What would need to happen for you to experience the resurrection on Easter Sunday in a more meaningful way?
This year, we’re experiencing Holy Week a little differently. We kick off this last stretch of Lent, this final foray of fasting, with Palm Sunday. It’s a day that symbolizes Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his procession to the temple, the place where God is worshipped. In his final week, he weeps over the people and performs no known miracles.
Is that what it would take for this Easter to be more meaningful? Would it take a miracle?
This year, we’ll take a moment to ask for one on Holy Monday. With a Service of Prayer and Healing, we will put into practice the words of James 5:13-16.
If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing. If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. Prayer that comes from faith will heal the sick, for the Lord will restore them to health. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven. For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve. (CEB)
This is a tradition I have followed every year of my ministry. I encourage your presence, your prayers, and your participation. By God’s grace, someone’s petition is answered every year, and someone finds and experiences healing.
Then, on Holy Thursday, we will worship with a Maundy Thursday Communion Service. This will break from our annual Living Last Supper performance. That beautiful reenactment of the Lord’s Supper is both powerful and meaningful. Yet, due to numerous reasons, it was not possible to perform this year. So, as we give it a season of rest, we are bringing back another powerful tradition. In its place, we will remember the origins of the sacrament of communion and its historic place in our faith as Jesus gave us a new commandment.
In fact, the word maundy, from Maundy Thursday, comes from the Latin word mandatum meaning mandate. Jesus said, a new mandate, or command I give you. For over 16 centuries Christians have celebrated this beloved moment with Christ. We will follow in the footsteps of our ancestors as we remember what Christ did for us and why.
Then, on Holy Friday, we will worship with a Good Friday service of Tenebrae. Once again, Latin lingo comes into play, as the word Tenebrae means darkness or shadows. We will recount the last hours of Christ’s life, his crucifixion, death, and burial. As the service progresses, the sun will go down, and the room will grow darker. It’s a beautiful and powerful service taking us on a spiritual and emotional journey of that dark day.
Finally, on the day before Easter, we will celebrate Bright Saturday with a Wonderfully Made Easter Egg Hunt. This is our opportunity to offer hospitality and God’s grace to the community at Randal Tyson Park. We will have regular egg hunts by age group AND special hunts to accommodate children with disabilities, including magnetic hunt, quiet hunt, and a beeping hunt. How cool is that!
As we prepare for this amazing opportunity to help children and their families experience a taste of our incredible church, you can help make it happen. We are looking for volunteers in all manner of ways, and you can sign up on our website. One of the easiest ways to help doesn’t even require signing up. It only takes a few moments before or after worship, and you can help stuff a few dozen eggs in the atrium.
Next week, Pastor Josh will help us focus on the holy day of Easter. Until then, I hope these words here will help lead you to make your holy week more intentional so that Easter will be more meaningful. May you be a holy witness to what God is doing around you, with you, and what God can do for others.
