Holy Week: A Journey with Jesus

The week, beginning with Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday and culminating with the Sunday of the Resurrection, Easter Day, is for Christians the holiest week of the year. In fact, many Christian Denominations refer to this time as “Holy Week.” I see this week as “a time out of time,” as well as the nexus of “time and eternity” itself. The week is both historical and beyond history. It brings together the hopes and dreams, joys and sorrows of all humanity. In it we see the “good, the bad and the ugly” of what it means to be human. Holy Week is schizophrenic to the point of making our heads spin and yet through it and in it we get a glimpse of God’s presence in creation and in our lives.

Holy week begins with two powerful stories which are very much at odds with each other. First we see Jesus coming into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey with leafy branches being waved and being welcomed as the “one who comes in the name of the Lord.” We might also imagine Pontius Pilate coming into the city from the other side on his stallion, and in all his armor and glory as he enters in the name of the Emperor, the one who proclaimed himself the “Son of God.” As our worship continues on this day, we move very quickly to the betrayal, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. We experience both the glory of God and the sinfulness of the Children of God. In the Episcopal Church, our worship allows us, no, forces us, to remove our “rose colored glasses,” and see and experience the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. This day, and all of Holy Week, is truly an example of the Greek word, “anamnesis” which means “to remember,” in the sense of “participate in the experience.” We walk the journey with Jesus on this day and for the rest of the week.

Holy week builds toward what (Liturgical) Christians call the “Sacred Triduum,” or “Holy Three Days” of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. In the Episcopal Church worship on these three days is not considered to be three separate worship services, but 3 segments of one continuous worship experience or liturgy. On Maundy Thursday, we continue our walk with Jesus as we hear, “The Lord Jesus, after he had supped with his disciples and had washed their feet, said to them, ‘do you know what I, your Lord and Master, have done to you? I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done. I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you.” In this experience we experience the beginning of the end, but perhaps a vision of a new beginning as well. We leave worship in the dark and in silence as we move toward day two of our Holy Three Day Journey.

Day two, Good Friday begins in silent prayer followed by the following prayer: “Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen” We then experience the depths of the Lord’s Passion as it is read out loud from the Gospel of John: the last supper, the betrayal, the trials before the High Priests and Pilate, Jesus’ brutal death on the cross, and his burial. Again, we leave in silence and sadness.

And finally at the Great Vigil of Easter or on Easter Day, our anamnesis, our participation in Jesus’ journey takes us back to the grave in sadness, only to be told that “he is not here for he is risen!” We celebrate the resurrection, the light of Christ coming back into the world: “Dear friends in Christ: on this most holy night, in which our Lord Jesus passed over from death to life, the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather in vigil and prayer. For this is the Passover of the Lord, in which by hearing his word and celebrating his Sacraments, we share in his victory over death. . . .for we are buried with Christ in his death, and raised with him to newness of life.”

What a blessing! But the blessing is not just in the resurrection and its celebration. The blessing is in the Anamnesis, in the remembering by participating in not only the resurrection, but in the birth, life and death of Jesus as well.

“Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.”

(We at Christ Church, 607 East Main St., Albertville, invite all to join us for Holy Week: Palm Sunday at 9:30 a.m.; Maundy Thursday at 6:00 p.m.; Good Friday at 6:00 p.m.; Easter Day at 9:30 a.m.)

In Christ we are a New Creation, Great! And Ambassadors for Christ! Oh Man, Why! With a little help from Pat Conroy (RIP)

Spending some time in the fifth chapter of St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians I ran across some exciting as well as somewhat troubling news. “If anyone is in Christ he or she is a new creation: everything old has passed away, see, everything has become new. All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and he has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” This really is exciting, that no matter who we are or what we have done, the old can be put away and all, through the Grace of God, becomes new. It is also rather frightening that we, like Jesus are called to be reconcilers. Frightening because to be reconcilers we have to admit that we may be wrong as well as right, we must at times find the strength to apologize and to forgive. Jesus taught us how to do this, but it does not make it any easier in practice. I suspect this was the reason Paul wrote this letter to the church at Corinth. I suspect they were having “church squabbles” which may have been turning into church fights. Paul is reminding them of who they are and “whose they are.”

Paul goes on to tell the Corinthians (and by extension, us) that we are truly “Ambassadors for Christ, since God makes his appeal through us.” The best plan God has for reaching the world is through us.  While some people may wander into a church or other “house of God,” most do not. Many people will, however, run into us: at the grocery store, at work, on the ball field or the gym. They will see how we act when things go our way and when they do not, and they “will know we are Christians (or not) by our love.”

