Friends, Do you attend Holy Week services, following the last hours of the Lord's earthly life through your worship of God? Let us discuss the glorious final moments of the Logos in His saving redemption. Try to focus on each day as it comes. Prepare yourselves and post those things which move you most about each day...
As I prepare for this most holy festival of remembrance and renewal, a certain sentence from the anonymous Epistle to Diognetus, about A.D. 130, stands out: "This is he who was from the beginning, who appeared new and was found to be old, and is ever born young in the hearts of the saints". The Lord Christ is the One by whom eternity & infinity were created. He is everlasting, yet was born - immortal, yet a 30-year-old-man killed upon a cross. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah - which all humanity has waited and watched for, these long millennia. Though He died, rose, and left this Cosmos, He is here in His Spirit, and is born anew in the heart of every Image of God who has faith in Him. Pray for those in whom He is being born by faith & baptism during this sacred memorial season - and make plans to welcome all those who are initiated into the Holy Mysteries of the Faith, the Church, and the Sacraments this coming Easter! Welcome them as humbly and lovingly as the peasants and poor of Jerusalem welcomed the Lord into the holy city.
I personally believe Holy Week is the perfect time for evangelisation - whether at work, school, or on the streets. Each day can be a focus on one aspect of the life of Jesus, as it reaches its summit. We often focus on going to Maundy footwashing, Good Friday suffrages, Holy Saturday vigils, and Easter Sunday services which reach such jubilant levels that they resemble a concert. How can we take this out into the world, and live each day in our lives, however? On Palm Sunday, might we not rejoice that God is King, and Christ is among us forever as the Lord? Let Him enter our hearts to create overwhelming joy that spills forth into the "real world". If He is King, make plans on Palm Sunday to follow the humble one riding a donkey, who entered into His city on the dirty rags of poor, sick people. Why not take the Easter season to sign up at soup-kitchens and welcome the poor into the house of God; i.e. the genuine love of a Christian soul for those who are rejected? On Maundy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper, why not eat a final meal before going to a service in the evening, and after partaking the Holy Communion with your brothers & sisters, eat nothing until the Resurrection Day comes? How about leaving an open place at your dinner table at home for the Lord Jesus that night, in remembrance of Him? Think particularly of the Love of Christ on this day - and read that Farewell Discourse of John 13-17! It's crucial to remember the Love of God. On Good Friday, spend the day in total silence, and the darkening of the eveningtide with the lights off, in prayer. If your country makes Good Friday a civil holiday, walk amongst the eerie stillness of an empty downtown or industrial district. The contrast from a usual business day is startling in many places. The whole world seems to mourn for its fallen King - but with expectation. Why not invite as many people as you can - strangers and friends - to hear the full story of the Passion of Jesus read from John's Gospel at your church? On Holy Saturday, why not speak as little as possible, and eat nothing? Read the account of Genesis, and focus upon God's resting after Creation - then consider God's resting in the Tomb. Unite yourself to Christ's person especially on this day, making resolutions to die from sin just as He died for the death of sin! Prepare yourself to rise again... On Easter Sunday, why not listen to your favourite symphony, opera, or whole CD of music? Let it blast and blare; let the trumpets soar, and allow the whole orchestra or band to swell. Take a walk, bird-watch, observe the sun rise and sun set, and contemplate on the fact that all death is dead, and that the New Creation has begun......... Offer yourselves...
An Eastern hymn for the first half of Holy Week - as the lights go out across the world and the Bridegroom is glorified: I see Your Bridal Chamber adorned, O my Savior, but have no wedding garment that I may enter. O Giver of Light, enlighten the vesture of my soul, and save me. Our vesture of a wedding garment is not good works. When the Hebrews invited someone to a marriage feast, they provided the garments along with the food and wine. All is to be provided by God through the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. Pray for the vesture of righteousness and faith and love to clothe all Christians in this week - and for the clean garments, washed in the blood of the lamb, to be given to the Newly Baptized. Let us not forget the intimate love of God present in these solemn, quiet days.
We are planning to publish several good Anglican resources concerning Lent this week, starting with pastoral letter by bishop Thomas Ken on the proper attitude towards Lent celebration. In a few days we will also publish the Commination Service from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
Just attended the Chrism Mass at All Saints Church here in Brisbane, I was surprised to see our Bishop Protector Bishop Bevan celebrating...
We adore Thee, O Christ, And we bless Thee, Who by Thy Holy Cross hath redeemed the world. He who suffered death for us, O Lord, O Lord, have mercy on us.