Walking in The Way of The Cross - Preparing for Holy Week

Way back when, Holy Week was actually the original Lent (the seaon of penitence and preparation for Easter). These days, Holy Week is still regarded as particularly important days of preparation for Easter. May I suggest, though, that the importance is such that we should also be thinking about preparing for Holy Week itself.

Holy Week begins with The Sunday of The Passion, this year April 5, and continues with Holy Monday through Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

So-- how to prepare?

* In the coming week, organize a space on your desk (or pc desktop) where you can place a copy of The Bible, The Book of Common Prayer and The Hymnal. There will be daily blog entries here April 5 through 11, with prayer, meditation and reading cues for each day.

* In the next few days, check your calendar and make a plan to dedicate time for participation in the events of Holy Week.
+ The corporate liturgies marking the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem with the waving of palms and the Arrest, "Trial," Torture and Execution of Jesus are observed together in worship on The Sunday of the Passion. Saint Luke's Church, Forest Hills offers liturgies at 8:30 and 10:30am. If yo do not have a home church, come worship with us. If you are too far from Forest Hills, now is the time to check out the web and decide where you will go to begin Holy Week.
+ Holy Monday through Holy Wednesday you could come here, online, and use the daily posted cues for prayer and meditation; you could read Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer; you could check out a church near your place of work--urban parishes tend to have Noon Holy Eucharist during Holy Week.
+ On Maundy Thursday Saint Luke's offers a 6:30pm Community Supper as a quiet prelude to the 7:30pm Holy Eucharist which includes the Ceremony of the Washing of Feet. This is a real roll up your sleeves and get down on your hands and knees act symbolizing the servant ministry to which we are are called. Other churches do the same on this day; again, if you do not have a home parish, check out what is available in your area if Saint Luke's is not a convenient commute.
+ Good Friday-- A Noon service and Evening service (7:30pm) takes place at Saint Luke's. As with April 5 Sunday of The Passion and April 9 Maundy Thursday, check out the space and plan the time for corporate worship.

Don't let the planning slip by, don't skip church, don't say "I don't do Maundy Thursday or Good Friday"; don't say "I'll do it my own way at home or in the office"

HOLY WEEK is both/and-- BOTH corporate worship AND personal/individual prayer and meditation.

"Walking in the Way of The Cross" is the pathway--Christ's way of true life.
The profound depths of Easter/Resurrection cannot be plumbed apart from the walk that begins on Sunday of the Passion; nor apart from the larger community which we profess to be The Body of Christ.

Do the prep! The above entry outlines the worship and study aspects of preparation. There's still one more: preparing for works of mercy.
Holy Week bring us back to our true selves in Christ. This involves giving ourselves away--giving of ourselves freely in service with/for others.

Plan to make your self-offering during Holy Week. Here are four suggestions:

1) Check out http://www.pajamaprogram.org/
This is Saint Luke's Church Lenten Project. We're making our offering on Sunday, April 5. Bring new pajamas (sizes Large children and Small adult) and new reading books (for middle school-aged children, grades 6-9); you can also bring monetary offerings (checks made out to the Pajama Program); or, if Saint Luke's is too far from you, contribute online.

2) www.er-d.org/GiftsForLife is another option. ERD, Episcopal Relief and Development, is the outreach arm of The Episcopal Church. Your individual contribution helps us to offer both arms in a whole embrace as the Body of Christ with people in need.

3) Offer your services to your parish church during Holy Week. Perhaps you could be one of the people participating in the footwashing ceremony on Maundy Thursday or you could read a lesson at the Good Friday service.

4) Perhaps, as you walk in the way of the Cross on The Sunday of The Passion, Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, in addition to whatever financial offering you place in the alms basin, you could write down a note with your name, email and phone #, offering one of your talents to the church. Whether you are a cook or an accountant, a teacher or a plumber, a teen-ager who babysits or a senior who is retired from publishing: whoever you are and whatever your gifts-- you can make space and time sacred by your joyful offering of self.

