Holy Saturday: Raising Hell

Today is the second day of the Easter Triduum, perhaps the most neglected and misunderstood day of the three. OurBook of Common Prayer puts an emphasis on rest in the Collect for the Day, as if Jesus is taking a breather off stage before the big production tonight at the Easter Vigil.

But our forbearers experienced and understood Holy Saturday much differently. Today is when Jesus descends into Hell to break the gates open wide and free everyone. The old English called it the "Harrowing of Hell" -- the robbery of Hell. 

If you look closely at icons and paintings from centuries ago, that is what you will see. The artwork posted here today is from a remarkable panel of paintings at the National Gallery of Art, by Benvento di Giovanni (Sienese) painted in 1491 depicting Jesus standing on the gate of Hell and pulling people out. Note the devil crushed under the gate.

This morning I will lead a few simple prayers at 9 am in the Chapel, and I will offer a brief homily marking Holy Saturday. Tonight at 7:30 pm is our first opportunity to proclaim the resurrection -- tonight is the first proclamation of Easter Sunday -- but we are not there yet. 

I leave you, for now, with a simple poem by my friend, Franz Wright, and an item from theologian James Alison:

HELL

But if they were condemned to suffer
this unending torment, sooner or later
wouldn’t they become the holy?Franz Wright, God’s Silence, 2006

“With this we can say… that Hell exists, as the Church has always maintained; nevertheless it is perfectly possible that there is nobody at all there.”James Alison, Raising Abel, 1996

Good Friday: Remembering our walk through the streets of Jerusalem

In the summer of 2011, Lori and I went on pilgrimage with a group of friends to the Holy Land. On one of our last mornings, we awoke before dawn and walked the "Way of the Cross" through the streets of Jerusalem.

We retraced the steps Jesus might have taken to his death on that first Good Friday. Of course, the streets he walked are now under centuries of rubble. Nonetheless, it was not hard to imagine the loneliness of his walk.

Later that day, I wrote about our experience on this blog from Jerusalem. I am reposting what I wrote below for you on this Good Friday. 

Today at noon, we will gather once again at St. Paul's to stand vigil for three hours at the foot of the Cross. We will hear from seven people in our congregation who will offer reflections on what people might have seen and experienced on that first Good Friday. If you are in the vicinity, come for as much as you can.

May you have a blessed experience in this Great Three Days . . .

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Holy Land Journal: Walking the ancient Way of the Cross

Inside the dome of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre

JERUSALEM – We awoke before dawn on Monday and assembled in the courtyard of St. George’s College.

In the early cool morning breeze, we began our Walk of the Way of the Cross, tracing the footsteps where countless pilgrims over countless centuries have trod to remember the agony and death of Jesus on the Cross.

We walked in silence to each stop on the way. We broke our silence at each stop with prayers, scripture readings and chanting of, “Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One.”

We agree we would take no photographs until we were through.

For those uninitiated in the Way of the Cross, or “Stations of the Cross,” it is a traditional exercise of veneration at each of the 14 points where the tradition holds that Jesus stopped on his way to be crucified. Many churches worldwide offer this practice during Holy Week, using icons or artwork depicting each of the stops.

On Monday, we walked to the stations the Cross marked along the route on buildings were pilgrims, like ourselves, have paused for centuries of veneration.

Entering the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre after our
Walk on the Way of the Cross

To reach the Old City, we walked past the Israeli police station where we have spent so much of our time in the past week. A few police officers and heavily armed soldiers milled about in front next to their armored cars.

We walked through Herod’s Gate into the Muslim Quarter and found ourselves at the first station, the place where Pontius Pilate’s headquarters is said to have stood. We heard the story of Jesus being condemned to death by the Roman governor. We prayed, we chanted, we kept walking.

We were soon followed by another group of pilgrims, from Romania. Their chants, more melodic than ours, pleasantly filled our ears. As we would leave one station, the Romanians following at a respectful distance, would take our place.

The sun rose above the rooftops; we could soon feel the heat. As we walked through the narrow streets of Jerusalem, the Old City began to wake up. Tractors pulling carts of produce rumbled past, their noisy engines drowning our prayers and chants. We hugged the walls to avoid having our feet run over. People hustled past on their way to work, or to their own worship, and they kept on the opposite side of the street from us.

