Holy Week is approaching and I am thinking about the three services held at Zion prior to Easter. Sometimes I feel that people think church is for Sundays. Thursday, Friday and Saturday not so much. You don’t know what you are missing.
Maundy Thursday, the night of the Last Supper when Jesus broke bread with his disciples, is when our First Communion class receives communion for the first time. To see the delight in the faces of these children warms your heart. I love to watch them strip the altar in preparation for Good Friday. We leave the church in silence seeing the bare altar.
On Good Friday we hold a Tenebrae Service, which is an ancient tradition that means “shadows” or “darkness”. Our service focuses on the seven last words of Jesus. There is large cross that holds seven candles plus the Christ Candle. The candles are extinguished, one by one, as Scripture readings tell the story. After the last candle is extinguished the Christ Candle is removed and the church is plunged into darkness. We wait in the dark for the “Symbolic Loud Noise” that symbolizes the closing of Christ’s tomb. This always makes me jump even though I know it’s coming. The Christ Candle comes back into the church, symbolizing Christ’s resurrection.
The hymns on Good Friday are hauntingly beautiful. They stay in your head. The Parish Choir is always excellent. The drama of this night stays with you. My mother used to say, “There is no Easter without Good Friday”. The joy on Easter is all the greater after the somberness of Good Friday.
I confess that I, the chairman of the Worship and Music committee, have never attended the Holy Saturday service. I know it starts in the Memorial Garden (weather permitting), there are candles, and the people who attend love this service. I know this is not the year for me to start since there will be a grandchild in the house. Maybe it will be the year for you.
Try to make the time this year to remember that worship isn’t just on Sunday.
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