Lent is winding down; Holy Week is almost upon us. Soon we will begin our annual walk through Holy Week and the Paschal Triduum, the so-called “Great Three Days” that are at the heart of the heart of the Christian story.
We owe it to ourselves and to our ancestors in the faith – Mary Magdalene, Peter, and all the rest of them – to do our best to understand what they were facing at the end of that first Holy Week. They had given years of their lives and all of their future to what by the evening of Good Friday must have seemed a very cruel joke. They had watched as their friend and leader – the one in whom they had invested their faith – was whipped, mocked, dragged through the streets, and put to death. Worse, they themselves had abandoned, deserted, and denied him. They were at risk of losing faith not only in Jesus but in themselves.
Then Easter morning, the empty tomb, the angels, and a message: “He is risen; he is not here… tell Peter and the others that he is going ahead of you.” And Jesus seeks out his friends and assures them they haven’t voted themselves off the island after all; they are loved and valued, forgiven and restored. And they have work to do. They have a future together.
The disciples spent the rest of their lives trying to put into words just what had happened and why it mattered. St. Paul says, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The events of Holy Week and Easter are, among other things, an extended meditation on this theme.
Two thousand years later, we still listen to the story because it still speaks to us. Like those first disciples, we are loved and valued, forgiven and restored, with work to do in a future together. “The Christian community is meant to be a mutual hope society,” says Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in her Easter message, “with each one offering courage to another whose hope has waned, insisting that even in the darkest of nights, new life is being prepared. That work is constant – it will not end until the end of all things. And still the community persists, year in and year out, in time of earthquake and war and flood, in time of joy and new birth and discovery. Together we can shout, ‘Alleluia, he is risen! Indeed, he is risen, Alleluia!’”
Please join us this Holy Week as we listen again and let our story do its work in us:
Palm Sunday, March 28: 8 and 9:30am
Monday – Saturday: 8:30am Morning Prayer
Maundy Thursday, April 1: 6:30pm – Holy Communion
Good Friday, April 2: Noon – Good Friday Liturgy
6:30pm – Stations of the Cross
Easter Sunday, April 4: 5:30am – Great Vigil and first Communion of Easter
8am – Holy Communion
9:30am – Holy Communion with music and Easter Egg Hunt.
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Meanwhile, our own chapter of the “mutual hope society” is reaching a new milestone. This Sunday, March 21, our diocesan Ministry Developer, Susan Ohlidal, will join us to preach and help get Immanuel started on the next step of its journey.
For over a year now, we have been exploring the gifts, hopes, and needs of this parish together, preparing to choose a “leadership model” to adopt after the Interim period. What kind of leadership will support Immanuel’s continued growth as a place of community, communion, and mission in a way that honors both its identity as an Episcopal church and its unique experience of baptismal ministry?
On behalf of the diocese, Susan will support Immanuel during the process of choosing and living into a leadership model over the coming months. She will be meeting with Immanuel’s leadership teams (Vestry, Ministry Support Team, and Worship Committee) this Sunday to get the ball rolling, and will be available for discussion and questions during Coffee Hour. It’s an exciting time! Please join us.
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