The ground was wet, hosed down in the early morning hours before our arrival. The smell of rotting garbage filled our nostrils. There were no sweet smells on the Way of the Cross.

At the third station, marked on a wall with “Jesus falls for the first time,” two Israeli soldiers, with automatic weapons, stood talking. They quietly moved away so we could stand there. A car honked at us to get out of the way so it could pass, the driver barking at us as he drove by.

We moved onto the next stations, trying to imagine Jesus on this walk, carrying the crosstree of the executioner’s tool up these narrow streets. Yet, we were very aware that these were not the steps Jesus walked – the streets where he walked are deep beneath the ground, deep beneath our feet, buried under centuries of rubble left by the multiple destructions of this tragic city over 2,000 years.

At the sixth station, “Veronica wipes the face of Jesus,” an elderly nun paused to touch the stone marking the station, then crossed herself before continuing on her way.

We walked uphill, up slippery stone steps, up past shopkeepers beginning to open for the day.

Our ears filled with many sounds, not just our prayers or the wonderful chants of the Romanians behind us. Everywhere, it seemed, we could hear cats crying. The clanking metal of shop door opening echoed through the allies. More tractors lumbered past.

Finally we reached the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built atop the stony hill where Jesus was crucified. This is one place where scholars generally agree we are in the right place: Golgotha, the “place of the Skull.”

The place of death.

In the time of Jesus, Golgotha was an abandoned rock quarry that stood just outside the city gates. It was a perfect location for the Romans to hang criminals for all to see – and be warned.

Looking down on the domes of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We
took this photo a few days ago
from the tower at the Lutheran
Church of the Redeemer

Now a huge basilica, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, covers the spot. The quarry is buried beneath centuries of Christian tradition and conflict. The basilica has been built and rebuilt many times since the 4th century. The Place of the Skull has not seen sunlight in 1,600 years.

We would go in, but not yet.

We finished our Stations of the Cross in a sunny courtyard, trading stations with the Romanians. An African Coptic monk, clad entirely in a black robe from the top of his head to his toes, swept the courtyard as we prayed and chanted.

Finally we heard the biblical passages of how Jesus breathed his last, and was lowered into his mother’s arms from the Cross. Some in our group wept.

But I looked up at the sun glistening on the church domes, and all I could think of was this:

“He is not here! He is Risen! He is everywhere!”

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When we finished the Way of the Cross, we walked a short distance to the Lutheran Hospice for breakfast. Our group remained quiet, everyone lost in their thoughts. Some ate then went to sit quietly and write in their journals.

Soon we went back outside to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a place I have heard and read about but never seen until today. It is built upon Golgotha, the “Place of the Skull,” or “Cavalry” as some call it. Within its walls is also the place thought to be the tomb where he was laid, and where the women came on the third morning to find that his body had disappeared.

It is certainly the most holy place in all of Christianity.

The traditional spot where it is said
that Jesus' body was anointed with oil.
A marble slab covered in oil
marks the place.

The spot remained largely as it was for three centuries. In the 4th century, Emperor Constantine recognized Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire and commissioned a magnificent basilica on Golgotha. He commissioned his mother, Helena, to go find it. It was she who declared that this was the spot. Later evidence showed she likely got it right.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. The church now standing is magnificent, but it smaller and less spectacular than the original in it glory.

In later centuries, the church was chopped up into sections for warring Greeks, Coptics and Armenians.

Walls divide each sect’s section from the other, and cut off full views of the magnificent domes and nave inside. The division and territoriality in the basilica is a perfect metaphor for the divisiveness in Christianity, and in all of humanity itself.

Huge Paschal candles guard the tome
of Jesus. Lightbulbs are atop
each candle.

Yet I still found the church oddly moving.

As we entered the basilica, we were confronted by a slab of marble representing where Jesus might have been anointed with oil after his death. Lamps hang above, and the slab is covered with olive oil. We took turns blessing each other with the oil.

