This weekend is the holiest part of the Christian year, when we mark Jesus' Last Supper, his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and death, and then celebrate Christ's resurrection on Easter. In addition to our special worship service on Easter Sunday, Eastgate will hold special worship services each night during the Holy Triduum -- Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.
Tonight we will mark Maundy Thursday with worship beginning at 7:00 pm. (The name Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin mandatum -- meaning commandment -- found in John 15:12, "that you love one another as I have loved you," thought to be Jesus' final teaching during his time with the disciples in the upper room.) The service is in two main parts. In the first part, we will remember Jesus' time with the disciples that night, particularly his gift of the Lord's Supper to Christians for all times, as we gather for Communion. In the second part, we will remember key events of that night in a service of tenebrae, which marks the approaching darkness -- as the story of Jesus becomes bleaker and darker it will become darker in the sanctuary as we remember Christ's journey from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane to his arrest and trial before Pilate.
On Good Friday we will commemorate Christ's crucifixion with a simple worship service of remembrance beginning at 7:00 pm. We will sit at the foot of the cross and listen to Jesus' teaching that day, traditionally called "The Seven Last Words of Christ." Different people will offer brief meditations on each of these seven teachings.
On Saturday, after sunset, we will gather for the Great Vigil of Easter, which begins at 8:00 pm. This service, held in churches for at least 1600 years, emphasizes all of the central focuses of our faith -- our worship of God through prayer and music, rooted in the divine revelations in the Bible, which find their highest form in our celebration of the sacraments, baptism and communion. Through this vigil, the church gradually moves from the emptiness of Good Friday to the full-throated joy of Easter. The light of Christ, which ceremoniously is removed from the sanctuary on Thursday is boldly brought back into the sanctuary by the whole congregation. Then we listen to the teachings of Scripture, remembering some of the many times God has reached into the world with love and grace, offering salvation and hope to people of all times and places. Then we will remember our baptisms before coming to the Lord's Table for the great Easter celebration of Holy Communion. (In fact, this is the part of the vigil, where communion was celebrated at the moment of sunrise, that led to the tradition of the "Sunrise Service" on Easter.) If you are curious about this unique worship, Wikipedia has a good article about the Easter Vigil.
Then on Sunday, we will join together for our Easter celebration, which will feature some special music. The sermon will conclude our Lenten series, "Curses," with the ultimate blessing of Christ's resurrection -- it is a sign that the curses have lost their power -- in "A Promise Kept: Redeemed from the Curse." After our worship, there will be a special Easter egg hunt for the young people, which is always a fun thing.
I hope and pray that Christians, near and far, find many ways to join together in worship on these holy days, marking the difficult road that Jesus walked on our behalf and understanding better the hope for the world in Christ's resurrection.
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