings. Part of the pastoral call is working through scripture, listening for what it has to say, teaching the context, and unpacking it all.
Yet when Holy Week arrives, I simply lean in. It’s so much to take in. Jesus rode into town knowing who he was and what he was about, and humankind wanted a different kind of king. The people wanted a king who would demolish the Roman Empire and leave the Jewish people victorious. Jesus had another way.
Going through the week as those of us who know how it all turns out, I find tears near the surface for me. His love is beyond our comprehension, showing care for others even until the very end. Jesus’ full humanness on display, feeling pain, feeling hurt, and watching disciples who not only didn’t get it but fell asleep on him.
Holy Week is one that is simply felt.
Knowing this, there are a variety of options for you this year in this season. Starting on the evening of Palm Sunday, April 2 , we will hold a Taize prayer service (Zoom only) at 5 pm on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This Taize service will last about 30 minutes. I invite you to come to that time.
Feel free to leave your video off if that’s best for you. Engage however you need. Just let it be felt.
On Maundy Thursday, we will have an extended liturgy of communion and include a healing service time at the end of our time together. It will begin at 7 pm and is hybrid (Zoom and in person). If you want to be anointed with oil for healing and you need to participate on Zoom, please call me and I will come to you that day. This is not an imposition. It is a gift to me as well. Remember, Holy Week is best just felt.
After that service, we will open the church for an all-night prayer vigil. You can participate in person at the church or at home via Zoom. If that calls to you, let Liz or me know.
And then on Friday, we will read the story. Our Tenebrae service is a quiet one, with music and the scripture story of those last hours of Jesus’ life. It’s a powerful service and will be hybrid in nature, at 7 pm.
I love Easter Sunday and especially sunrise, but between now and then, there will be the holiest of weeks. It truly needs to be felt and we need to remember that Jesus felt every moment of it. So, lean in and feel and be and let yourself be. This is the week that defines us, that leads up to the day that tells us and all the world that death has no victory over us.
Through it all, I am here for you, here for your questions, your doubts, your presence, just you. Please reach out to me if there is anything I can do to be with you during this season.
Grace and Peace,
Leigh
