Holy Friday, Good Friday: a poem

of all the Woulds

My Son could
have ridden and shed blood upon

mahogany, ebony,
maple, elm, oak,
fir, poplar, banyan, teak,
palm, bamboo, juniper, sequoia,

hawthorn, dogwood, magnolia, crab,
evergreen, balsa, birch, ficus,
peach, cherry, pear, persimmon, or

apple

the most common one
He’d allow
for
Himself to be spread-eagled on

would be yew.

Carl Winderl, printed in The Christian Century, January 22, 2014

the photograph at the top of the page is the top of the St. Mary Altar

(the one under the crucifixion window)

after the linen was removed during the stripping of the altar

Maundy Thursday: The great walk of love begins

Were you at worship on Ash Wednesday?

Were you at worship on Palm Sunday?

You are hard core disciples.

On Sunday we talked about this ancient road south of the old city in Jerusalem. For me it’s been a place of contemplation this Holy Week.

It is a road that would have been used by Jesus, very most likely when he left the upper room, right after the his last meal with his disciples.

It is the road he likely walked with his disciples to the Garden of Gethsamene. Where many of us will pray with him during prayer vigils that last through this Maundy Thursday night into the noon hour of Good Friday.

It is the road he walked after his arrest, to his trial, and then to his death. Which we will walk with him during Good Friday services.

Palm Sunday I was reminded about the importance of showing up for the walk. The unexpected transformation, forgiveness, and healing that is offered for those of us who walk this road with Jesus.

Here you are. Showing up.

Since Palm Sunday, one parishioner’s mom has died.

Another parishioner has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Twenty or so folks came to the Eucharist at St. Mary’s Holy Wednesday and received anointing with oil and laying on of hands for healing for yourself or on behalf of others.

Some of you have received absolution through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Others have participated in a variety of ways to enable excellent worship to happen all week—and in the days ahead.

Others have taken communion to our neighbors down the street.

Others have taken flowers in pots decorated by our younger Christians to those who could use a smile.

How else have you showed up this week, and placed yourself on Jesus’ path of reconciliation, healing, and transformation?

We’re not done yet.

As you continue to show up this Triduum, may you know the abundance of God’s love for you.

As Brother James Koester, SSJE, writes,

Tonight, tomorrow and Saturday are one long feast for the senses as we taste, touch, smell, hear and see God’s love made manifest in bread and wine; in water and towel; in fire and oil; in word and action; in sign, symbol and sacrament. What is the meaning of all that we do these Three Days? Love is the meaning.

+AMEN+

Holy Wednesday: Betrayal and suffering, healing and Eucharist

From the Collect for Holy Wednesday

……Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord……

From the Eucharistic Gospel for Holy Wednesday

After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. John 13. 21–22.

On this Holy Wednesday, we are invited to ponder where we have betrayed Jesus. Betrayal is such a strong word, and I doubt that any of us have betrayed to the degree of Judas, and yet, in ways small, and perhaps not so small, we have been unfaithful to Jesus, we have broken our promises to Jesus.

This is what we reflected on during our our Holy Eucharist this morning. Twenty St. Mary’s folks showed up for worship and the sacrament of healing. One of our Eucharistic Visitors took a communion kit full of bread and wine to the eldercare facility down the street and shared God’s abundant love with our neighbors.

Tomorrow we begin the Triduum, three days of worship which culminates with the Great Vigil of Easter at sunset on Saturday evening. An important part of the three day worship is the Watch with Christ Prayer Vigil which commences at the culmination of the Maundy Thursday Eucharist and lasts through the night until the Good Friday noonday service begins. Will you show up for an hour to pray?

Diane, Sonya, and Max get the Good Friday cross

from the attic.

Holy Tuesday: We pray and we give

The parishioner that I traveled into town to pray with before her surgery yesterday is in a great deal of pain. The surgeon was unable to repair all of the damage to her spine. We wait, and we pray. Of course we hope.

Another parishioner whose only brother died suddenly less than two weeks ago called to say her mother had died last night. We’ll do the burial Holy Saturday. We carry the burden of her pain, and we pray.

A dear friend, pastor of two churches, emailed with a request for prayer. Her father died yesterday morning. She’ll spend Holy Week going home to make burial arrangements, then return to serve Easter in her two churches and then go home yet again for his funeral. Our hearts hurt for her, and we pray.

Every day of Holy Week (as we do everyday of every week) we gather morning and evening to pray. This morning, one other woman and I knelt in St. Mary’s prayer garden, in a corner of the nave, and read the lessons for Holy Tuesday and prayed for so many. As we prayed for these three, we lit candles one by one by one.

Tomorrow, Holy Wednesday, we’ll celebrate Holy Eucharist with the Sacrament of Healing in place of Morning Prayer. On a good week, ten folks come to this Eucharist. We’ll pray, and we will be fed by Christ.

Sometimes, like this week especially, it feels like there is so much suffering and sadness. Then I read words from Brother Curtis Almquist: Our life is not about hoarding or about conserving for its own sake but its opposite: about giving. Our life is about willingly giving up our life and our life’s energies as we see in Christ’s own self-emptying.

The worship leader who faithfully prayed Morning Prayer Holy Monday when she was a congregation of one. Abundant giving.

The woman who came up to St. Mary’s this afternoon and set up as carefully and prayerfully for the Eucharist a handful will attend tomorrow as the group of faithful women will on Holy Saturday for the hundreds who will join us for Easter Sunday. Abundant giving.

Meanwhile, emails travel silently across computers and tablets and smart phones with words of care and prayer. Abundant giving.

Every little moment this Holy Week that is not hoarded or conserved but given. It is a good Holy Week rhythm.