Up a steep staircase is an ornate altar the stands at the highest point on the hill that is encased inside this church. It is thought that this is the spot where Jesus hung on the Cross. It is hard to imagine except for a series of gray rock outcroppings nearby, underneath glass cases.

The rock is the color of a skull.

We went back down another stone staircase to where Jesus’ tomb is said to be. At the time of Jesus, the tomb would have been one of many small caves carved in the hillside. In the 4th century, Constantine’s laborers carved the entire rock assemblage away from the hillside and then enclosed it in a shrine.

The spot is now inside a large boxy edifice, covered in lamps, icons and all manner of bric-a-brac. Huge Paschal candles with guard the entrance to the tomb. The candles have light bulbs on top, and some of the bulbs are the new energy saving twirly type.

With all of that adornment, I found it very hard to imagine this place as a Jewish tomb in a hillside.

Entrance to ancient crypt
in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Our pilgrimage guide, Mark, wanted to show us something else. He led us through a small door, and down a passageway only a few feet away from the official tomb.

We entered a round room, carved into the hillside, lit with a single light bulb. On the ceiling we could see the dimmest outline of ancient Byzantine paintings, long faded. The walls were blackened with the soot of centuries of candles and oil lamps.

Off to one side was another small door, no more than four foot high. I climbed inside with a flash light, and I found two small crypts, carved into the hillside that is now under this massive church.

Two crypts deep inside the hillside
underneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Each crypt could have held a single body.

In ancient Jewish practice, bodies would be encased in these tombs until the flesh decayed, then families would return in about a year to retrieve the bones and then keep them in an ossuary.

It was here, in a place like this, that I could imagine that Jesus might have been laid after his death, and where the women came the next day to look for his body.

And then I all I could think of was this: “He is not here! He is Risen! He is everywhere!”

Good Friday: Crossing through the dark

The morning is cloudy on our hill. The signs of winter remain: trees damaged in the winter storms, dead leaves on the ground. Life struggles to be born anew. Death does want to let go.

Today is Good Friday, which might be better called Grim Friday. Soon we gather again in churches to stand vigil at the Cross, and tell the story once again of a murder long ago in Jerusalem. The goodness will be hard to see. If faith falters in the dark, that is part of the forsakenness of living.

My friend, Stephen Charleston, wrote this on his Facebook this morning, and I leave it with you:

“There are few people of faith who have not crossed through that dark day when they wondered if the God on whom they depended had gone away, deserted them, or even died. In the pain of our own mortality, when we face the loss of those for whom we care, when illness strikes us down or injustice overwhelms us, it is not hard to understand why we have felt this way. To receive the light, we must accept the darkness. We must go into the tomb of all that haunts us, even the loss of faith itself, to discover a truth older than death.”

Maundy Thursday: Oil of Chrism, feet to wash, people to serve

The great story of the Easter Triduum – the Great Three Days – begins once again.

Tonight is Maundy Thursday, and we have feet to wash, the Holy Eucharist to celebrate, and people to serve.

For me, Maundy Thursday began with a one-hour car ride with Father Nik to to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Culpeper, where Bishop Shannon Johnston led the assembled clergy in renewing our ordination vows.

I’ve spent much of the week with Fr. Nik, and we’ve shared a few laughs, a few stories, and a fair amount of coffee. We have celebrated together the Holy Eucharist each day since Palm Sunday. We didn’t plan it this way; it just happened to work out that way. But that is one of the graces of Holy Week – not everything is planned.

At the service in Culpeper, Bishop Shannon blessed a container of olive oil, as is the custom each year on Maundy Thursday. The Holy Oil, or “Oil of Chrism,” was then put into small bottles for us to take back to our churches (photo above).  Later, I will be scenting the oil with a few drops of nard oil – the type of oil used to anoint Jesus before he died on the Cross.

We will use the oil to bless people at their baptism, and to bless the sick and dying. And we will use the oil every Sunday in the chapel for healing prayers during the 10 am worship service. We use a lot of Holy Oil at St. Paul’s.

