Today is the Highest Holy Day in all of Christendom.  I chose this picture to reflect the absence of Christ on the cross.  After all, that’s what this day is about.  Jesus died for our sins by suffering death upon a cross, was buried, and ascended into heaven where He lives and reigns in union with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  This is the Good Shepherd altar on the side of our main sanctuary.  I love that the Church is rife with symbolism.  Beneath the altar cross you can see on the left is an “A” and on the right, an “O”.  These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  Jesus says in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, chapter 22 verse 13:  “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”  Also, notice the altar color is white.  When the women came to the tomb to annoint Jesus’ body they found the stone had been rolled away and it was empty.  Angels in dazzling white clothing told them Christ had risen from the dead.  White also represents that Jesus has washed our sins away with His sacrifice and that we are made white as snow.  The vestments and altars will remain white for the next 50 days, as Easter is not simply a day but a season in the church.  There is a beautiful Gregorian chant inspired by Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians (2:8-9) which says:

Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem, ad mortem autem cruces.  Propter quod et dues exaltavit illum, et dedit illi nomen, quod est super omne nomen.  

It translates:  Christ was made obedient even to death, death on the cross.  God therefore exalted him and gave him a name excelling all others.  

These 50 days of Easter ask us to reflect on His presence and to be filled with joy knowing the risen savior is still with us, that God has not abandoned us; nor will He ever forsake us.  So, with the Paschal greeting, Christians rejoice!  Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!

I have always puzzled over the term “Good Friday” for the day Christ was crucified.  In the Anglican and Episcopal church this is one of only two fasting days in the church calendar.  I try not to remind my husband because he gets nervous and eats everything in sight!  This is also a time for walking the Stations of the Cross.  In a lot of “higher” churches (closer to Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican) there are a series of images all around the inside of the sanctuary depicting Jesus on this, the day of His crucifixion.  The stations evolved from imitations of the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows) in Jerusalem which is believed to be the actual path Jesus walked to Mount Calvary.  The object of the stations is to help the faithful make a spiritual pilgrimage through contemplation of Christ’s Passion.  Generally 14 images are arranged in numbered order along a path around the church.  They are typically small plaques with reliefs or paintings placed around the church’s nave, or main body of the church.  It provides the central approach to the high altar.  The term “nave” is from medieval Latin which means “ship” and was an early Christian symbol.  The stations vary but most commonly are:

1. Jesus is condemned to death.
2. Jesus carries His cross.
3. Jesus falls the first time.
4. Jesus meets his mother.
5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross.
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.
7. Jesus falls the second time.
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem.
9. Jesus falls the third time.
10. Jesus is stripped of His garments.
11. Jesus is nailed to the cross.
12. Jesus dies on the cross.
13. Jesus is taken down from the cross.
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.

Also, the Eucharist (the body and blood of Christ) is administered pre-sanctified (consecrated from the Maundy Thursday service).  This is the only time the Christ candle is not lit to show He is not present and suffered in Hell before rising from the dead.  I shall close this evening with the words of the traditional hymn by Venantius Fortunatus (530-609) used extensively in the Church’s public prayer and liturgy:

Crux fidelis

Faithful cross, above all other:  one and only noble tree!  None in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit thy peer may be:  sweetest wood and sweetest iron, sweetest weight is hung on thee.  Amen.

Today is Maundy Thursday.  In the Episcopal church and others, it is the beginning of the Paschal Triduum, the period which commemorates the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ.  It starts this evening with the maundy, or Washing of the Feet, Jesus performed for His disciples as mentioned in John 13: 1-17.  In verses 14-17 Jesus instructs them:

“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.  Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; not is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”  

This evening also commemorates the Last Supper; the final meal that, in Gospel accounts, Jesus shared with His Apostles in Jerusalem before His crucifixion.  It is the scriptural basis upon which the Eucharist (Holy Communion) is founded.  St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians contains the earliest known mention of the Last Supper.  During the meal Jesus predicts His betrayal by one of the Apostles present.  After this Mass all church bells are stilled and the organ is not used until the celebration of Christ’s resurrection Easter Sunday.  In Anglo-Saxon times it was referred to as “the still days”.  This is a time for reflection, prayer and repentance for the greatest sacrifice God has given to all of us.  Jesus offered His life and suffered a terrible death on the cross so that we might live eternally with Him in heaven.  We should all strive to have a servant’s heart and remember with the greatest of gratitude the ultimate sacrifice our Lord made for us.  A French Franciscan priest once famously wrote:  “For it is in in giving that we receive.  It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.  And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”  As we walk through this dark journey with Christ, remember He never will forsake us.  He is the savior of all who believe.  Thanks be to God.

March is a difficult time for me.  My father went home to be with the Lord in March of 1998.  He died next to my mother in bed from a heart attack in the early morning hours.  But he had already been up to read the scriptures though, as was his habit each morning.  When they handed me his belongings at the hospital I opened his Bible to the last thing he had read.  I moved the three by five card he used as a bookmark and my eyes fell upon these highlighted words from II Timothy 4:6 – 8:

Paul’s last testament

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

God, in His infinite graciousness, let me know through His living word that my daddy was OK.  In fact, he was more than OK.  Every time I read these words I think of my father and the life he led for the Lord.  I try to emulate my father and our Heavenly Father’s examples although I know I fall short.  Pushing through my sorrow, I know I will see Daddy again someday.  I am thankful for the faith my father instilled in me and I am passing that faith on to his granddaughter.  So wherever you are and whatever you are doing, keep the faith.  Achukma hoke.

For Christians all around the world, today marks the beginning of Holy Week and the final days of the Lenten season.  Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter commemorating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem before His subsequent crucifixion and resurrection.  The event was mentioned in each of the canonical Gospels (the first four books of the New Testament in the Bible:  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).  According to the Gospels, Jesus rode in on a donkey and people celebrating laid down their cloaks and small branches of trees in front of Him as He passed.  Eastern symbolism suggests Jesus did not choose a horse as it was seen as an animal of war.  Rather, His entry symbolized Him as the Prince of Peace.  In Jewish tradition the palm is one of the four species carried for celebrating.  In the Greco-Roman culture of the Roman Empire, which strongly influenced Christian tradition, the palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory.  In ancient Egyptian religion, the palm was carried in funeral processions to represent eternal life.  In churches today parishioners will hold palm branches which will be blessed with an aspergillum, or holy water slinger, as I told my four year old.  The name derives from the Latin verb aspergere, “to sprinkle”.  In our church little cross pins are made from palm branches to be worn during the service.  I have saved a few over the years and some have dried quite beautifully.  I love the mix of passion and triumph reflected in the liturgy and hymns.  Even the vestments go from scarlet red, representing the supreme redemptive sacrifice Christ was entering the city to fulfill, back to purple which is the color for mourning and penitence during the 40 days of Lent.  It varies from church to parish; I belong to the Episcopal church.  However I believe almost every Christian church, regardless of denomination, incorporates palms into their worship today.  In the words of Pope Benedict XVI:  “Palm Sunday tells us that … it is the cross that is the true tree of life.”