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Remembering
Holy Week 2002
We asked a few parishioners to tell us what they
found most meaningful about a particular service they attended during
Holy Week. The following are their thoughts.
Palm Sunday
March 24, 2002
Each time we
experience Holy Week I try to think about it the same way it occurred
the first time. I always find that difficult. It is hard for me to
think about the triumphant entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem without also
thinking about how the tone of the people who first welcome him will
change. At this point Jesus knows how the people will later treat him,
how they will betray him. There is enormous power in the fact that he
does not betray the people who betray him. I find that profound beyond
description.-– Rick
Armstrong
Maundy Thursday
March 28, 2002
This
service was one of the most spiritually moving of the year. From
Shannon’s sermon “The Presence” of our Lord Jesus Christ in the
moment of the Eucharist here and now; and how that affected us,
moving us into action was such a strong message! Then when the haunting
22nd Psalm was chanted while the altar was stripped, we were
left with the empty feeling I’m sure the apostles had felt, leaving them
sad, confused, exhausted, waiting, and wondering what could possibly
come next?!!
--
Jean Cooper
Good
Friday
March 29, 2002
You enter the church; the
cross is draped in black and everything is bare with the exception of
the reserve sacrament sitting on the altar. The mood is somber…then
“The Reproaches from the Cross” are read and you feel helpless and
hopeless. You want to think ahead to the glorious news of Easter, but
you must keep yourself in the moment because to begin to really
appreciate the gift that awaits us, you must feel the despair of this
night. -- Bob Moore
Holy Saturday
March 30, 2002
So still, so
quiet, so meaningful to me. For years this simple, meditative, 30
minute worship has led me through sharing the mourning of our Lord’s
followers as He lay in the tomb. Such grief, such pain, yet such hope.
Finding consolation in the service’s reminder of His promises, I “go out
into the world” wondering what the morning will bring… --
Jeanne Lagrone
THE GREAT VIGIL OF EASTER
March 30, 2002
A service of contrasts: It
starts in near darkness and silence and gradually builds up to joyous
music and praise with the use of bells, incense, flowers, candles and
shouts of acclamation. We were warned that it is a long service and
indeed it is (I think someone said 2 hours and 35 minutes) but it is so
FULL (for want of a better word) that it never dragged and was in no way
boring. A Celebration of this magnitude calls for a party and the
reception after the service is nothing less than that.
–- Laura Quene
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