Watching our words: Anti-Jewish language in Holy Week

I ran across this today, a commentary by Louis Weil, now-retired distinguished professor of liturgy from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (and the author, with Charles Price, of the landmark book "Liturgy for Living").

Louis, who is a dear friend, wrote this last year about the lectionary readings for Holy Week. His observations, particularly about the Gospel of John, nonetheless apply to the readings we will soon hear.

Louis also inserts an interesting history of Palm Sunday and a thoughtful opinion about whether Christians should celebrate Passover Seders. Here is his commentary:

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Anti-Judaism Issues in the Scriptures for Holy Week

By Louis Weil

One of the consequences of Jewish-Christian dialogue in recent decades has been a growing awareness of the role played by the New Testament lectionary readings for Holy Week. Consciously or unconsciously, interpretations of these readings in the preaching of Christian pastors have fostered anti-Jewish attitudes among Christians over many centuries. Preachers have propagated the idea, from the earliest times and continuing into our own day, that the Jews as a people bear responsibility for the death of Jesus.

Although this effect was at times unintended, we have explicit evidence of preaching in which the Jews were demonized from the pulpits of Europe.[1] We find this especially in the preaching which took place during Holy Week, and most particularly in the intense focus on the death of Jesus on Good Friday. Preachers did not hesitate to remind their hearers of the guilt of all Jews for the death of the Lord, with the consequence that quite commonly on Good Friday Jewish families would remain hidden in their homes in order to avoid abuse and even death.[2]

This history places an enormous responsibility upon preachers today to remain alert for any comment in their preaching which might give renewed support to this anti-Jewish prejudice which was often communicated by parents to their children from their earliest years. The hearing of the Scriptures and the interpretations offered by preachers had a determinative effect in the shaping of anti-Jewish attitudes as characteristic of a Christian identity. A potent example of this is the use of the term “the Jews” as a factor in the shaping of anti-Jewish attitudes within a congregation as being appropriate for people of Christian faith.  Such preaching shaped an identity in which these anti-Jewish attitudes might become embodied in words and actions against one’s Jewish neighbors.

Our goal in this commentary for Holy Week 2013 is to focus on certain ‘difficult’ issues which emerge from a consideration of the Holy Week readings.  Since we are in Year C of our lectionary cycle, our initial attention must be given to the Gospel of Luke which plays a primary role in this year’s cycle.

The Sunday of the Passion:  Palm Sunday

The proclamation of the Passion holds primary place on this Sunday.  This tradition predates the introduction of what we know as Holy Week, including the Liturgy of the Palms, which was introduced in the fourth-century in Jerusalem. The normal day for the assembly of Christians was Sunday, the Day of the Lord, and so the Sunday one week prior to Easter was the day on which the Passion would be read, being the last day of assembly prior to that on the Day of the Resurrection.

The Liturgy of the Palms was a later addition at the time of the historicizing in the liturgy of the events prior to the death of Jesus. This development took place quite naturally in Jerusalem since that is where the events occurred.  It was from there that the Holy Week rites spread to other parts of the world.  In Jerusalem, the Liturgy of the Palms was not attached to the reading of the Passion at the Eucharist, but rather became the first part of the evening liturgy of Vespers, thus quite separate from the proclamation of the Passion. The people gathered on the Mount of Olives in the late afternoon and from there moved in procession into the city.  The Palm liturgy thus began the “second layer” — the weekday sequence — commemorating the daily sequence of events leading up to the Sacred Triuduum, the Three Days which took as their focus the final meal, the crucifixion of Jesus, and the Easter Vigil and first celebration of the Eucharist of the Resurrection.

The proclamation of the Passion in cycle C, being drawn from the Gospel of Luke, immediately faces us with the significant distinction between the Passion in the three synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and the Passion of John.  In the synoptics, the death of Jesus has the appearance of defeat — he is, as it were, a martyr, and the Jews are given the blame.  In Luke, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate declares Jesus to be innocent and is prepared to release him, but in the end submits to the Jewish leaders and the crowd by authorizing the execution.  But the preacher must make clear that by the time of the writing of Luke’s Gospel, the hostility between the Christian disciples (most of whom were themselves Jewish) and the Jewish leaders had become acrimonious.  It is likely that this hostility affected the way in which the recounting of the events of the Passion were presented.

It is not special pleading to suggest that the account in Luke may exaggerate the culpability of the Jewish leaders for its own polemic purpose.  At the very least, the presentation of the Jewish leaders and of Judaism in general is complex.  The early part of the Gospel dealing with the events around the conception and birth of Jesus, his circumcision, and his presentation at the Temple all place his life in the context of a faithful Jewish community, which sets these chapters in sharp contrast to the harsh descriptions of the Pharisees in later chapters.  New Testament scholars generally agree that the Gospel of Luke was the work of a Gentile writer and was addressed to Gentile readers, and so looks at the events, as it were, from ‘outside’ Jewish religious experience.

Maundy Thursday

The lectionary of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, offered Luke 22:14-30, as an alternative to John 13:1-15.  The Revised Common Lectionary does not offer the Lucan alternative, but expands the Johannine reading: John 13:1-17, 31b-35. This expansion articulates the particular perspective in John that the crucifixion of Jesus is his glorification:  the Cross is the sign of victory, as in the ancient hymn Vexilla regis (Hymnal 161), “God is reigning from the tree.”  Thus the Gospel reading for Maundy Thursday links us to the proclamation of the Passion of John on Good Friday.

