The events of Christ’s Passion, which take place during the last week of Jesus’ life, often don’t receive enough time in our worship and study. These stories are important to our faith journey and our identity as followers of Jesus. And yet we often move too quickly from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday with little time to take in the dramatic story of that last week. Throughout the six weeks of Lent we will “freeze-frame” moments in Holy Week so we might put ourselves in the picture, thereby “Entering the Passion of Jesus.” How might taking a closer look at the ancient story open us to deeper conviction for our role in its ongoing message? Inspired by Amy-Jill Levine’s book by the same name
Holy Week Worship
Maundy Thursday - April 9, 2020
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I know, many of you may be struggling with how different this Holy Week is, because I know I am. The rituals, the connections, the coming together around Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday, is the hardest part for me. After much thought and prayer, I couldn’t come with a version to offer online, knowing not everyone would be able to participate.
So, I created the Word and Prayer service (see file). You can do at home, anytime on Maundy Thursday. I’d encourage you to use it in conjunction with one of your meals. Because, God regularly shows up there, nourishes you through the food you are eating, and is the One who connects us altogether through the body of Jesus Christ. | ||
Good Friday - April 10, 2020
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Our worship of the Three Days, continues on Good Friday with a Tenebrae service. Gather 7 candles (they can be battery operated or turn on 7 lights/lamps in your home. If you are using lights, make sure you have a flashlight or other small light, so you don’t end up completely in the dark. You will also need a Bible for the first passage from John.
You can take your time and reflect upon these Seven Last Words of Christ as a family unit or you can go on YouTube, to the church’s channel and you will be able to listen and reflect upon art that coincides with the passages and prayer. | ||
Easter - April 12, 2020 |
Then, set aside time on Easter morning at 9:00 a.m. The bulletin will be posted here by Saturday. For those who can access the internet, the Easter service will be uploaded to YouTube and our website, so people can worship it at the same time.
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Ash Wednesday, February 26th — Preparing the Canvas
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” — Psalm 51:10-12
So much of life happens around us, even to us, that we take little time to notice. The amount of stimulation and news and ideas and expectations coming at us can outweigh our ability to process all of it and so we stop looking too closely, we filter in order to survive. While this is necessary, it can also dull our senses for seeing the things that matter deeply. In this season of Lent, we will intentionally put a “frame” around the scenes of Jesus’ last week and also frame our own lives in a way that we can see what really matters. In this Ash Wednesday service, we will ready ourselves for this journey by preparing the canvas of our lives, reapplying a base coat on which to create new works of art.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” — Psalm 51:10-12
So much of life happens around us, even to us, that we take little time to notice. The amount of stimulation and news and ideas and expectations coming at us can outweigh our ability to process all of it and so we stop looking too closely, we filter in order to survive. While this is necessary, it can also dull our senses for seeing the things that matter deeply. In this season of Lent, we will intentionally put a “frame” around the scenes of Jesus’ last week and also frame our own lives in a way that we can see what really matters. In this Ash Wednesday service, we will ready ourselves for this journey by preparing the canvas of our lives, reapplying a base coat on which to create new works of art.
Week 1, March 1st — The Parade: Risking Reputation
Matthew 21:1-11
Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week was full of risk. Rather than a nice impromptu celebration, it can be seen for the carefully planned and significantly symbolic event that would rub those in power the wrong way. In a moment already filled with tension, this “victory parade” had many implications, and as we know, many consequences. We will stop the action just at the beginning of the parade to take stock of all the players, including the role the city itself plays full of pilgrims for the Passover.
Matthew 21:1-11
Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week was full of risk. Rather than a nice impromptu celebration, it can be seen for the carefully planned and significantly symbolic event that would rub those in power the wrong way. In a moment already filled with tension, this “victory parade” had many implications, and as we know, many consequences. We will stop the action just at the beginning of the parade to take stock of all the players, including the role the city itself plays full of pilgrims for the Passover.
Week 2, March 8th — The Temple: Risking Righteous Anger
Mark 11:15-19
Jesus’ response to a visit to the Temple in the midst of this busy, noisy, Passover “tourist season” is utter frustration turned to anger. With so much at stake, “business-as-usual” seems obscene. This can be true for us today. The banality of our everyday lives sometimes seems ludicrous in the face of such suffering around the world. But taking a moment inside the scene where Jesus is overturning tables in this “house of prayer for all nations” can offer us a way to see what we actually might do to reassess our own actions and make our own corner of the world (our “temples”) a more welcoming place for all people.
Mark 11:15-19
Jesus’ response to a visit to the Temple in the midst of this busy, noisy, Passover “tourist season” is utter frustration turned to anger. With so much at stake, “business-as-usual” seems obscene. This can be true for us today. The banality of our everyday lives sometimes seems ludicrous in the face of such suffering around the world. But taking a moment inside the scene where Jesus is overturning tables in this “house of prayer for all nations” can offer us a way to see what we actually might do to reassess our own actions and make our own corner of the world (our “temples”) a more welcoming place for all people.