Paul proclaims that because of Christ’s righteousness we can become the righteousness of God. Filled with the righteousness of God we can recognize that all of us have burdens which are unknown to those others, that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. This knowledge alone can help us find reconciliation with one another as well as with God.

The Church, the Body of Christ in the World provides space where this reconciliation can take place. The church is really a people joined together by our baptism: a people called to love not judge, to forgive not to hold on to a grudge, to apologize rather than encourage grudges in others,  and to realize that relationships are more important than our human need to always be right. This is not easy since in addition to being Ambassadors for Christ, we also happen to be human. But, the community of the local church gives us a place of beginning.

As I write this I have just been made aware that Pat Conroy, one of my favorite writers, died last evening, may he rest in peace. Conroy’s writings were filled with relationships, “good, bad and ugly,” relationships with himself as with those around him. His books deal with relationships that can be mended and relationships that are beyond all hope of redemption. He also deals with that most important of all relationships, that with oneself. We learn from Conroy, just as we learn from Scripture, that “life is not always easy, that relationships can be difficult and tragic. Conroy’s works also show us that abuse, inequality, depression and addiction affect the way we treat others and our selves, sometimes tragically so.

In his writing, Pat Conroy allowed us, in fact, forced us to look at all of these issues as well as at the importance of good therapy and medication, and the hard work of building and rebuilding relationships. He shows us that it is not enough to ask God to release us, but that we must use the tools God has given to the world which can help us to be reconcilers and to be reconciled.

As Jesus and Pat Conroy and Jimmy Buffett say, “The God’s honest truth is it’s not that simple.” BUT, it is more than doable when we “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves.”

The Prodigal Son/Forgiving Father/Offended Older Brother

Life can get complicated, relationships can get complicated and knowing that I am sometimes wrong is a concept with which I struggle every day. I believe this has been true as long as human beings have lived on Earth. It certainly appears that this was true in Jesus’ day and through his best known and longest parable He takes the opportunity to teach his followers (and us) a little bit about relationships with our neighbors and with God.

Most of us who are Christians, have been Christians, or know someone who is a Christian, know at least a little of the Story. The younger son believes he is ready to start out on his own, seeking his fame and fortune. He convinces Dad to give him his share of the inheritance and sets out footloose and fancy free to change the world, or at least his part of the world. After a period of time: weeks, months, years, he has exhausted his funds and lost his friends and ends up feeding the pigs, not a cool job for a young Jewish man. He decides (scripture says he “came to himself”) to go back to his father and beg to become one of his servants. As most of us know, the father runs to meet him, welcomes him home as a son and throws a big party to celebrate. The older, “responsible,” brother hears the noise, asks the reason and then becomes terribly jealous when he finds out what is going on. The older brother will not enter the party, the father comes out to him (sound familiar?) and reminds him that he loves him too and that he is his beloved son as well.

Obviously this is a story about God, a God who loves us all, even in the midst of our human propensity to make really bad decisions and mistakes, and very often to blame them on someone else. It is just as obvious that Jesus tells this story to teach us something about human relationships as well. Most of us believe that we are more often right than wrong, that we are smarter and more faithful than the next person and that if we do have problems they are caused by someone else.

In preparing to preach tomorrow at Christ Episcopal Church in Albertville, Alabama, I also read from St. Paul’s Second letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 5:16-21, which for me adds some light and even heat to Jesus’ Parable.  I share a few of my insights from this epistle:

"If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation; everything old has passed away, see everything has become new. All of this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and God has given us the ministry of reconciliation."

So God is not only reconciling us to Himself, but is giving us the ministry of reconciliation. We are called not only to be welcomed back by God as Sons and Daughters, but to see our brothers and sisters as sons and daughters of God as well. Easier to be welcomed by God than to welcome those who make us angry, receive more than they deserve, or drive us completely crazy.

But St. Paul continues: “and God has entrusted his message of reconciliation to us.” To us, why? “I am still angry, I don’t want to forgive, I want what is rightfully mine.” Back to Paul: “so, we are ambassadors for Christ since God makes his appeal through us.” If God makes his appeal through us, then he is calling us to be empathetic, to recognize that we may be wrong and others right, or vice-versa, but that no matter what, we are called to be “the righteousness of God,” we are called to stay connected to one another. We as Christians do this in many ways, but the most obvious and perhaps even most meaningful is when we go to the altar to receive the “real presence of Christ” in the Holy Communion and stand or kneel next to a person who has offended us, or a person who does not believe exactly the same as we do about Jesus, or a person who voted for a person we would not even speak to. At this moment, the Holy Spirit joins us together with the God of all Creation and with one another.

We are joined together because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and because of Him are truly “Ambassadors of Christ,” first to one another and then to the whole world.