This supports the claim that the liturgies of the Triduum are actually one great liturgy in three ‘parts’ which are celebrated over that number of days.  This understanding is further supported by the rites themselves in that there is no dismissal given in the prayer book for either the Maundy Thursday or the Good Friday liturgies.

Another dimension of the Maundy Thursday rite which invites an exploration of the common heritage of Jews and Christians is the presumed character of the Last Supper as a Passover seder, as it is presented in the Gospel reading. Many Christians have had the experience of participating in the Passover meal with Jewish friends.[3]  For me, this experience has been much more rewarding than that of a so-called ‘Christian seder’. It is worth remembering that in 1979, the Standing Liturgical Commission issued a document in which such Christianization of the Jewish rite was strongly discouraged as a presumptuous use of a Jewish ritual that removes it from its appropriate context.[4]  When I last attended the Passover with Jewish friends, I was profoundly moved by the many moments in the ritual when within me the connection of the Passover to our Lord’s final meal was made real in its own terms.  If a preacher on this day chooses to talk about the Last Supper, it offers an occasion to again emphasize the common heritage in which both Jews and Christians are rooted.

Good Friday

Finally we turn to what is in many ways, along with Passion Sunday, a rite that offers particular challenges to the preacher. Albeit allowing for differences of emphasis, it is in both of these rites that the Passion is proclaimed, and thus where anti-Judaic attitudes have most been nurtured. It is with regard to the Gospel of John in particular that commentators have raised the question of anti-Judaism. That is, of course, an important question for us, and perhaps particularly for those who preach on Good Friday.

Throughout the Gospel of John there are comments about “the Jews” which have confirmed in the minds of many people that the Gospel is itself anti-Jewish.  But is this claim justified? In the Gospel of John, who were “the Jews”? The term appears over seventy times in this Gospel, far more frequently than in the other three.  Whereas the Synoptic Gospels generally refer to specific Jewish groups such as the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, John generally refers indiscriminately to “the Jews.” We have been conditioned to hear those words as applying to the opponents of Jesus, and thus as pejorative.

Commentators have noted, however, that the term is used with various meanings in John. “The Jews” can refer to the people who live in Judea (John 7:1—18), or it can refer to a sub-group within the synagogue (John 9:22). At other places, the term is used in reference to people who are clearly friends, like those who comfort Martha and Mary when their brother Lazarus has died (John 11:31f.), or in reference to “the festivals of the Jews.”[5] We need always to remember that all of the people in the Gospel narrative were Jews, therefore the preacher must avoid any hint of seeing “the Jews” in caricature.

The problem for us is that, although we may assert that the Gospel of John is not anti-Jewish, it seems that it often sounds that way to our ears.  For this reason, it is imperative that preachers — generally, of course, but especially when preaching on the Passion — be very attentive to their choice of words.  Unless we are careful about this, our hearers may not hear what we intend.  In this regard, it is helpful to read a variety of translations of the pericopes assigned for Holy Week in the lectionary. Every translation offers, of course, an interpretation, and if we are attentive to a variety of voices offering to us nuanced distinctions, we shall be more prepared to meet this challenge, and to proclaim the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord with words that embody the Gospel in its integrity.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in celebrating a Passover Seder on Maundy Thursday. Sometimes the meal is thinly Christianized; sometimes a traditional Jewish Seder is used without any change. (The word seder means order). Although this practice grows out of an understandable desire to reproduce the circumstances of the Last Supper, and so to participate more vividly and intimately in one of the central events of Holy Week, it is a questionable practice for several reasons:

There is a serious disagreement within the New Testament itself as to whether the Last Supper was in fact a Passover Meal. The first three Gospels clearly describe it as such; but the Fourth Gospel declares that the crucifixion occurred on the “day of Preparation” (John 19. 31), and thus the Last Supper fell on the night before the Passover.

For another thing, a true Passover Seder is a highly festive occasion, inappropriate during the Lenten fast.

But most important, every aspect of the Jewish religion has been transformed for Christians by the death and resurrection of Christ. Even Maundy Thursday is not simply a historical reconstruction of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Although our attention on Maundy Thursday is fixed on the scene in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, nevertheless our primary act of worship on that day is a full Christian Eucharist, during which we proclaim, as we do throughout the year, “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.”

Thus, even on Maundy Thursday, Christians worship in the power of the resurrection. On the Passover, Jews remember their deliverance from Egypt, and thereafter from all the enemies of their historical existence. But Christians, in their worship, remember their deliverance from “the last enemies”, sin and death. We say “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” because we believe that Christ, through his death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter, has brought the fulfilment of God’s promised deliverance. It is the death and resurrection of Christ, rather than the Last Supper, which most nearly correspond to the Exodus from Egypt; and thus the Great Vigil of Easter which most nearly corresponds to the Passover Seder of the Jews.

Christians who celebrate a Jewish Passover on Maundy Thursday are not truly respecting the integrity of Jewish Passover expectancy, for Christians believe that Jewish expectations have already been fulfilled in Christ. (Christians can truly worship only by expressing that conviction, as in the Eucharist. For them to participate in Jewish worship requires a degree of mental reservation: a temporary setting aside of their distinctive Christian identity. ) Also, they are failing to recognize that the fulfilment of those Jewish expectations in Christ is through the whole paschal mystery, through his death and resurrection, rather than in the Last Supper, which was a preliminary anticipation of that hope.

