Come and join us as we celebrate the light and life of the Risen Lord Jesus!

 

 

On Palm Sunday, we commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to begin the most solemn week of his life, riding in humility on the back of a beast of burden, and being hailed by the crowds who waved palm branches to greet him as ‘The King of David’. We are reminded in the reading of the Passion Narrative that these same crowds, who on Palm Sunday shouted ‘Hosanna to the King of David’ would soon – on Good Friday – shout ‘Crucify him!’

Where possible we ‘re-enact’ the drama of this event by walking in procession into Church with our palms and sharing in the reading of the ‘Dramatised Passion’. It is traditional not to have a Sermon on this Sunday, but to let the drama of the liturgy speak for itself.

On Maunday Thursday we commemorate many things.

We especially commemorate it as the night on which Jesus shared his Last Supper with his disciples, and when he blessed and shared the Bread and Wine, saying, ‘This is my Body, given for you’, and ‘This is my Blood, shed for you’. He then told his disciples to ‘Do this’ in memory of him, and Christians have followed this command for almost 2000 years.

That command created the most important act of worship for Christians: The Eucharist; The Holy Communion; The Mass.

Whatever we call it, we ‘do this’ because Jesus told us to do it.

It was during the Last Supper that Jesus washed his disciples’ feet – an act of humility which shocked his disciples then and can shock us today. But Jesus carried out the duty of the lowest slave to show that no one should consider themselves too important to carry out the humblest of tasks for others.

He then went with his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, before facing the most agonising day of his earthly life. He asked his disciples to ‘watch with him’ as he prayed. They fell asleep and left him praying alone. Judas then leads the Roman Guards to the Garden and identifies Jesus with a kiss – the kiss of the traitor. Jesus is then led off to judgement before Caiphas the High Priest and ultimately before Pilate the Roman Governor.

The title ‘Maundy’ for this day comes from the Latin word ‘Mandatum’, which means ‘commandment’, because it was also at the Last Supper that Jesus gave his disciples the ‘new commandment’ (mandatum novum) to ‘Love one another’.

On this night we celebrate the Eucharist of the Last Supper; representatives of the congregation have their feet washed; and we try to ‘keep watch’ with Jesus for one brief hour of silent prayer.

Which brings us to:

Good Friday is the most solemn day of the Christian year; the day we commemorate Jesus’ death on the Cross, through which he gained salvation for the whole world. The liturgy of Good Friday falls into three main parts:

Traditionally the Eucharist is not celebrated on Good Friday, but by very ancient practice we receive our Communion today from the consecrated Elements reserved from the Maundy Thursday Eucharist – Christ’s Last Supper

Like on Palm Sunday, there is no sermon today, and the drama of the liturgy is left to ‘speak for itself’, as we are, after all, commemorating an event which is beyond the ability of words to express.

Then Holy Saturday - although this may be the least familiar of the Services of Holy Week it is, in fact, the oldest ’formalised’ liturgy of the Christian Church, and it’s celebration goes back to the Church’s earliest days.

Originally the Easter Vigil would have been celebrated throughout the night of Holy Saturday into Easter Day, with the faithful again ‘keeping watch’ – but in a different and much more hopeful way than the Watch of Maundy Thursday!

In the early Church the Easter Vigil was the main occasion when converts to the Christian Faith were baptised. The Vigil falls into six main parts:

The Blessing of the New Fire – symbolising the light of the Risen Lord

The Blessing of the Easter (or Paschal) Candle – to which light from the New Fire is transferred. This candle then burns in Church for the 50 days of Easter, and then at Baptisms and Funerals, reminding us that the light of the Risen Jesus is with us from the very beginning to the very end of our earthly Christian lives

The Exultet is then sung. This is an ancient hymn to the redeeming acts of God in Christ.

We then hear the Old Testament Prophesies which point to our Redemption in Christ. There are many Readings to chose from, but we always hear the account of the Crossing of the Red Sea – the deliverance of God’s people.

We then renew our Baptismal Vows.

Having declared afresh our faith in the Risen Christ, we then go on the celebrate the Sacrament of his triumph over sin and death as we celebrate the first Eucharist of Easter

A full keeping of these dramatic liturgies of Holy Week can be both physically and emotionally demanding. They are, after all, trying to express the inexpressible - the redemption of mankind by the God who took flesh in his Son Jesus Christ through whom we have the promise of our salvation.

What mere human words can express that amazing truth? That’s why these liturgies are so important – because they seek to express a truth which is beyond words.

Individual Churches within our Chaplaincy will be holding at least some of these special Services, and the times of these will be publicised locally.

But there will be only one Easter Vigil – at La Fustera Church, beginning at 7pm. on Easter Eve.