The oil is a reminder of the connection we share with each other through the blessing of our bishop, and a reminder that we share our ancient faith with millions of people who have come before us. The Holy Oil is especially a reminder of the real presence of the Risen Christ who is within us, holding us up, and walking with us in all of our joys and sorrows.

Bishop Shannon gave a short homily for the assembled clergy. He reminded us that  “something happened to you at your ordination.” We were changed, made into something new.  He reminded us that like Holy Oil, our ordination is a living remembrance of the Risen Christ within us, holding us up, and walking with us. “Your ordination is God’s accomplishment,” he said.

Tonight we have feet to wash, the Holy Eucharist to celebrate, and people to serve. Blessed be the One Holy and Living God.

By James Richardson, Fiat Lux

Holy Week: The palms are drying out, the days are wearing on

The palms from last Sunday still adorn our worship space, but they are drying out and will soon disappear. The Cross will soon be veiled in black, but not yet.

St. Paul’s at mid-holy Week is a bustle of activity. Extra hands on Tuesday were cleaning floors. The office staff prepared newcomer packets for Sunday and attended to a thousand other details. I tried to stay out of the way by plugging away on a sermon in my office.

At noon, Father Nik led the Holy Eucharist in the Chapel. He read from a long gospel passage about Jesus teaching in the Temple, and then he bid us to sit in silence for a time to simply be in the presence of the Lord and relax for a few moments.

I welcomed the quiet respite for a time. My eyes focused on the palms behind the chapel altar (in the photograph at right). They look so dry now. The week is wearing on.

When we were through, I went back to my office to work on my sermon. But not getting much creative traction, I looked at my Facebook page. It was ablaze with red-and-pink equality icons.

Many of my friends and relatives had bannered their Facebook pages with the icon because The U.S. Supreme Court was hearing arguments Tuesday and Wednesday about whether gay people should have the same right to marry as straight people.

I’ve long supported marriage rights for all people – gay or straight. Marriage is for those who can make a serious commitment in love for life to their partner. Marriage, as the Book of Common Prayer states, is first and foremost for the “mutual joy” and support of those who make this commitment. Sexual orientation is beside the point, or ought to be.

There is nothing in the Bible that puts limits on God’s call to love-based marriage, but there is a great deal of bias in our culture that is against it. Our culture is shifting, and for the better. We’ll see if the Supreme Court agrees. I changed my profile picture to the red-and-pink equality icon; it seemed like the holy thing to do this Holy Week.

The week is wearing on. And all things will be made new (and sermons will be written).

By James Richardson, Fiat Lux

Washington DC: Report on "Stations of the Cross" praying for victims of gun violence

Episcopalians go to Washington for prayerful march against violence

Way of the Cross takes ancient ritual from White House to US Capitol

By Mary Frances Schjonberg | March 25, 2013 

Episcopal Diocese of Washington Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde recites prayers at the
first Way of the Cross station March 25 in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. Diocese of Connecticut Bishop Suffragan James Curry, left, and Connecticut Bishop Ian Douglas
listen. ENS photo/Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service – Washington, D.C.] Rain, snow, and temperatures that were barely above freezing did not deter a group of about 400 Episcopalians from taking to the streets of the nation’s capital March 25 to transform the traditional re-enactment of Jesus’ journey to Calvary and the tomb into a prayer procession meant to challenge what they called a culture of violence.

The modern-day version of the ancient Holy Week ritual of the Stations of the Cross began outside St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, at the corner of 16th and H streets northwest, across from the White House. The moving liturgy went past the White House and concluded on the west steps of the U.S. Capitol some two and a half hours later. Bishops, priests and deacons in the procession wore cassocks or other clerical attire, and the worshippers were led by a wooden cross as they made their way past the White House and down a lane of Pennsylvania Avenue that had been blocked off from traffic.

“You walked for Christ at a time when most people would have just gone inside and found something else to do,” Connecticut Bishop Suffragan James Curry told the worshippers after they finished the Way of the Cross.

At a “media availability” event before the Way of the Cross began, Curry had said that “the place of the church in our society is the place of Jesus Christ who faced down violence itself and died because of it.”

“We know that this is a struggle that will take years and years, and our pledge is continue to carry that cross for our children and for our society,” he said.