It is a right instinct to celebrate the Lord’s death and resurrection at this time of the year in a more intimate and familial way than usual. The holding of agape meals during Holy Week, especially on Maundy Thursday after the celebration of the Eucharist, is to be encouraged. But these meals should be simple, even austere, in keeping with Lenten fast. They should point forward to the great paschal fast, which begins after the liturgy of Maundy Thursday, is intensified on Good Friday, continues through Holy Saturday, and is concluded by the reception of Easter communion.

Part of the pressure for observing a Passover Seder may arise, even unconsciously, from our desire to experience transition or passage to a new life. Of course, it is the celebration of Holy Baptism within the Great Vigil, and the Lenten preparation for it, which constitutes for Christians our passage to new life, our “Exodus.” When Christian initiation is better understood, and its practice becomes a dramatic part of our celebration of the Easter mystery, the desire for a Christian observance of a Passover Seder may pass away.

http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/ENS/ENSpress_release.pl?pr_number=79055

[1] See Devils, Women, and Jews by Joan Young Gregg (Albany, NY:  State University of New York Press, 1997. This book gives examples of medieval sermons in which evil is attributed by nature not only to the devil, but also to women and to Jews.

[2] We must remember, however, that such anti-Jewish preaching was by no means limited to the liturgies of Holy Week. Anti-Judaism was fostered in devotional literature as well.

[3] It is important to note that the seder as we have come to know it probably does not follow the same ritual which Jesus and his disciples would have used. The pattern now familiar to contemporary Jews did not appear until several centuries after the time of Christ.

[4] The text of the Statement from 1979 is being added as a supplement to this commentary.

[5] See the discussion of this question in The Jewish Annotated New Testament (eds. Levine & Brettler), NY:  Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 155-6.

Before entering the chaos of Holy Week: "He went away again across the Jordan . . ."

Bedouin resting by the River Jordan

The gospel lesson for this morning (John 10:19-42) is long, multi-layered, convoluted and tense as it portrays the conflict between Jesus and “the Jews.” Violence oozes between the lines. Sadly it is one of those passages that has been used to justify the persecution of Jews down through the centuries. It is hard to read, and tempting to skip.

It is therefore perhaps a perfect passage to set the stage for the chaos of Holy Week, with Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, the betrayal of Jesus, the mockery of his trial and his death-by-execution on the Cross.

But before we enter the abyss of Holy Week, please notice the very end of this passage (verses 40-42):

“He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him… and many believed in him there.”

Jesus withdrew to the place where his ministry began, the River Jordan. He returned to the river that stands between life and death. He went to the cool waters where many people – including Jesus – had given up their old life to take up a new life. He returned to the river of his baptism where life comes out of death.

May each of us find that place as we go about our lives, especially in those moments of tension and chaos, pain and hurt.

As we enter these holy days, my prayer for each of us is we will return to the rivers of new life with gratitude and awe. May we remember at the core of our soul our baptism and the living Christ who is alive within us. May we discover anew the newness of life that the Holy Spirit gives us each moment of our existence, and see ourselves as God’s miracle. May we touch these life-giving waters despite whatever chaos surrounds us, and may we make each week of our life Holy. Amen

By James Richardson, Fiat Lux

Good Friday: Keep your eye on the far horizon

A poem by Edward Hirsch for Good Friday . . .

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Green Figs
By Edward Hirsch

I want to live like that little fig tree

that sprouted up at the beach last spring

and spread its leaves over the sandy rock.

All summer its stubborn green fruit

(tiny flowers covered with a soft skin)

ripened and grew in the bright salt spray.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good

and Evil was a fig tree, or so it is said,

but this wild figure was a wanton stray.

I need to live like that crooked tree—

solitary, bittersweet, and utterly free—

that knelt down in the hardest winds

but could not be blasted away.

It kept its eye on the far horizon

and brought honey out of the rock.

Maundy Thursday: We have feet to wash

The Great Three Days of Easter – the Easter Triduum – begins today with Holy Thursday, or in the English tradition “Maundy” Thursday. “Maundy” means “mandate,” the idea being that this is the day that Jesus “mandates” us to remember him in the Last Supper.

Today is also when the clergy are mandated to remember our call to service by renewing our ordination vows and by washing the feet of the faithful.

The invitation to have feet washed puts it this way:

“On the night before his death, Jesus set an example for his disciples by washing their feet, an act of humble service. He taught that strength and growth in the life of the Kingdom of God come not by power, authority or even miracle, but by such lowly service. All of us need to remember his example, but none stand more in need of this reminder than those whom the Lord has called to ordained ministry.”

I hope you will join us at 7:30 pm, and I hope you will come forward to have your feet washed. We will also celebrate our last Holy Eucharist of this Lenten season, and place consecrated bread in the chapel on the “Altar of Repose” until we distribute it tomorrow at our 7 pm Good Friday service.

By reserving the bread we signify that Christ is with us even as he hangs on the Cross. We will keep the chapel open tonight until midnight for those who wish to remain in silent prayer and reflection.

One other item to bring to your attention today:

In the Diocese of Virginia, the priests and deacons will gather this morning in several churches with our bishops to renew our ordination vows. For the first time in many years I will be absent, and it pains me to do that. I have a cold and I feel the need for rest rather than travel.

But I still want to renew my ordination vows, so please hear me as I do:

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My brothers and sisters, do you believe that you are truly called by God
and his Church to this priesthood?

