Lent and Holy Week 2013

Lent and Holy Week 2013

Our journey with Jesus to the cross and through the resurrection begins this year on Transfiguration Sunday, February 10^th. That morning we will “bury the alleluia.” Alleluia is the word the church uses to best express our celebration and joy we feel at the rising of our savior. That morning our Sunday School kids will create an alleluia banner, and during our children’s sermon we will “bury” it, keeping the alleluia in a box on display as a reminder of our buried hope until Easter morning, when we will open the box and again rejoice in shouting our alleluias to the heavens. This ritualized loss of an important word becomes part of our communal Lenten discipline. After worship we will also burn palms this morning to make ashes for Ash Wednesday, so bring in last year’s palms if you have them. Did you know that Pastor Andrew has used last year’s palms as office decoration ever since last Palm Sunday? 

Next comes Ash Wednesday, when we will supplement our usual 7pm Ash Wednesday worship at LCS by joining with our friends from Sunnyside UMC to offer Ash Wednesday worship all day long in various locations around Kalamazoo. Stay tuned for details of times and locations, but the idea is to bring worship to the people where you live and work and spend your day, and to be a public witness to the power of God’s love in our lives. 

On subsequent Lent Wednesdays we will continue our tradition of gathering for a soup-and-sandwich meal starting at 5:45pm, followed by Faith Formation at 6:30pm and the short but powerful Holden Evening Prayer at 7:30pm. Our Faith Formation topic this year will be the Stations of the Cross, Jesus’ final mortal journey. See below for why this topic fits for this year. 

Palm Sunday (March 24th) will come again, with more palms to decorate Pastor’s office, a procession reminding us of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and an interactive reading of Jesus’ passion to plunge us into the great mystery of Holy Week. This year's procession will be structured differently; instead of all of us walking, the majority of the congregation will line a walkway for a smaller number (of Sunday School kids?) to walk through.

Maundy Thursday (March 28th) we will remember the institution of the Lord’s Supper by gathering for Word, Eucharist and foot washing. 

Good Friday (March 29th) we will unveil our new Stations of the Cross worship. New to Lutheran Church of the Savior, this powerful ritual grew out of ancient pilgrimages to Jerusalem to follow the way Jesus took as he approached his death.

At sundown on Saturday (March 30th) we will gather for the Great Vigil of Easter, once again partnering with our sisters and brothers of Sunnyside UMC to share the most potent and joyful worship experience of our church year, the first recognition of Jesus’ resurrection. We will again hear the great Hebrew Scripture stories of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness from the beginning of creation through the flood and the exile up to the time of Jesus. We will respond to these foundational stories in a wondrous variety of song. We will remember God’s promise delivered in our baptism, and gather around the table to celebrate a foretaste of the feast to come. After the Vigil we will share festive food and drink, celebrating the unity we share in our risen Lord, Jesus the Christ. 

In Easter Sunday morning worship (March 31st) we will unearth the alleluia buried so many weeks before, and once again will sing and shout and rejoice in the glory of Jesus’ rising from death to life.

Engaging our entire selves – all five senses in our bodies, our intellect, our emotions, our Spirit-led spirits – our journey together through Lent and Easter gives us the opportunity to live our faith anew, together as the body of Christ in this place. Dare this season to dive into this life of worship and prayer. Dare, and expect to emerge transformed, given new life in an experience of sharing Jesus’ resurrection. Allow the power of the Holy Spirit to pour out upon you through our Lent and Easter liturgy, and then go forth like the first apostles to tell the amazing, life-giving story of Jesus and what he has done for us.