On April 9th we embark on a story. It’s a narrative that happens every year; it is one of triumph, companionship, and thanksgiving. It is also a narrative of betrayal, injustice, cowardliness, execution, absence, and loss. It is a narrative that challenges the forces of darkness against light, law against grace, and impossibility against hope. And, my friends, it’s a narrative where hope reigns! This narrative I speak of is Holy Week. It is the essence of our faith, and the primal building block from which our great belief has grown and thrived.
As Episcopalians, we tell this narrative the best way we know how, through our liturgy. Our worship speaks the truth of this Easter story in a way that simple words cannot. Beginning with the services on Palm Sunday we triumphantly usher our Savior into Jerusalem. Tenebrae on Holy Tuesday offers worship in the shadows. On Maundy Thursday we follow our Lord’s example, learning to serve as he served, and strip ourselves as he was stripped from his disciples. Good Friday we walk the Passion alongside our Christ. Finally, Easter Vigil and Easter day bring the grand celebration of triumph over death! Our Holy Week liturgies serve to tell that profound story.
As we embark on this time, I pray you will join us. A professor once said, “liturgy is the work of the people.” These Holy Week liturgies can not be realized without your presence, your prayer, and your listening for God’s voice calling you into His loving embrace. I invite you to embark on the journey of Holy Week with us at the Church of the Mediator. And I pray that your heart will be stirred.
Morris+