Answer	I believe I am so called.
Bishop	Do you now in the presence of the Church commit yourself to this trust and responsibility?
Answer	I do.

  

Bishop	Will you respect and be guided by the pastoral direction and leadership of your bishop?
Answer	I will.
Bishop	Will you be diligent in the reading and study of the Holy Scriptures, and in seeking the knowledge of such things as may make you a stronger and more able minister of Christ?
Answer	I will.
Bishop	Will you endeavor so to minister the Word of God and the sacraments of the New Covenant, that the reconciling love of Christ may be known and received?
Answer	I will.
Bishop	Will you undertake to be a faithful pastor to all whom you are called to serve, laboring together with them and with your fellow ministers to build up the family of God?
Answer	I will.
Bishop	Will you do you best to pattern your life [and that of your family, or household, or community] in accordance with the teachings of Christ, so that you may be a wholesome example to your people?
Answer	I will.
Bishop	Will you persevere in prayer, both in public and in private, asking God's grace, both for yourself and for others, offering all your labors to God, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, and in the sanctification of the Holy Spirit?
Answer	I will.
Bishop	May the Lord who has given you the will to do these things give you the grace and power to perform them.
Answer	Amen.

By James Richardson, Fiat Lux
Painting of the foot washing by Meister des Hausbuches, circa 1475.

So it begins again: Holy Week, waving palms and Easter beyond

The culmination of Lent is Holy Week – the days leading to Easter. For me, it is the most spiritually moving week of the year.

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. As we did last year, instead of hearing the entire Passion narrative in one sitting, we are pausing in the garden with Jesus and the disciples and our palms. The gospel lesson we are hear will be the first segment of the Passion according to Saint Mark, and it will end as Jesus is arrested.

We will let each day of Holy Week unfold for us, one scene at a time.

On Maundy Thursday, we will hear John's gospel and the washing of feet. On Good Friday, we will take this theme a step further. Beginning at noon, we will hear the full passion narrative according to Saint John, and then seven people from our congregation will describe seven people who were there at the Cross. On Holy Saturday morning, we will mark the descent of Jesus into Hell. On Saturday night, the darkness will be pierced with the first proclamation of Easter.

As I have done in the past, I will blog throughout Holy Week with some of my own experience. I hope you might add your comments about your experiences. There will be no "Monday Funnies" in Holy Week, but don't worry, the jokes will be back in Easter.

Here is a thumbnail guide to the events of Holy Week at St. Paul’s Memorial Church that begins tomorrow:

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Palm Sunday, India, 2006
BBC News

Palm Sunday begins outside with the waving of palms and the great triumphant entry by Jesus into Jerusalem, and then Palm Sunday quickly slides into remembering the betrayal and arrest of Jesus. This year our guest preacher is The Very Rev. Dr. Ian Markham, the president and Dean of the Virginia Theological Seminary.

Monday of Holy Week, we will hold noon Prayers for Peace and a reading of the names of all the soldiers, sailors and Marines who died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last year, and conclude with a Holy Eucharist at 12:30 pm. Each weekday in Holy Week we will have the “Stations of the Cross” at 6:30 pm, led by our ministry intern, Joe Lenow.

Tuesday of Holy Week, we will hold our 12:15 pm Holy Eucharist.

Wednesday of Holy Week is marked by a noon Eucharist and Evening Prayer at 5:30 pm, and our community night supper.

Maundy Thursday begins the Great Three Days, or Easter Triduum. Consistent with the Hebrew calendar, the first day begins at sundown on Thursday and the third day begins at sundown on Saturday. During the Great Three Days, there are no blessings or dismissals until Easter. The reason is the Church understands the services of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and the Great Vigil of Easter to be one great continuous liturgy.

The word “maundy” derives from Middle English, and it means “mandate.” Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper when Jesus “mandates” that we remember him each time we experience the bread and wine of our Holy Eucharist.

On Maundy Thursday, we recall that Jesus ate with his disciples, then washed their feet. The focus is on his act of lowering himself to the feet of his followers. Joe Lenow will be preaching.

The first day continues at noon on Good Friday, Jesus lowers himself still further. He goes to the Cross, crucified between two criminals, giving to us his supreme act of love to suffer with us in our pain, and show us that there is more to life than death. From noon to 3pm, we will hear reflections offered by members of the congregation about the figures who are part of this great story – Mother Mary, Herod, Peter, Pilate, Mary Magdalene and others.

At 7 pm, we will distribute Communion bread that we have reserved from Maundy Thursday and kept in the Chapel. At 8 p.m., we dim candles, one at a time, and hear readings from the Book of Lamentations, in the solemn observance of Tenebrae, a Latin word meaning “shadows.”

On Holy Saturday morning, at 9 a.m., we assemble in the chapel for a brief time for the prayers marking the second day, when Christ descends into Hell itself to open the gates wide and let everyone out.

On Saturday evening at 7:30 pm, after sundown comes our first opportunity to celebrate the third day of Easter: The Resurrection. We assemble for the Great Vigil of Easter – the biggest, most splendid and opulent worship of the entire year.

We light a fire outside, and bring the light of the Paschal candle into the church. The Paschal Candle leads our procession, and there are no crucifixes carried on this night. We are done with the Cross.

Inside the church, sitting in the dim light, we hear again the story of creation. And then with lights on, and bells ringing, we declare the Resurrection – we loudly declare Christ has Risen! – and we experience again the joy of Easter and our first Eucharist of the Easter season.