HOLY WEEK IS A WHOLE WEEK ABOUT THIS KIND OF OFFERING.
Holy Week-- the dedicated space and time to say (as did the Apostle Paul)
"Christ is Life to Me"

[Easter Worship--
The Great Vigil of Easter on Easter Eve, Saturday, April 11 at 7:30pm;
The Day of Resurrection, Easter Day, Sunday, April 12 at 8:30 and 10:30am.
More on Easter next week!]

Lent> "lengthen"> Springtime

The season of Lent so often enters upon us as a wintering -- a somewhat cold reminder of our darkness and dislocation. Yet, even in the come-uppance of Lent's arrival, there is a note, a hope, a not-yet-warming trend but certainly a sensed promise of regeneration. Hear it in the early Lenten prayer that focuses us upon the gifts of bread and wine:

"...Jesus Christ... was tempted in every way that we are, yet did not sin. By his grace we are able to triumph over every evil, and to live no longer for ourselves alone, but for him who died for us and rose again" (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 379)

The season then lengthens (Lent is from the German for lengthen, from which the word spring time blooms)-- As we allow the fertilizing, ground-turning Exhortation for living a holy life to become our spiritual almanac, buds do appear, even in the midst of drizzle and grey gloom, with more than words of promise. Yes, we experience the turning over and turning around and growing in us, of us... with Christ.

Just as the coming season of spring already has its heralds in slightly warmer temperatures and less gruesome downpours, to say nothing of that bush near your front door that POP is in bloom, as if overnight, the focusing words of the prayer over the gifts this Sunday shift to a more springlike tone:

"[God:] You bid your faithful people cleanse their hearts, and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast; that, fervent in prayer and in works of mercy, and renewed by your Word and Sacraments, they may come to the fullness of grace which you have prepared for those who love you" (379).

Tomorrow is the first day of spring; and Sunday, the fourth in Lent, is traditionally called "Refreshment Sunday." We are being prepared to bud, blossom and burst forth into the world as the flowering of love-- the bodily presence of care and compassion for others; the Real Presence of Christ. You can feel the refreshing change with all of your senses.

The WEEKENDER -- (not just for Lent)

I am sure you have seen the ads for the NYTimes "weekender" at-home delivery of Friday, Saturday and Sunday newspapers. Well, there's a spiritual weekender, too. In a way, Lent is the time for a 'trial subscription'.

In brief, here's what it's about:

- Friday is The Day of The Cross

- Saturday is The Sabbath, a Day of Rest

- Sunday is The Lord's Day, a Day of Action

FRIDAY - CROSS

The traditional scripture passage can sound a bit daunting: "If anyone wants to follow me, then deny yourself and take up your cross and follow" (Mark 8:34). Perhaps, it helps to know that the meaning of this Gospel passage can be rendered by reading Galatians 6:2, "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ".

On Good Friday, Christians are not commemorating a murder. No, we are remembering that Jesus willingly gave his life for the good of others.

So, every Friday is a day to remember Jesus' self-giving by our own expressions of giving. The traditional phrase for this is 'self-denial' but the dynamic goes beyond denying the self through connecting with the other.

Thus, as the first part of your spiritual weekender, you are encouraged on Fridays to live simply:

* have a plain lunch; spend time instead of money by praying for the poor, the oppressed, victims of war, the homeless, the hungry, the vulnerable...

* dedicate your saved lunch money to help bear someone's burden in a concrete way: give to Saint Luke's Church Lenten Project: The Pajama Progam (http://www.pajamaprogram.org/), Episcopal Relief and Development (http://www.er-d.org/) or to any worthy agency where your offering will partner your prayer.

Yes, on this first day of the 'weekender', don't miss out on the opportunity to turn other people's crosses into tastes of Resurrection!

