From the Rev Gals Blog:
Well, the Clergy Superbowl is almost upon us, and so, I offer up this Friday Five (with apologies for the irreverent title):
1. Will this Sunday be Palms only, Passion only, or hyphenated?
We are celebrating Palm Sunday with the reading of the Passion Gospel- all terms are on the front page of the bulletin- I'm not certain folks would know what I was talking about if I called it Passion Sunday... they would be confused, and think it was a Catholic holiday...
2. Maundy Thursday Footwashing: Discuss.
Not nowhere around her, nosiree. We take our shoes off in the presence of others only if we are going into the sauna.
3. Share a particularly meaningful Good Friday worship experience.
When I lived in Moscow, our Good Friday service involved a time of venerating the crucifix. In many protestant traditions we have moved far away from having a crucifix- the actual body of Christ hanging on the cross. We have clean and beautiful crosses, if there are crosses at all in the sanctuary.
The cross was taken down from the front and layed on the steps. We were invited to come up and kneel at the cross, pray and kiss the feet. In the Russian Orthodox tradition, this is a very important and emotional time- and it was for me as well.
4. Easter Sunrise Services--choose one:
a) "Resurrection tradition par excellence!"
b) "Eh. As long as it's sunrise with coffee, I can live with it."
c) "[Yawn] Can't Jesus stay in the tomb just five more minutes, Mom?!?"
B. Going with the middle ground here- hoping for good grounds! Make a good pot of coffee at home, take it to church, finish it after the sunrise service- it's a good addition to the Youth Group Easter breakfast- and continue to drink weak Lutheran coffee up through the other morning service!
5. Complete this sentence: It just isn't Easter without...
Lillies, fresh flowers, organ and piano music, maybe some trumpets, easter breakfast, green eggs, and the yummy Easter Sunday nap right after the juicy ham is shared.
Bonus: Any Easter Vigil aficionados out there? Please share.
I'm sure it's really beautiful, meaningful, lovely, but really... I don't pull allnighters anymore- and if the vigil ends at 2 or 3am why sleep for two hours and get up for the sunrise service?
What about you? What are your Holy Week and Easter loves and traditions?
4 comments:
Nice discussion of the veneration of the cross. Thanks.
Echoing Rev'dmother here- I wonder why we are so keen to forget the horrific truth of the crucifixion?
Lots to think about here. Thanks.
We do an all night vigil on Thursday, with folks signing up for one hour segments to come and pray. We create a "Garden of Gethsemane" in our chapel with loads of flowers, consecrated loaf of real bread and big glass cruet of red wine (which will be consumed at the Good Friday service). It is intended to remind us of Jesus praying in the garden before the crucifixion, and to help us remember just how tough it is to stay up all night...it's really very powerful.
But our Great Vigil on Sat. is the final section of the Triduum, which we celebrate as one service over three days. So, it is not much longer than about an hour...it is a wonderful service though...
Thanks for sharing and playing.
Mmmm... yes good coffee to fuel yourself through Easter morning's joy (and quite honestly the demands too) requires a nice pot! The morning is sooooo long that I'll drink mine at home - head out for sunrise; a breakfast at each parish (with swill for coffee) and then 2 more services. ahh... and in the afternoon the couch. However I'm SO excited to have trumpets for 2 of the 3 services it gives me tingles just thinking about it!
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