Bring a bell and come join us.

On Easter Sunday morning we gather in the sunlight, our Lent completed and our new life in Christ begun once again. Our services Easter Sunday are at 8 am, 9:15 am and 11:15 am and 5:30 pm.

Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

By James Richardson, Fiat Lux

Carrying our palms into Holy Week

Photo by Bonny Bronson

Each of our Palm Sunday worship services yesterday had its own character and tone, and I was privileged to be at all three.

At 8 am, the chapel was full, and our liturgy was on the contemplative side. There is much to contemplate in this Holiest of weeks.

Our children in their procession
Photo by Bonny Bronson

At 10 am, we began on the steps outside. The choir sang its introit, we blessed the palms and then followed the choir inside singing "Glory, laud and honor."

We waived our palms, and heard again the story of Jesus entering the city on a donkey and the Last Supper. Our children marched with us, and then came back in after the sermon in their own procession with palms.

Our 5:30 pm service was different still. We started across the street at the Rotunda of the University of Virginia. We stood by the statue of Thomas Jefferson and heard the story of the Exodus, and then we marched to our meditation garden at St. Paul's where our palms were blessed.

Rod Sinclair
Photo by Bonny Bronson

Inside the church, we laid our palms on the floor. Then the Rev. Nicholas Forti reminded us in his homily that our procession of palms marked the beginning of the Jewish Passover and our own exodus from the bondage of sin.

Photo by Wayne Nolen

The day was marked by many colors: the green of the palms, the red and white of the clergy vestments, and the blue of the gorgeous sky on a beautiful spring day.


The day contained much symbolism about a swirl of events and a death long ago. But it was also about the here and now. In mid-afternoon, I drove out to a cemetery near Monticello to preside at a graveside service for a 90-year-old woman who had died a few days ago. She had lived in Atlanta for many years, but her family brought her back to Charlottesville for burial where she had gone to the University. It was day of celebrating a good life, but also a day of good-byes and letting go for this one family.

Charlie Gleason, left, Bruce Carveth, right
Photo by Bonny Bronson

We enter Holy Week with so many layers of emotion and meaning: hope and despair, faith and doubt, courage and tragedy -- and ultimately we come again the meaning of the Empty Tomb.


Today at noon we will have prayers of peace, and we will read the names of all the soldiers, sailors and Marines who have died in the last year in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, followed by a Holy Eucharist. Please join us in body or prayer as you can.


We are on the path of the Cross but not there yet. May you have many blessings in this holiest of weeks.

Our wonderful choir,
Photo by Wayne Nolan

Standing on the steps, blessing the palms
Photo by Bonny Bronson

So it begins: the descent into Holy Week, marching with palms

Painting by Marilyn Barton

This year we are trying something different this year at St. Paul's for Palm Sunday and Holy Week. Instead of hearing the entire Passion in one sitting, we are pausing in the Upper Room with Jesus and Peter and our palms. The gospel lesson we are hearing will be the first part of the Passion according to Saint Matthew. I am hoping we let each day of Holy Week unfold for us, one scene at a time.

On Maundy Thursday, we will hear John's gospel and the washing of feet. On Good Friday, we will take this theme a step further. Beginning at noon, seven people from our congregation will describe seven scenes of the Passion. Then, on Saturday morning, we will mark the descent of Jesus into Hell. On  Saturday night, the darkness will be pierced with the first proclamation of Easter.

I hope you will join us for all of it. To set our first scene, here is the description from Matthew of the procession of palms into Jerusalem, followed by my sermon, and then the gospel lesson for today. May you have a blessed Holy Week.

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Matthew 21:1-11

When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, `The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

"Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,

"Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee." 

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Sermon for Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011

And so it begins: 

Palms, a Passover dinner, and words that Peter will live to regret: I will never deny you. Never. Not me. 

Today we enter the swirl of Holy Week, entering again into an ancient story of hope and betrayal, courage and cowardice, fear and tragedy. We descend again into the valley of the shadow of death. 

We will hear again Peter’s boast, and we will hear again how he collapsed and denied the One he followed. 

Because we know how the story comes out, we might be tempted to skip past each of these scenes, and get straight to the lilies of Easter. 

This year, rather than reading the entire Passion narrative from start to finish – jamming all of Holy Week into a single reading – today we are doing something different. 

Today we stop here in the Upper Room and hold onto our palms. We stay with the people who are with Jesus. At that moment, they don’t know the end of the story, and they are yearning to know what comes next. They come with the deepest hardest questions of life and death, and so do we.

This Holy Week, I would like us to let their story unfold a little more slowly, one day at a time, and enter into each scene one frame at a time. Maybe by doing this we might notice something we’ve never noticed before. 

Today, we hold onto our palms. 

Imagine, if you will, that there were two processions into Jerusalem that day. The idea is plausible; New Testament scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan propose this idea of two processions as an exercise of historical imagining to bring into sharp focus the importance of these palms. 

So imagine this scene: At one end of Jerusalem, the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, rides into the city on a big white stallion, surrounded by marching foot soldiers clad in armor, carrying shields, swords and lances. 

They push people out of the way, and anyone who is slow is trampled under foot.
The historical record tells us that Pilate was known as a particularly vicious governor, even by Roman standards, and given to shows of raw power. 

He regularly executed anyone whom he perceived as a threat, or anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time. He ruled for 10 years, from 26 to 36 C.E. until he was recalled by Rome for his misrule. 

