Sunday, April 20

You might have noticed that this week’s update has gone out a bit earlier than usual. That is because this week is not a typical week. We are in the midst of Holy Week, a time unlike any other, and I wanted to send this update our early so that it would reach you before the final days of this Great Week (as the Early Church called it).
The second half of Holy Week is known as the Triduum Sacrum - Latin for Three Holy Days. These days, beginning on Maundy Thursday and concluding with the Great Vigil of Easter, are the most important days we keep. In the early to mid twentieth century scholars discovered records of how the Early Church worshipped on these holiest of days and then worked to adapt their findings for the church today. The restoration of these liturgies is one the greatest gifts of our current Prayer Book.
These liturgies remind us that liturgical time and God’s time are different than chronological time. These liturgies are not a memorial or re-enactment of something that happened over 2000 years ago; nor do we believe these events actually happen every year. We do not have to pretend that we do not know the end of the story either. Instead these liturgies invite us into a space where time stands still: a place where we enter into the fullness of these days and know how everything turns out. In theological terms we refer to this as anamnesis - the memorial aspect of what we do (be it during these liturgies or anytime we gather for the Eucharist) is not a passive process, but one by which we can actually enter into the Paschal mystery. It is the moment when past, present, and future align into one.
I say all this to help give us a frame work for what we do in these days; to help explain why I have so passionately been imploring us to give ourselves over to worship this week. We need to stand at the foot of the cross seeing both our suffering and our complicity in the suffering of others. We need to sit in the silence as creation holds its breath as Jesus descends to the dead breaking down the gates of Hades - liberating every person who has ever and will ever walk this earth from the shackles of death. We need to hear the record of God’s saving deeds in history to remind ourselves that God has never abandoned God’s people just as God does not abandon us now. We need to pass through those Baptismal waters welcoming others to share with us in the priesthood of all believe. We need to proclaim Easter - declaring boldly that God has triumphed!
In this moment of our lives I think one of the things we need most is Maundy Thursday. Tomorrow night we will be given the command to love one another and have the opportunity to both give and receive that love. I know washing feet and having our feet washed makes many in the community uncomfortable, but I invite you to lean into the discomfort, to take the risk, and share in the foot washing anyway. There is something incredibly profound about being vulnerable with another person in the midst of the safety of community. Kneeling down, gently taking a friends foot and washing it, is a level of love that rarely is expressed in our time. When we wash the feet of others we get to experience the humble loving service of God that we are called to emulate. Even more so, when we allow someone else to hold us tenderly we receive nothing less than the love of God made incarnate in that moment. Having washed and been washed, we will celebrate the Eucharist on the night in which Jesus instituted the Sacrament of his body and blood. Having experienced God’s mandate of love we will receive the blessed Sacrament and be transformed into the body and blood of God for the world - strengthening us to be bearers of love to all we meet.
The liturgies of these days are rich and dramatic. Together we will share in worship that Christians have experienced since at least the third century. This is the once a year opportunity to delve into these days, participating in things which only happen in these days. I invite you, I implore you, with every fiber of my being to join fully in worship during these three holy days. Come in the fullness of where you are in this moment. Bring your joys and your sorrows. Bring your laughter and tears. There is no judgment or shame for any emotion that might emerge during worship. Trust me, I’ve ugly cried - and I mean ugly cried - in church before. Not only is that okay, but sometimes it is exactly what we need. Come and see what is revealed through the sacred gift of tears, of joy, of experiencing something for the first time or the first time in a long time.
Beloved of God come to worship these nights. Have your feet washed, and wash the feet of others. Kneel before the cross in veneration, leave your burdens there for God to carry. Hear the story of Salvation. Renew your baptismal promises. Proclaim Easter. Come and see what marvelous, miraculous, incomprehensible thing God is doing. It will change your life.








