Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Dear beloved family,
I pray this letter finds you well and safe at home. I'm writing to check in as I try to midweek every week, but also to begin to tell you about Holy Week, the most sacred time of our liturgical year. The way we commemorate the events of Holy Week will be different this year -- most of our observances will be done at home rather than together in the church -- but I am confident next week will still be meaningful and draw us deeper into the life of God.
This Sunday, April 5, is Palm Sunday when Holy Week begins. We are also pleased to host Bishop John Bauerschmidt, who will celebrate and preach at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday for our YouTube live stream.
You may remember that this particular liturgy has a dual-tone to it -- on this day we commemorate the entrance of Our Lord into Jerusalem at the beginning of the service, so the entrance rite is elaborated to reenact the Triumphal Entry and to mark our own entrance into the sacred time of Holy Week. To prepare for this joyous portion of the service, I encourage you to cut some greenery from your own yard, then as the palms are blessed at the beginning of the service, hold up the greenery as you would the palms during a normal Palm Sunday celebration. Or kids may want to craft their own palms from art supplies you have at home. You may want to enact a little "procession with the palms" through or around your own home while the wonderful hymn All Glory, Laud, and Honor is sung. And after the service, why not hang the greenery on the door of your home or place it in a window to signal to your neighbors that Holy Week is here?
We will, of course, bless palms in the church on Sunday, and you will be invited to pick some up after the isolation protocol is lifted in the coming weeks so you can keep them in your home and return them next year before Ash Wednesday.
After we commemorate Jesus' triumphal entry, there is an abrupt change in the mood of the service. Our Lord was acclaimed by the crowds as he arrived in the city, but quickly the powers conspired to do away with him. Triumph yields to betrayal, and so it is the story of the Passion that is the gospel and the centerpiece for this mass. Finally, after communion, the service ends with the hymn Ah, Holy Jesus, with its chilling line:
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee.
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee.
I crucified thee.
As the strains die away and the service ends, we will have entered fully into Holy Week.
Details about other observances for Holy Week will be forthcoming in the next few days. Until then, as the collect for Holy Week prays, I invite you to "enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts" whereby God has given us life and immortality. May God bless you richly in this most holy time.
Prayerfully and with devotion,