Palm Sunday, India 2006, BBC News

At the other end of the Jerusalem, picture another procession: A Jewish holy man, Jesus, rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, surrounded people wearing not much more than a tunics and sandals. 

By some estimates there are as many as 200,000 pilgrims – mostly poor peasants – who flood into the city following this holy man. 

The best description of this contrast I’ve read comes from our own Beth Molmen, who sings in our choir, and wrote the reflection for today in our Lenten meditation booklet: 

The procession of brute power, Beth writes, shows how: “Anger begets anger, hatred begets hatred, and violence merely continues the endless cycle of violence, the passing of earthly power from one ruler to another.” 

The procession of palms is sharply counter to that. As Beth writes: “The non-violent response described in today’s readings undermines that cycle, rejecting human structures of power and conflict.” 

In this tale of two processions, the Roman authorities most certainly would have seen the peasants and their palms as a direct threat. The Jewish holy man would have been arrested ASAP, as indeed, he was. 

The Romans would have seen this march of palms the way the British saw Gandhi’s salt march to the sea; or the way segregationists saw the march of black Americans across the Selma bridge; or the way the Soviets saw the Solidarity marchers in Polish shipyards, or the way Hosni Mubarak recently saw hundreds of thousands of Egyptians in Tahrir Square in Cairo. 

Every one of those marches changed the world. 

As we enter Holy Week, we do well to remember how courageous were these peasants who carried palms on that day long ago. We call them “holy” now, but they were not unlike you and I. They didn’t have all the answers, they certainly had doubts, but they kept marching anyway. 

There are many ways to march. 

We, too, are called to take up our palms, literally and figuratively, and take them beyond these walls to do work we’ve been given to do. There are times when it is necessary to oppose power structures that exploit and harm people. 

And there are times when we are called to quietly care for people in their pain and need, in our homes or the workplace, and in our community and in our world. 

Marching with palms will not always be easy, and there will be missteps and setbacks. 

Perhaps that is the point of Holy Week, to sharpen our awareness of a loving God who marches beside us, who goes with us into the deepest darkest holes of life and death and gives us strength – especially in the setbacks. That is why it we call this a holy week. 

The rest of the story will unfold in this Holiest of weeks, and it is my fervent wish that each of you will come experience this week in a way you’ve never experienced it before.

I hope you will return for the story of Maundy Thursday and how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, becoming their servant – and come get your own feet wet. 

Then, be with us for Good Friday and hear about the scenes at the foot of the Cross. Seven people from our congregation will tell us the story from seven perspectives, beginning at noon on Good Friday. 

That evening we will hold the haunting medieval service of Tenebrae, with its chants and readings as the lights dim.

On, Saturday morning at 9am we will mark the moment when Christ descends to the depths of hell itself to free everyone from the bondage of death. 

Then, on Saturday evening, the Great Vigil of Easter begins by lighting a fire outside, and following the Paschal candle into the darkness here inside as we wait for the first proclamation of Easter. Remember to bring bells. 

And our celebration will continue the next morning on Easter Sunday. 

Today, though, there are palms, and the remembering of the Last Supper, and the words of Peter: “I will never deny you.” 

We remember again moments of great courage, and moments of great frailty when even, like Peter, in our best of intentions, we falter. Soon enough, we descend to the valley of the shadow of death; and we will come face-to-face once again with the hard questions of life and death. 

Easter will come, but not yet. AMEN.

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The Beginning of the Passion According to Saint Matthew
(Matthew 26:14-35)

One of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, `The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.'" So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; and while they were eating, he said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me." And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, "Surely not I, Lord?" He answered, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born." Judas, who betrayed him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" He replied, "You have said so."

While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."

When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, "You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written,

`I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'

But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee." Peter said to him, "Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you." Jesus said to him, "Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times." Peter said to him, "Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you." And so said all the disciples.http://lentenreflect2011.blogspot.com/2011/04/palm-sunday.html

Vows renewed, feet washed - and a drive up Highway 29

The Great Three Days, the Easter Triduum, began yesterday, the holiest of holy days on the Christian calendar. I had an unusual sense of calm throughout the day. Many hands, both staff and volunteers, have labored long in planning a series of worship services that we hope and pray will be meaningful and life transforming. We are ready.

So the best thing for me Thursday was to get out of town.

Associate Rector Ann Wilms and I drove an hour north to Culpeper and a gathering of clergy with Bishop David Jones for the renewal of our ordination vows.

The drive up Highway 29 is not usually the prettiest of drives in Virginia, with all of the strip malls and gas stations. But yesterday under a bright blue sky with the trees beginning the bud, the drive was gorgeous.

We gathered with Bishop Jones, he washed a few feet, we renewed our vows, he blessed chrism oils, and we went on our way.

A few of my friends recently have pointed out that these the annual Maundy Thursday gatherings with bishops are too clerically focused, and should instead become a larger gathering for the renewal of baptismal vows by everyone. I am inclined to agree with them. Yet, I find the renewal of ordination vows to be an important reminder to myself of the call to servant ministry, and the connection I have with others in ordained ministry in different places.

And I enjoyed getting out of town and driving. We even put on the air conditioner (weren't we just buried under a blizzard a few short weeks ago?).

In the evening at St. Paul's, we held the traditional Maundy Thursday worship with the washing of feet. I was quite moved at how many people came forward to have their feet washed. No one needed to be cajoled ahead of time to come forward. They simply came.

