Saturday of Holy Week

From Sara: This is a version of what I posted LAST YEAR on the Saturday of Holy Week. For those of you who may have already seen it, or for those of you who haven't ... it still rings true for me.

We know what happened on the other days of Holy Week ... but what about Saturday? It doesn't say anything about Saturday. What did they do that day? Well, of course it was the Sabbath for them ... so they DID know what to do, or not do, as the case may be. But what about us? What do we do with this day of waiting?
Since becoming a pastor 22 years ago, I know what to do with Saturday before Easter: finish the sermon, check and double-check the "list" of what needs to be done and by when on Sunday morning (sunrise service comes awfully early and then things happen very quickly!). In general, Saturday is very simple: stay as focused as possible on Easter so that it all comes together.

For those of you with children and grandchildren (and nieces and nephews) and guests about to arrive ... it's also a day for finishing Easter baskets, planning Easter lunch (or dinner ... whichever it is for you), and on a spectacular spring Saturday (like today is turning out to be) ... enjoy the outdoors.
It's easy to fill up a Saturday ... any Saturday ... with errands and tasks and work to do (whether sermon or household chores). But maybe Saturday is simply meant to be a day to ponder the mystery of it all.
So on whatever "Saturday" list you have ... add to it: "ponder the mystery of God's gift of life" ... and if you can spare a few minutes, watch this YouTube clip (put together by some folks at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c2inXKD6PI
Easter IS Coming. Thanks be to God.
(Photo taken by Sara Holben - May 2009, outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem)

Good Friday

Thoughts from Sara:



"What language shall I borrow
to praise thee, dearest friend,
for this, thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
O make me thine for ever,
and, should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love to thee.


"O Sacred Head Now Wounded" words attr. to Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th century; translated (English) James W. Alexander, 1830

Palm Sunday at Clairvaux Farm

Here is a report written by our own Casey Roberts about the Palm Sunday Youth trip to Clairvaux Farm ... [Clairvaux Farm is located in Cecil County, MD and is part of the ministry of "Meeting Ground" serving families who are experiencing homelessness. This was the second trip by PCC youth to sponsor a party for the children on the Farm.]

Casey Roberts April 22 at 12:01pm Report:

Egg hunts? Flower pot painting? Egg dying? What does this remind me of? Hmmm…oh yes! Clairvaux Farms! There was so much to do! The older boys had the most fun hiding the eggs. For the older kids, they would just throw them around the hiding field randomly, seeing who could throw farthest. We really got to know the kids at our flower pot decorating station, though. The little girls and boys had fun painting the boxes-and us- and pouring in the soil. It was so fun to see them laugh in happiness as they worked. All of the youth handled the children so well! I think Emily -and friend Anna- had the most fun with one little girl they met. The rest of us had fun talking to the older kids or playing with the little boys. After a fun egg hunt, we all entered the dining hall to eat cookies and dye eggs. When it was our time to leave, we saw happy faces, bags of candy, pretty pots, and even more special; Gods love resting in the air around us. It was honestly a beautiful trip, and I cannot wait to go back!

Photo by Sara Holben taken on Palm Sunday. April 17, 2011 at Clairvaux Farm

Thursday of Holy Week

Thoughts from Sara:

For the past 10 years, our Maundy Thursday service at PCC has been in the Fellowship Hall around the supper table. A fellowship supper has been a part of the communion service as we gather in our own "upper room." This year instead of a fellowship supper we made our Narthex a "Jerusalem Marketplace" with different stalls of oranges, melons, dates and figs, cheeses and yogurt with honey, baked goods and spices all around the Narthex. The palms from Palm Sunday graced the tables reminding us what week it was. The aroma was wonderful, the fellowship a joy, and we moved from the Narthex streets of Jerusalem into our fellowship hall for communion, maybe the way the disciples had walked through the streets amid the noise and vendors and aromas of spices and maybe even stopped for a bite to eat in the old city of Jerusalem before they had their own "last supper."

One of our elders, whose vision of the marketplace helped make it come alive, told me that for her Maundy Thursday was very special because it made her think: "if this were my last meal I can't imagine a better place to spend the time than here at church with my friends."

A Holy Thursday indeed.

Wednesday of Holy Week

Thoughts from Sara:

What a gorgeous spring day today in Chestertown. In the 80s, the pink dogwood outside the sanctuary is in full bloom. My tulips look terrific. It MUST be almost Easter having this much "spring" around.