Week 3, March 15th — The Teaching: Risking Challenge
Matthew 22:15-22
That last week, Jesus doesn’t “lay low.” He puts himself out there, susceptible to those who want to trap him, twist his words, get him to say something damning. He cannot turn from his vocation—he is not only a master teacher, but prophet and voice of the Divine. It is his ability to draw the people to his teachings that pose a threat, a challenge, to the authorities. We place ourselves in the crowd this week, to be moved and motivated by Jesus for our lives—to get a faithful perspective.
What would we have seen, heard and felt?
What do we do now?
Matthew 22:15-22
That last week, Jesus doesn’t “lay low.” He puts himself out there, susceptible to those who want to trap him, twist his words, get him to say something damning. He cannot turn from his vocation—he is not only a master teacher, but prophet and voice of the Divine. It is his ability to draw the people to his teachings that pose a threat, a challenge, to the authorities. We place ourselves in the crowd this week, to be moved and motivated by Jesus for our lives—to get a faithful perspective.
What would we have seen, heard and felt?
What do we do now?
Week 4, March 22nd — The First Dinner: Risking Rejection
Mark 14:3-9
Besides the Last Supper, Holy Week contains another important story that happens at dinner. Earlier in the week, Jesus and his followers gather for a meal, and a woman shows up unexpectedly to anoint Jesus in an extravagant show of devotion. To say she caused quite a “stir” might be understating it a bit. We imagine ourselves in the room and we see the looks of judgment and even outrage on the faces around us. Are we ourselves moved by her generosity and outpouring of emotion? Or are we uncomfortable as Jesus refers to his own death? Does our complaining or anger really serve to hide our own fear? Jesus invites us to tell this story “in remembrance of her.”
What uncomfortable stories are we called to tell in our time?
Mark 14:3-9
Besides the Last Supper, Holy Week contains another important story that happens at dinner. Earlier in the week, Jesus and his followers gather for a meal, and a woman shows up unexpectedly to anoint Jesus in an extravagant show of devotion. To say she caused quite a “stir” might be understating it a bit. We imagine ourselves in the room and we see the looks of judgment and even outrage on the faces around us. Are we ourselves moved by her generosity and outpouring of emotion? Or are we uncomfortable as Jesus refers to his own death? Does our complaining or anger really serve to hide our own fear? Jesus invites us to tell this story “in remembrance of her.”
What uncomfortable stories are we called to tell in our time?
Week 5, March 29th — The Last Supper: Risking the Loss of Friends
John 13:1-16
Jesus’ words at the Last Supper were shocking to those in attendance. His words can seem familiar, even comforting to us because we hear these words every time we have communion. But at the moment of their utterance, they were anything but “usual.” This week, we enter the scene of that last supper long enough to get a grasp of the shock that would have rippled through Jesus’ friends. Partaking of body and blood? Not kosher! A “Lord” washing feet like a servant? Unbelievable! Breaking bread with the enemy? What?! But Jesus knew his time was up. And it was time for the disciples to get
the message, even if it came in a shocking way: love one another as I have loved you— by serving, forgiving, freeing, communing—becoming one with—God.
John 13:1-16
Jesus’ words at the Last Supper were shocking to those in attendance. His words can seem familiar, even comforting to us because we hear these words every time we have communion. But at the moment of their utterance, they were anything but “usual.” This week, we enter the scene of that last supper long enough to get a grasp of the shock that would have rippled through Jesus’ friends. Partaking of body and blood? Not kosher! A “Lord” washing feet like a servant? Unbelievable! Breaking bread with the enemy? What?! But Jesus knew his time was up. And it was time for the disciples to get
the message, even if it came in a shocking way: love one another as I have loved you— by serving, forgiving, freeing, communing—becoming one with—God.
Week 6, April 5th (Palm Sunday) — The Garden: Risking Temptation
Mark 14:32-52
Gethsemane is the moment when a chain of events begins that cannot be halted. Once Jesus is taken into custody, there is no going back. So we pause a moment with him in the garden just before his arrest, and we feel with him the temptations that arise when facing difficult circumstances—to run, hide, use whatever power we have to change things, fight it, perhaps even bargain with God. We walk among the sleepy disciples who just can’t grasp what is about to happen. And we open to let the story remind us that no matter what we face, or how we fail to meet the demand of the moment, second chances are possible.
Mark 14:32-52
Gethsemane is the moment when a chain of events begins that cannot be halted. Once Jesus is taken into custody, there is no going back. So we pause a moment with him in the garden just before his arrest, and we feel with him the temptations that arise when facing difficult circumstances—to run, hide, use whatever power we have to change things, fight it, perhaps even bargain with God. We walk among the sleepy disciples who just can’t grasp what is about to happen. And we open to let the story remind us that no matter what we face, or how we fail to meet the demand of the moment, second chances are possible.