We celebrated our last Eucharist before Easter, and Deacon Heather Warren took consecrated bread to the chapel where it is remaining "in repose" until this evening when we will distribute it in silence. Good Friday and the Cross awaits.

Collect for Good Friday

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your
family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be
betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer
death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Liturgical notes: Good Friday, the day of the crucifixion, is called "good" because Jesus comes to us where we suffer to show us the way out. At St. Paul's we will be holding four services on Good Friday. At noon we will gather for the three hours tradition holds that Jesus hung on the Cross. This year we've added reflections by seven people on seven characters in the passion story (Mother Mary, Peter, Mary Magdalene, Pilate, John, Herod, and Judas). We end this service at 3 pm with the tolling of the bell and we leave in silence.

We gather again at 5 pm for the Solemn collects of Good Friday, and I will be giving a homily. At the end of this service, we will distribute, in silence, the bread (wafers) that we have reserved in the chapel from Maundy Thursday.

The Stations of the Cross will be offered at 6:30 pm in the nave.

Then at 8 pm, we gather again for Tenebrae, a contemplative service of readings from Lamentations and chanted psalms from our schola choir. The word "Tenebrae" means shadows, and we will sit in the dim light of the evening for this moving service.

We are also offering the opportunity for private confessions (Reconciliation of a Penitent) between the services. No appointments are necessary. Please come to the chapel if you'd like to make a confession.

May you have a holy and live giving three days.

A day of emotions, a theme of healing

The day was full of textures, colors, and many emotions. The theme of healing emerged throughout the day in prayers and images. For me, Wednesday of Holy Week began before dawn with Morning Prayer and the blunt Collect of the Day that speaks of graphically of betrayal and how Jesus gave his body "to be whipped and his face to be spit upon."

Startling words indeed to begin the day.

I worked on various projects until noon when I paused to preside at a healing Eucharist. A handful of people came; we recited the "Litany for Healing" that is in our supplemental prayer book Lesser Feasts and Fasts: "God the Holy Spirit, you make our bodies the temple of your presence."

The collect in the early morning, in a peculiar way, was connected to healing because it speaks of betrayal. Sometimes it is our bodies that betray us, and we become sick. At the healing service, I anointed people with holy oil, blessed by our bishop a year ago in Holy Week. We then stood around the altar and celebrated the Eucharist. One young woman who came was using a cane, and so she sat.

In the late afternoon, we held our regular Wednesday Evening Prayer in the chapel, and it was especially focused on children. The Rev. Janet Legro, our associate rector for youth, read a children's story about how Jesus was anointed with oil by Mary. Janet brought a little bottle of aromatic oil, and she put a dab on each child when they put their arm out.

After dinner, two of our young adult leaders led a "Stations of the Cross" mediation in the nave; there were 17 people who came. I had not attended a Stations of the Cross observance in some time. I found it moving and challenging. It ends with these words we imagine Jesus might have said:

I told you at the start my life was not complete until I crowned it by my death and resurrection.

Your way is not complete unless you crown it by your life.

Accept each moment as it comes to you, with faith and trust. All that happens has my mark upon it, that somewhere out of the darkness will come light.

We ended the evening with an instructed Eucharist in the chapel, led by The Rev. Henry Minich, a retired priest who helped draft our current prayer book in 1976. He was a font of knowledge and wisdom.

Today, Maundy Thursday, we enter the Great Three Days: The Easter Triduum. For me, Maundy Thursday will begin again before dawn in my private Morning Prayer, and then I plan to go to Culpeper for a gathering of the Diocese of Virginia clergy with our bishop, Shannon Johnston. He will recommit himself to his ordination vows, and then he will ask us to stand and renew our own ordination vows. I always find the renewal of vows not only powerful, but revealing of the path of my own calling. Bishop Shannon will then bless the holy oils for us to bring back to our parishes for anointing the sick and blessing the newly baptized.

The Stations of the Cross will be observed again this evening at 6:30 pm in the nave.

At 7:30 pm today we will gather at St. Paul's for our last Eucharist before Easter, and the traditional washing of feet by the clergy of our people. I hope you can join us.

Collect for Maundy Thursday

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he
suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood:
Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in
remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy
mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.

Liturgical notes: The word maundy comes from the middle English maunde, which means "commandment" or "mandate." The day commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus when he commands his followers to remember him in the breaking of bread and sharing in the cup of wine, and to be servants to each other and the world.

The washing of feet on Maundy Thursday is one of the most ancient and universal rites in the Christian Church. It is a reminder to us all of the humility necessary to us as ministers to each other. The ceremony has its origin in the Gospel according to John. Unique among the Gospels, John has no account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, including instead the account of the washing of the disciples’ feet by Jesus with the admonition, “do this for one another.”

Jesus was pointing to this act as a sign of our servant ministry to one another and the world. Tonight, we remind ourselves of that vocation through the washing of feet. The clergy wash the feet of those in the congregation who come forward. This shows the church’s regard for the spiritual gifts of all its members.

The service concludes with the stripping of the altar and a procession by the deacon to the altar in the chapel, where the reserved sacrament (a container of consecrated wafers), the outward and visible sign of the presence of Christ, will be placed. This altar is designated as the “Altar of Repose” and it is here that the sacrament will lie in state until it is distributed on Good Friday at the 5 pm service. You are invited to sit in silent prayer in the chapel until 11 pm this evening.

Art by Flor Larios.

