We began our Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday, February 25th. Many of us had our foreheads signed with ashes as we all contemplated the fact that we are mortal and will eventually return to the earth when we die.  Over the past several weeks, we have been encouraged to bare our souls to God, in all our brokenness and failure, through prayer and meditation. When we began this journey we were standing in the middle of winter. Now there are signs of spring all around us, indicating that change is inevitable.

On Palm Sunday (or Passion Sunday), we enter a very sacred time of the year known as Holy Week. The Eastern Church calls it “the Week of Salvation.” On Palm Sunday, April 5th, Dr. Michael Brown will continue his series on the “Seven Last Words” with Part VI: “A Statement of Trust,” preaching at both the 9:15 & 11:15 am services. Prayer Circle will begin at 8:30 AM in Poling Chapel and the Bible & Breakfast class with Sister Carol Perry begins at 11:00 am. You will be blessed should you choose to participate in any or all of these offerings. What better way to begin this consecrated time of the year!

Observed since the middle of the third century, Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and ends with the Triduum Sacrum (Lat. “the sacred three days”), the final three days that commemorate the Lord’s Supper (Maundy Thursday), the Passion of Jesus (Good Friday), and the Death of Christ (Holy Saturday). The Triduum Sacrum has also been called the Paschal Triduum by other traditions. The word paschal comes from the Hebrew pesach, a “passing by” or “passing through.” Eventually this word evolved into Passover, a sacred Jewish holiday. To Christians the Greek word “paschal” refers to Christ’s passage from death to life. The Triduum Sacrum is often called “the year’s heart” by other traditions because it celebrates the most important event in salvation history: Christ’s redemptive passage from crucifixion to resurrection.

Full of mystery and wonder, the Triduum Sacrum begins with the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening. This day is also known as Maundy Thursday (Lat. mandatum, “mandate,” “commandment”). On this night, Christians all over the world will gather together to tell the story of the meal Jesus shared with his friends on the night before he died. At Marble we will gather at 7:00 pm in our sanctuary for our Tenebrae Service with Holy Communion. Together we will contemplate Jesus’ body broken for us, the blood that was shed for us and remember his command to “love one another” (John 13:5ff.). In other traditions, Jesus’ command to serve others is also dramatically recalled this night in the ceremony of the washing of the feet, which he also performed in the supper room for his disciples.

On Good Friday, April 10th, we honor the cross of Christ, remembering how Jesus died so that we might live. At 12:00 pm, Dr. Michael Brown will conclude his series on the “Seven Last Words” with Part VII: “Completed, Not Concluded.”  Our Prayer Vigil will take place in the sanctuary from 1-3 pm. Other traditions observe times for silent mediation, spoken prayers, and the 14 Stations of the Cross.

On Holy Saturday, April 11th, the “Holy Waiting” Contemplative Retreat will take place at Marble from Noon-5 pm. Beginning at 5:15 pm there will also be a service of Holy Communion in the Poling Chapel. As we gather, Christians in other branches of the church will stay up late, with songs and stories, bread and wine, entering into the death and resurrection of our Lord.

The Triduum Sacrum will be complete when on Easter Sunday we celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead. We will have two identical services at 9:15 & 11:15 am and Dr. Michael Brown will be preaching.

As our season of Lent comes to a close during Holy Week, may you be renewed and strengthened as you follow the passage of our Lord from the cross to the empty tomb.

The world itself keeps Easter Day,
and Easter larks are singing;
and Easter flow’rs are blooming gay,
and Easter buds are springing.
Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord of all things lives anew,
and all His works are living too.
Alleluia, alleluia.
- “The World Itself” by John M. Neale (1866)