While there was mention in the liturgy of the ready availability of guns and the grief caused by gunplay, the worshippers during their stops near memorials, government buildings and works of art primarily offered prayers for an end to a culture of violence and the social and economic conditions that spawn violence.

The Stations of the Cross is an ancient ritual that commemorates the ordeal of Jesus from his condemnation by Pontius Pilate to his crucifixion and burial. Worshippers metaphorically walk with Jesus, stopping to offer prayers inspired by events, some legendary, that occurred as Jesus carried his cross.

Diocese of Connecticut Bishop Suffragan Laura Ahrens leads the Way of the Cross station outside the
White House while Connecticut Bishop Suffragan James Curry assists her with the sound
system. ENS photo/Mary Frances Schjonberg

The specially written Stations of the Cross liturgy is here.

Curry, Connecticut Bishop Ian T. Douglas and Bishop Suffragan Laura J. Ahrens organized the service days after the killing of 28 students, teachers and others at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012. Among those who died was Benjamin Andrew Wheeler, 6, who was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Newtown. The bishops worked in cooperation with Diocese of Washington Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, and a team from her diocese.

Other Episcopal bishops who participated in some or all of the event were Wayne Wright of Delaware, Nedi Rivera of Eastern Oregon, Mary Glasspool of Los Angeles, Larry Provenzano of Long Island, Gayle Harris of Massachusetts, Steven Miller of Milwaukee, Mark Beckwith of Newark, David Bailey of Navajoland, Rob Hirschfeld of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson (retired) of New Hampshire, W. Nicholas Knisely of Rhode Island, Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina, Shannon Johnston of Virginia, Douglas Fisher of Western Massachusetts and Porter Taylor of Western North Carolina participated. The Rt. Rev. Dinis S. Sengulane, bishop of Lebombo, Mozambique, in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, who helped to end the civil war in his country and inspired the collection and conversion of weapons from that war for peaceful purposes, was also a participant.

Before the Stations of the Cross began, the bishops met at St. John’s to discuss pending legislation to reduce gun violence with Stephanie Valencia, principal deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement and Paul Monteiro, an associated director in that office.

Many of the bishops are part of Episcopalians Against Gun Violence, an ad hoc group of bishops, clergy and lay Episcopalians who are working, collectively and individually, to curb gun violence. The group has a Facebook presence and is on Twitter. The hashtag for the Stations of the Cross march was #DCWitness.

Lay people and clergy of all ages came from all over the northeast to attend the Way of
the Cross: Challenging a Culture of Violence march in Washington, D.C. March 25. ENS
photo/Mary Frances Schjonberg

Shortly after the conclusion of the stations, most of the participants gathered in the Montpelier Room of the James Madison Memorial Building that is part of the Library of Congress for brief remarks from church and government leaders to support President Barack Obama’s call for gun reform and the legislative actions pending in Congress.

Bishops Curry and Douglas, and Sengulane of Mozambique, were among the speakers. Others included Connecticut Rep. John Larson, D.C. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton and the Rev. Brenda Griton-Mitchell, director of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships of the U.S. Department of Education.

Holmes Norton, who was baptized in the Episcopal Church, said, “We in the District of Columbia know the gun lobby more than most,” noting ongoing efforts to prevent the District from enacting tough gun measures.

However, she said, people all over the country are stepping forward to call for laws meant to reduce gun violence “and this time we will not step back.”

Close to 400 people prayerfully walked down Pennsylvania Avenue in a cold and rainy
Washington, D.C. March 25 from the White House to the U.S. Capitol to call for an end
to violence. ENS photo/Mary Frances Schjonberg

Griton-Mitchell, a lawyer and an ordained Baptist minister, said, “I would rather see a sermon than hear one any day.” She insisted that in the Way of the Cross she had indeed seen a sermon.

Sengulane, who celebrated the 38th anniversary of his ordination and consecration as a bishop March 25, said having a gun in the house for protection is like having a poisonous snake for the same reason. There’s no guarantee whom it will bite. A gun is also a “very bad adviser” on how to handle conflict, he said.