The lull in Holy Week and the rock of our rescue

Tuesday in Holy Week feels like the lull before the storm. Palm Sunday is behind us, but the Great Three Days is not yet here. Perhaps my chief accomplishment of the day was cleaning up the Paschal Candle and attaching the "2010" gold lettering to it. It will be lit next on Saturday evening at the Great Vigil of Easter.

On Tuesday, we had a lengthy "walk through" with key participants for each of the services beginning with Maundy Thursday. There are many details to remember, and some of it is still evolving.

The Rev. Dr. Ann Willms, our associate rector, was the celebrant at our noonday Eucharist. She spoke of how the apostle Paul "boasted" of the Cross. It got me thinking about the sermons I have yet to write. Holy Week is first and last about the death of Jesus long ago, and what that means to us now. It is about how Jesus walks with us into our own valley of the shadow of death and brings us out into the light of Easter and into the place of salvation.

Recently I've been using Robert Alter's translation of the psalms in my morning prayers. His language has sharpened my understanding of the meaning of salvation. Psalm 95 is used each Friday in Lent to open Morning Prayer, and I've been using Alter's version rather than the prayer book version. Here is the opening line from Alter's translation of Psalm 95:

Come, let us sing gladly to the LORD, let us shout out to the rock our rescue.

Rescue. That word is usually rendered "salvation" in English translations. But rescue is closer to the Hebrew meaning of salvation, and Alter's translation captures it perfectly. The verb rescue is active; it comes with the hope that God will find us and snatch us away from whatever harms or hurts us. Rescue does not have to wait until the afterlife, but comes to us now. That is the boast of the Cross.

Collect for Wednesday in Holy Week

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be
whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept
joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the
glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Liturgical notes: Some have asked about the use of red on Palm Sunday and the days of Holy Week. Red is the traditional color for days remembering martyrs, and because Jesus is truly the Church's first martyr it is appropriate to mark the week with red. Red has long been used throughout the Episcopal Church in Holy Week, and again on Pentecost. The red chasuble (the priestly tunic) used on Palm Sunday was made by The Rev. Deacon Anne Scupholme last year as a gift to St. Paul's. We will put away the red on Maundy Thursday when we strip the altar and store all the linens and clerical stoles until the Great Vigil of Easter when we will use white.

Book reference: The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary, by Robert Alter, 2007, W.W. Norton & Co.

Postcard art of Glacier Point, Yosemite

My experience on Palm Sunday: Descending into the Valley of Holy Week where I already dwell

On the church calendar, we officially began Holy Week yesterday on Palm Sunday. But for me, Holy Week began in early March with the deaths of several people dear to us at St. Paul’s. My experience of Holy Week this year is especially woven into the memorial services we held last Thursday for Thomas Buckley and on Saturday for Joseph “Pepe” Humphrey.

Tom Buckley was a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Simeon, a small church a few miles from here. His family asked if we could use our space for his service, so of course we opened our doors and our hearts. He was only 53, and died suddenly the Saturday before last. Tom was a neo-natal care nurse, and known and loved by many both inside the University of Virginia Medical Center, and in the community at large. He was a friend to many in our congregation, so a service for him with us was only fitting. We had more than 600 people at his service, and the outpouring of love for him and his family was huge.

Pepe Humphrey was a scientist of formidable intellect and achievement, holding professor posts in both the engineering and the biology departments of the University of Virginia. He was among the first people we met when we came to Charlottesville; he and his wife Sally were members of All Souls Parish in Berkeley, where I had previously served before coming here. He had been fighting cancer for several years, and it was my privilege to walk with him the last two years of his illness. To me, Pepe was a theologian; he never tired of asking where God dwelled in the workings of the universe. Pepe died March 1.

We’ve recently lost three other beloved members of St. Paul’s: Carol Hine, Kitty Olton and Charlotte Scott. It was my privilege to preside at Mrs. Olton's memorial service earlier this month; although I did not know her, I was much touched by the reflections of her children about their mother and her love of life and love of people.

So I must acknowledge at the outset that I enter Holy Week with a weariness of death, and a weariness of so much sadness. I’ve been dwelling in Good Friday for a few weeks already. I did not need the passion story to get there.

Indeed, hearing the passion story of Jesus on Palm Sunday felt particularly difficult for me this year. I could hear the cries of those who loved Jesus as he slipped from their grasp; those cries felt very real to me yesterday for they were the cries of real people right here. The story of the crucifixion so long ago seemed very present in the pain of families living now with the reality of losing someone they dearly love. As we told in church the age-old story of the passion, I found myself listening for a glint of hope, a place of rest, a moment of comfort, but I heard none – at least not in the words.

The hope for me Sunday was in the palms.

The hope was the in laughter as we circled the nave, waving our palms and having a bit of fun in church. I saw hope in the faces of our children as they carried their palms, and later as they marched back into church to the hymn “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God.” And my hope came in seeing people – so many people – come to the Table for Holy Communion, to share with each other for a few moments in the hope of life eternal, and life where weeping is no more. The hope that will carry me through Holy Week was in the faces of kids, and in tasting the bread and wine, and hearing the music.

This is the week we descend to the valley of the shadow of death; this is the week when we march to the Cross, and the week we when we come face-to-face again with the hard questions of death and life.

Easter will come, but not yet.

Collect for Monday in Holy Week

Almighty God, whose dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other that the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.

Art by He Qi (Chinese)