Today’s message is not so much a spiritual reflection, but more of a teaching and sharing opportunity. The Church is now more than a week into the season of Lent and we have embarked on our journey together toward the cross and ultimately toward resurrection. At the very end of the Lenten season, we will approach Holy Week. There is such a stark change as we change overnight from Lent to Easter. We go from feeling the lowest of the low as we remember the death of Christ, to the highest of the high as we proclaim his resurrection. It’s a remarkable feeling if we allow ourselves to take it in with all its splendor. I encourage you to make regular worship attendance part of your Lent, Holy Week, and Easter practices, especially if you haven’t had a chance to attend these services before.
The Church does a brilliant job of holding the tension that exists with the changes in the seasons. There are visible cues in the changing of the liturgical colors, and there are emotional cues in the services that are celebrated only once every year. For instance, the clergy may wear black vestments on Good Friday. The only other day of the year this is customarily done is on All Souls’ Day in November. On Laetare Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, the clergy may wear rose colored vestments. The only other day this is traditionally done is on the Third Sunday in Advent. Remember that liturgy transcends space and time, so when we observe Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, we are not merely remembering events that happened 2000 years ago. We are experiencing them as they happen. We are walking the path of Jesus in his final days at the same time he is. We’re not simply acknowledging that he suffered and died. We’re present with him as it happens.
Because this time of year is so special, and I’m hopeful to encourage participation in as many of the important feasts of the Church as possible, I am sharing with you now what the rest of our schedule for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. Note that some service times are the same as they have been in the past and others are different. We continue our regular custom through the Lenten season with Holy Eucharist every Wednesday at 6:30, bookended by a soup supper before and a time of Lenten study following. This will take place every Wednesday until the series concludes on March 29. We walk the journey to the cross with Jesus every Friday at 6:30 as we pray Stations of the Cross together. Stations will conclude on March 31. Our Sunday services will remain the same and we will continue to have an 8:00 a.m. spoken service and a 10:00 a.m. sung service on all Sundays in Lent. On Palm Sunday, we will have the liturgy of the palms beginning at 8 and 10 as we begin our Holy Week observances. This will include a procession into the church and the reading of the Lord’s passion.
During Holy Week, there is much pageantry. Deacon Chuck and I will attend the annual Chrism Mass at Trinity Cathedral. We will bring back the newly blessed chrism oil to be used throughout the year at baptisms and confirmations, and we will renew our ordination vows. There will be no Wednesday service during Holy Week. The Easter Triduum will begin on Thursday of Holy Week, also called Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday. Triduum is a fancy word that means “three liturgical days.” The term used in the Episcopal Church, Maundy Thursday, comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means commandment. In the gospel reading on Maundy Thursday, Jesus gives us his new commandment: That we love one another as he loved us. The service on Maundy Thursday will begin at 6:30. We will reenact the washing of the feet, and the institution of the Holy Eucharist.
The Maundy Thursday liturgy does not have a dismissal. Instead, it continues with the stripping of the altar and the night watch as we move toward Good Friday. The Good Friday liturgy start time is also 6:30 p.m. No celebration of Holy Eucharist is celebrated on Good Friday. Instead, the liturgy has three parts: the Liturgy of the Word, the Veneration of the Cross, and Holy Communion. We have a custom at St. John’s of reserving the sacrament consecrated on Maundy Thursday and using the reserve sacrament on Good Friday. Again, the Good Friday liturgy has no official end. The altar party and congregation leave in silence. We then hold vigil as we await the good news of the resurrection.
This is where our schedule is different this year. In the ancient Christian Church, the Easter Vigil was the single most important service of the year. Sundays are our source and summit of our worship week and Easter is the source and summit of our Sundays. The Great Vigil of Easter must be celebrated after Sunset on Holy Saturday and before Sunrise on Easter Day. The Easter Vigil is the first Eucharist of Easter, but I have heard people say they still feel like they need to attend a service on Easter Day. Here’s the good news: we have a custom of an Easter Day sunrise service at St. John’s. Sunrise on Easter Day will be 6:06 a.m., meaning we can use the Vigil liturgy during the sunrise service and remain faithful to the rubrics! Our biggest Easter Day service will be on Easter Day at 6 a.m. and I am hopeful to see many people there as we wait in vigil to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord. The Triduum, which is actually one long liturgy that lasts three days, finally is concluded with the dismissal at the end of the Easter Vigil. Of course, our two additional Easter Day services will take place at their usual times of 8 and 10. Those services will be festive as well and we will invite offerings of Easter lilies and other Easter flowers to aid in our celebration. We are an Easter people after all! We will talk more about the Holy Week and Easter as the time approaches, but I wanted to give you as much time as possible to help you to plan accordingly. Blessings to you as we continue our Lenten journey together.