Holy Week '12 Devotions

Palm Sunday April 1-Hosanna cried the crowd. It means save us , save us now, but it had become more a a cheer like Hurray by the time of Jesus, a song of acclaim. Its ambiguity fits the day. it was a triumphal procession, but within days the cries turned foul. In divine irony, the words for triumph were answered in the shadow of desolation, the cross.

Monday-Beneath the Cross is one of the great Holy Week hymns. Notice the perspective who was and who is now, beneath the cross?The first verse is replete with Biblical allusions:mighty rock (Is. 32:2), weary land (Ps.63:1) , home within the wilderness (Jer. 9:2) rest upon the way (Is. 28:12, burden of the day (Mt. 11:30). Elizabeth Clephane was soaked in Scripture. i so admire people who know their bible so well that its images just pop through their imaginations.

Tuesday-I’ve been thinking about words and silence in Mark’s account of Calvary. (some of this was included in the original Passion Sunday sermon but it was changed due to Simon’s baptism).At the cross in Mark’s gospel, Jesus speaks but twice, one the cry of desolation from Ps. 22 and the last is an agonizing, agonized cry of death itself. Here was a time when actions spoke volumes.

Wednesday-O Sacred head Now Wounded is an ancient and powerful song. It is a great confluence of music and lyric. The great contemporary hymn writer Brian Wren titled one of his books from this hymn, “What Language Shall I Borrow.” It is such an excellent question. What language can we borrow or adapt to come to grips with the meaning of the cross as a vehicle of reconciliation? What language can express what Jesus went through?

Maundy Thursday-Our service this year has an emphasis on Passover. Recall that the last supper in the synoptic gospels occurs with a the Passover meal. Passover includes public worship but it is a feast celebrated in homes. Jesus told his disciples to do this to remember him, not only as memorial but to bring his living presence into life today. (Maundy comes from a Latin for the mandate from Jesus). We will have questions on the basics of communion, along with the basic Passover question. How do you connect Passover and communion?

Good Friday-This year the women in Mark’s account caught my eye with special force. The disciples had all fled. Those were male disciples. The women continued to serve Jesus and the movement, just as they had done from the time Peter’s mother-in-law had been healed in the beginning of the healing accounts.The disciples who willing to follow the way fo the cross were the women. No wonder they were the first Easter people as well.

Holy Saturday-I am so glad we are trying out a Holy Saturday service here again.One of my best religious memories is taking the huge Easter basket to a little boy) to the church to be blessed on Saturday afternoon before the long Saturday evening service. we are offering a special Holy Saturday service this year that picks up the long narrative arc of scripture that points toward Easter. We are not going to do all of the suggested readings but use our sanctuary as illustration of some of these great passages.