CHURCH YEAR/SEASONAL DESCRIPTIONS
Holy Week
After the 40 days of Lent comes Holy Week, when
the events of our Lord’s passion and death are specially commemorated in
preparation for the glorious celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Holy Week begins with the Sunday of the Passion:
Palm Sunday. A special liturgy begins with a procession of the congregation and
the blessing of the palms, commemorating the triumphal entry of Jesus into
Jerusalem. The Gospel reading is the complete story of the Passion. When Jesus
was nearing the end of his life on earth, his travels took him into Jerusalem.
Word spread that the “Teacher”, the worker of miracles, was entering the city.
Crowds gathered to get a glimpse of Jesus. To honor him, they some put their coats
and other clothing on the road while others put palm branches down as a carpet.
Still others waved palm branches and shouted praises and blessings. We remember
this day in the celebration of the Palm Sunday service. The service underlines
the contrast between the crowd’s joyous greeting of their king and then their
condemnation of him—the contrast between shouts of “Alleluia” and “Crucify
him!”
On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Holy Week
the special collects and lessons deal with the themes of suffering and coming
glory.
Thursday in Holy Week is called Maundy Thursday,
from the Latin for commandment: After Jesus washed the feet of the disciples he
said “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.” While the
Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, God sent Moses to the Egyptian King to tell
him to let the Hebrews return to their homeland. When the Egyptian King
refused, God sent many plagues, disasters and tragedies against them. Every
year, the Jewish tradition celebrates the Passover remembering one of those
tragedies: the time God sent an angel to Egypt to kill the firstborn child of
every household. Moses told the Israelites to kill a lamb and to paint the tops
and sides of their doors with the blood so that the angel of death would pass over
their house. As Jews, Jesus and the disciples celebrated Passover. While they
were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer, and passed it to the
disciples saying, “Take, eat: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this
for the remembrance of me.” Jesus then took a cup of wine, thanked God, and
passed it to the disciples saying, “Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of
the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of
sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me”. After supper
Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. We remember Jesus’ last Passover supper
and the washing of the disciples’ feet in the worship service on Maundy
Thursday. During communion, we follow Jesus’ instructions to remember him. We
are reminded that “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” Foot-washing is often included in Maundy
Thursday liturgy. The Eucharist commemorates the first Eucharist at the Last
Supper. At Calvary, the service ends in complete silence with the stripping of
the altar, in recognition of the despair and death to come.
Friday, Good Friday (“good” = a day or season observed by the church) commemorates the Crucifixion. In the early church pieces of the True Cross were revered at this service. On the day after Passover, Jesus was arrested, tried, sentenced, crucified, died and buried. The Good Friday celebration reminds of us Jesus’ suffering and cruel death for us. Jesus, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed for us just as lambs were sacrificed for the Hebrews during the Passover in Egypt. Jesus died that all who believe in him and ask for forgiveness of wrongdoings might be saved from the power of Satan and death and that we might live with him in heaven forever. The Sabbath begins on Friday at sundown. The Sabbath is the day of rest when no work can be done (having created the earth, water, air, and living things in six days, God rested on the seventh day and set it apart as a hallowed day); therefore, Jesus was hurriedly buried in a tomb made for someone else with a stone placed over the door to keep animals and thieves out. Roman guards were also placed at the door. The traditional burial ceremonies would have to wait until after the Sabbath. Otherwise, Jesus would have had to hang on the cross until after the Sabbath. The cross over the altar is draped in black. The Solemn Collects date back to the 4th century and are an early form of the Prayers of the People.
Holy Saturday was once a day of fasting in
preparation for the Great Vigil of Easter and for baptism. No Eucharist is
celebrated, but the Prayer Book provides for the reading of the Passion and an
anthem from the Burial of the Dead.
Saturday was, and is, the Sabbath Day. The
Sabbath lasts from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. Jesus had told
his disciples that he would rise from the dead on the third day after his
death. Thusly, the Sabbath was honored. Holy Saturday observances remember the
Sabbath through prayer.
After sundown on Holy Saturday, the Great Vigil
of Easter begins. The Great Vigil lasted in the early church from sundown
Saturday until cockcrow on Sunday. Now shortened, it still rehearses the
pivotal events of the Old and New Testaments: the Passover (the Pascha) is
related to our release from sin and new life in baptism. The Great Vigil
reminds us that Jesus, the light of the world, brings us out of the darkness
and gloom that we have caused by our own wrongdoings and restores us to God’s
grace. While waiting for the resurrection of Jesus, the Great Vigil service
includes bible readings which remind us of “God’s saving deeds in history, how
he saved his people in ages past”. During the service we pray that “God will
bring each of us to the fullness of redemption”, rescue us from the power of
Satan and death. Lent ends at sundown on Holy Saturday.
The liturgical color for Holy Week is Passiontide
Red.
Previous Season: Lent
Next Season: Easter
Proper Preface: Preface of Holy Week
Return to Seasonal Descriptions