Take the Holy Week Challenge

Some people love marathons, others don’t.  Holy Week in the Episcopal Tradition (and some others) is a spiritual marathon; a week that stretches through time and space enabling us to go the distance alongside Jesus. The services of Holy Week begin with Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, take us to his final night (Maundy Thursday), his arrest, betrayal, trial, torture, and death (Good Friday), and into the miraculous power of his resurrection (Easter). 
You are invited to run this spiritual marathon.  The challenge will exhaust you, inspire you and deepen your solidarity with the one who ran the race for you.  Here, you’ll see the services offered through St. Paul’s. Start to finish, there are four. However, if you want to challenge yourself further, attend a Seven Last Words service on Good Friday.  Other Episcopal Churches offer a Holy Saturday Easter Vigil.  

Here are some reasons why running the Holy Week Marathon will strengthen you:

• Deepen your Spirituality.  As I talked about on Sunday (LINK), Jesus modeled how to prepare for a crisis. Holy Week shows us how he behaved during his worst crisis. We can learn from him, and even if we don’t,we will certainly love and admire him more by engaging his journey to the cross.
• Enrich your Easter. Celebrating resurrection without probing the depths of death and suffering is just rabbits and chocolate eggs. The Resurrection holds a power and depth effectively understood only through the lens of loss, suffering, and despair. In a culture that embraces violence without feeling the cost, Holy Week pulls us into the full reality and fleshes out the power and promise of what Resurrection means.
• Find your mentors.  People who do the holy week marathon tend to be further along on their spiritual and psychological journey. Look around when you attend, who else is there? Make a connection and ask questions. It might lead to a new and meaningful friendship that enriches you both.
• Taste the Sacraments and Sense the Saints.  Maundy Thursday honors Jesus’ inauguration of the practice of communion, placing it within the dining room. Good Friday honors the universality of death, drawing us into a deeper awareness of the tradition and presence of the saints.
• Gather in Prayer and Powerful Solidarity. On Palm Sunday, we pray to “enter with joy upon the contemplation of these mighty acts, whereby you have given us life..”  Prayer and presence enables us to witness once again Jesus’ final hours, and join in oneness with them, in hopes that we too might live as vessels of salvation in the world.
• Enrich your cultural and artistic experience. A Holy Week marathon with St. Paul’s will expose you to a variety of worship. Maundy Thursday will be contemporary with a meal and conversational reflections. Good Friday will be rooted in centuries of Anglican tradition. Celtic Easter incorporates creation spirituality, and Easter brings us back to the tradition.  If you want the full pomp and circumstance of Easter Worship, you’ll want to go to the Cathedral or elsewhere, and that’s okay.

You win the Holy Week marathon by showing up and participating, wherever you go. I pray that you will accept the challenge. The baton placed in your hand will be bread, a handshake, a liturgy, and a profound invitation to walk with Jesus through sorrow, into joy. Will you accept?
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                                                                            -- Pastor Rebecca