Saturday - Sabbath/Rest

"...whoever enters God's rest also ceases from laboring as did God" (Hebrews 4:10). You don't exactly need a line from scripture to remind you of the importance of taking time to smell the flowers. However, did you realize that God basically commands enjoyment and recreation? Saturday is that time during the weekender for taking time to have a good time. After all, recreation involves us in Reenacting Creation. God's six-day work week was not a drudgery; God enjoys creating-- it is all good. By our resting on the Sabbath/Saturday, our recreation and leisure comprise not only a day of rest from our usual labors but a reminder that the spirit of joy on the rest day needs somehow be present even in our work the rest of the week. So, take advantage of weekender Saturdays:

* spend time with the people who mean the most to you

* surprise friends and family with some fun

* be hospitable for an hour or so--visit the home bound, hospitalised and those in nursing homes

* say a prayer of remembrance for departed loved ones--let their love live on in you.

And then day two of the 'weekender' gives you another taste of Resurrection!

Sunday - Lord's Day

"On this day the Lord has acted; we will be glad and rejoice in it" (Psalm 118:24).

You are likely now getting the idea about the three-fold opportunity of this 'weekender'. If, on Fridays, Christ's giving becomes our giving and, on Saturdays, God's resting becomes our rest, then what of the first day of the new week on which God acted in raising Jesus Christ to new life? We act in worship:

* attend the Parish Eucharist

* take part in the liturgical action (volunteer to be a reader, sing those hymns with vigor, bring up the bread and wine, add your out loud petitions and thanksgivings during The Prayers of The People

* make your main Sunday meal a festive one; every Sunday is a little Easter. Let the food you prepare and share be a tasting of Resurrection.

That's the spiritual weekender.

Try it during Lent and then subscribe to this practice year-round. You don't have to call an 800 number to get it started. Your credit card won't be billed. There won't be any piles of paper to bundle for recycling. What there will be is a gift.

“Almighty God… Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations…”

What is either getting or distracting your attention these days:

Making ends meet in your household economy? A parent’s health; your own? War? Relationship? Children? Aging?

Can you see how a lot of what might be on your mind and in your heart are ‘temptations’? Temptation isn’t just about whether or not to eat that doughnut. Neither does all temptation start out by moving you in the direction of doing something wrong—thoughts, words and things done or left undone that will result in what we classically label as ‘evil’. Temptations are also those worries that weigh upon us good folk and cause anxiety. For that matter, we might even be tempted by the idea of doing the good (that we, ourselves, could do such and such in order to bring about a better situation, a better world). Then again, that same noble ‘to do list’ might lead you and me to fret that there is no way we could accomplish x-y-z, that it is best we disabuse ourselves of such utopian fantasies, that it might just be smarter to mind one’s own little patch of turf. That leads to the temptation to just be and do what tends to cultivate and maintain a sense of normalcy. Yeah, I’ll just take care of my own little patch of turf—not disrupting anything or bothering anyone. I’ll be a good neighbor; wait and put my trash out the evening before pick-up.

Hmm, might this be the really big temptation—attempting to enclave myself in my own little world. If that’s so, it would be better to eat the doughnut this Lent, with a cup of coffee, while reflecting on the ways we shy away from truly engaging with others—especially others who appear different or who are particularly in need.

Yes, for that matter, rather than “giving up” for Lent, maybe it would be better to “take on.” True, eschewing the sweet for a time might help you reduce your dependency on it. However, that is all about you. So instead of giving up, what might you give during this season—how might you practice going out of yourself for others, so that after the Lenten season, you will have established a discipline of being for others?

Yours needn’t be some monumental project. Rather, what small steps can you take in the direction of the other person rather than back stepping your way into your own safe space?

Why bother? Because most of us, when we experience the interconnections between people, then experience a richer, more beautiful life. That’s what Jesus was teaching: that the things which distract and worry us (remember that list at the beginning of this piece?) come to be understood and felt in a whole new way as a result of being open to and active about the interconnectedness of being. Everything is all interconnected—no my space, your space; rather all in all. God all in all. It'sall God's time and space, and we all are related in it.