In scripture, it speaks of a time when Jesus begins preparations for His final trip to the Holy City. "And Jesus turned His face toward Jerusalem." During Lent, we are encouraged to turn our face toward Jerusalem and prepare our hearts for Easter and the events leading up to this High Holy Day. For many, we have "given up" or "taken up" a discipline or favorite indulgence to remember Jesus' suffering. For some, this spring has been so long and hard that we have just given up!
Next week is Holy Week, a favorite time of the year for me. As a PK, Holy Week was always busy at our house. My father usually had at least 7 services during this week and Easter Sunday afternoon was spent dozing and then getting in some serious napping. Now that both of my parents serve two churches each, comas are the normal routine. However, some of the most meaningful and symbolic services are offered during Holy Week.
Tenabrae, the service of light and darkness, is observed on Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday is an observance of the New Covenant that Jesus instituted with the sharing of the cup and the bread. We do this in remembrance of Him when we take communion.
Good Friday service is always a somber service. We are admonished to remember Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and the hopelessness that his mother and followers must have felt after they had watched him die and put him in a borrowed tomb.
Our Good Friday service is being celebrated by our Clown Team Ministry and many others within our church family. We remember the last week of Jesus' life from Palm Sunday to His Ascension. A loft goal in 45 minutes of music, but we manage to squeeze it all in. It takes hours of preparation, but the youth and adults involved look forward to the service. I enjoy all of the preparation and time with the clown team as we rehearse. I am portraying Jesus this year, which is a daunting task. Talk about miscasting. My unworthiness makes me a little timid as I approach Good Friday. During the crucifixion scene, I am lifted up from the ground on a wooden cross. This part is tough for me as I am tied to this cross to prevent being thrown into the congregation as the cross is being put into a standing position. However, my lifters are great and I have not yet suffered any injuries. That would be a mood killer!
We encourage our congregation to participate during the service by joining in the Palm Sunday scene, kneeling at the cross and basically doing whatever the Spirit moves them to do. They even get to yell "Crucify Him" during a point in the service. Some people wait all year to shout these words at me. Perhaps they enjoy it a little too much!
Whatever your plans are for Holy Week, I encourage you to take advantage of the worship opportunities you have to prepare your heart for Easter Sunday. Could a Risen Savior be quite as wonderful if you didn't first experience the sadness of a man crucified? Will you truly feel the joy of a promise kept if you don't understand the cost of that sacrifice?
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
2 comments:
Thank you Lisa... well said. We truly need to slow down and make Holy Week the special time it deserves.
My joy and sadness are both found in church. I have been blessed to experience The Holy Spirit through worship, and, on the other hand, I have been asked to leave church for being a witness to such a manifestation. We sang “Dare to be a Daniel” and when I did dare, I was told in church," We don't believe in that, here". I've been handed doctrinal statements that tie the hands of the Holy Ghost. To me Christianity started in the room of worshipers at the time the Holy Spirit descended upon them. It went forth from there as told in Acts, and the following writings. I'm reminded of scripture saying something along the lines of" do all have the gift of -----"? The blank space represents one of many of the Spiritual gifts, and the answer was "no we are all different parts of the Body". I guess my question is, does anyone have the spiritual gift of anything? I sometimes wonder if anyone even cares about the Gifts of the Spirit. Do we have a place in church for the Holy Ghost at all? Easter brings to me memories of “Sun Rise Service”. A new day with new beginnings! The cross was now vacant. The Tomb was empty and Christianity was vibrant. Men were going forth with excitement, following the example of Jesus, Teaching and doing miracles, while crowds formed and watched with amazement. We lost that. I hope Easter brings New, new beginnings and with the excitement the early followers of Jesus had. Happy Easter, may the Holy Spirit have his place in the Church.
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