But conversations with Mel Baars over supper about South Africa brought me back to remember ... of course this is Holy Week and Easter in the southern hemisphere too ... where it's already autumn and approaching winter.

Easter without trees in bloom and tulips and hyacinths and all the rest?

Yet, there is something about Easter on the threshold of winter that perhaps we need to see as well. To remind us that God is not just with us in those new signs of hope, but God is there as well – through the suffering and on the cross. Christ’s Resurrection is not just a glorious triumph, but it has meaning BECAUSE of the crucifixion. It brings a depth of meaning to the Resurrection that we might not see in the light of spring.
The challenge of Easter in autumn is great – but in some ways it is even more profound. For it allows no easy victories, no simple answers.

And maybe it also helps us to see that Christ’s resurrection still bears deep within it – sometimes where no one can see – the seeds of promise and hope.

Tuesday of Holy Week

Thoughts from Sara:

So what did Jesus do during Holy Week? I went looking in the Gospels.

Each one, of course, is slightly different. Matthew, Mark and Luke have him clear the Temple of the "money-changers." (Ooops ... so much for having chocolate eggs available for a donation this past Sunday and Malaria Nets for Mother's Day this coming Sunday!)

Matthew and Mark agree that Jesus is anointed at Bethany (it happens some other time in both Luke and John). Jesus spends time in the temple grounds (remember the widow and her two "mites"?).

But mostly Jesus talks and he teaches. And he continues to tell his parables and some of these are the hardest and most thought-provoking of all the parables ... especially when it comes to all these parables about "keeping watch," the Last Judgment (about the sheep and the goats) and preparing for the return of the Son of Man. This is where all those passages are embedded we often hear during Advent about Christ's return.

But what surprised me, because it never shows up in the Lectionary during Holy Week, is that according to Matthew and Mark's sequence of events, one of the things Jesus taught during Holy Week is the Great Commandment: "Which commandment in the law is the greatest?" a lawyer asked him. Jesus said to him: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Out of all the other things that crowd our preaching and teaching agendas during Holy Week, maybe we should simply remember that it was in his last week that Jesus taught us what is the most important of all.

Not a bad thing to remember on Tuesday of Holy Week.

P.S. An aside: During the month of March for the past several years, our congregation has hosted the Samaritan Emergency Winter Shelter for people experiencing homelessness in Kent County. This year the shelter included a 9-year old and her mom and sister. Volunteers told me that at supper each night, she would ask to give the blessing and would read the words that are painted as a mural on the wall of our Fellowship Hall: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind ... and your neighbor as yourself." ... Amen and amen.

Photo by: Sara Holben ... Abbey of Iona, Scotland - June 2009

Monday of Holy Week

The morning after Palm Sunday I find myself shifting into "Holy Week Mode." For me that means finishing all the bulletins from all the services this week, making lists of what needs to be done, setting up files for every service so that I can just toss anything that comes up into each one and maybe, just maybe, I'll find things when I need them.

So that's what I did this morning, on Monday of Holy Week, April 18, 2011. Maundy Thursday bulletin done. Lists started. Appointments for home communion made. Easter bulletin started. Gave thanks for John Ames working on Good Friday service and Sunrise Service! ... Check, check, check ... it feels good to take things OFF the list.

But all day long I've felt unsettled ... but finally realized this is the way I always feel when Holy Week begins. It's not because there's a lot to do, although there is. But rather I think what it feels like is entering a "time apart." Yes, work goes on. Life goes on.

But I think for me it feels like I'm entering a "thin place" this week ... one of those places and times where I feel more directly and most intimately God's presence. It's almost like my skin is sensitive to the touch of the Spirit and I wait, holding my breath, for what is about to happen. And what will happen? In and around worship and conversations, in silence and prayer, at the store or over breakfast ... where will I see God this week?

So I start walking into Holy Week with this prayer from "Common Order", Panel on Worship, Church of Scotland (1994):

Lord Jesus Christ,

in this sacred and solemn week

when we see again the depth and mystery of your redeeming love,

help us

to follow where you go,

to stop where you stumble,

to listen when you cry,

to hurt as you suffer,

to bow our heads in sorrow when you die,

so that when raised to life again

we may share your endless joy.

Amen.

Sara