The March 25 Stations of the Cross was the latest is a series of actions by Episcopalians across the church who are attempting to eliminate gun violence. Leaders at the denominational level have spoken out as well.

Bishop Suffragan Mary Glasspool of Los Angeles captures video of Diocese of
Massachusetts Bishop Suffragan Gayle Harris leading prayers at one of the Way of the
Cross stations. ENS photo/Mary Frances Schjonberg

In mid-February, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, in written testimony to the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, urged lawmakers to “press for comprehensive and universal background checks for firearm ownership, regardless of where and how a gun is purchased; for bans on the availability to civilians of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines; and for policies designed to better regulate the manufacture of guns.”

Jefferts Schori noted that the Episcopal Church has said continually over more than 40 years “that the role of guns in our society’s culture of violence cannot be ignored.” And, while the church “supports the constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms,” the presiding bishop said, the church “is clear that federal, state, and local gun laws and enforcement activities should focus their efforts on keeping guns out of the hands of children and those who would use them to commit violent crimes.”

The presiding bishop could not participate in the Stations of the Cross in Washington, D.C. because she was in England for a meeting of the Anglican Communion Standing Committee, which followed the inauguration of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. Douglas, who is also a member of the Standing Committee and attended the inauguration, attended the first two days of the meeting before returning to help lead the event.

The 13th and 14th stations on the Way of the Cross were on the wet, muddy lawn of the
U.S. Capitol. ENS photo/Mary Frances Schjonberg

In late February, the church’s Executive Council called on Episcopalians to “repent of our own roles in the glorification and trivialization of violence.” The resolution urges Episcopalians to work toward “comprehensive social responses that seek to stem the cycles of violence that fuel gun crime.”

It also called for making mental-health services available and accessible “without stigma in a variety of settings,” and available to “those who have suffered trauma from exposure to violence or violent environments.”

Resolution A&N004 urged elected officials to make gun trafficking a federal crime and empower law enforcement officials to investigate and prosecute straw purchasers, gun traffickers and their entire criminal networks.”

And it urged Episcopalians to “examine our own cultural attitudes toward violence through efforts in congregations and communities [and] to repent of our own roles in the glorification and trivialization of violence, and to commit ourselves to another way.”

Just after the council meeting, House of Deputies President the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings and Vice President the Hon. Byron Rushing issued a letter to General Convention deputies outlining council’s resolution and saying they hoped the deputies would “help lead the church to fulfill this resolution.”

On March 22, the Episcopal Public Policy Network, based in Washington, D.C., issued a policy alert here suggesting three steps Episcopalians could take to respond to the calls from the church’s leadership to advocate for an end to gun violence.

– The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is an editor/reporter for the Episcopal News Service.

Stations of the Cross in Washington DC

It snowed steadily all night and is still snowing, and the weather report has it snowing all day in Northern and Central Virginia. After checking weather reports at 5am, I chose not to make the three-hour-plus slog up to Washington DC and back. That was not an easy decision and I am feeling some big pangs of guilt about taking the safer course. I do ask that we keep the victims of gun violence in our prayers, and those are walking the Stations of the Cross in their memory today from the White House to to Capitol Hill. I wish the weather had permitted my joining them.

Monday in Holy Week: Pray for those who have died in wars, and victims of gun violence

Today on Monday of Holy Week, as we have done for more years than anyone should have to remember, we will pray for those who have died in our wars at noon today. By name.

We will read the list of those soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since Holy Week of last year.

It is a very long list.

The list is a compilation of the names we have read each Sunday in our worship services. Each week when I compile the list, I feel a major streak of guilt that we limit the list to Americans. So many thousands, from so many nations, have died in these wars. So many thousands have died in our own country from violence.

We have many people to pray for, and much to be contrite about.

The violence that encircles Holy Week, culminating in the death of Jesus at the hand of the Roman Empire, is not so very far from us. I was much taken with the photograph above that appeared in The New York Times on Sunday. It shows a family in Syria that uses an ancient Roman cave as a bomb shelter to hide from the bombs dropped by aircraft from their own government.

As I write this, it is snowing in Virginia and the roads are clogging up. I am planning to get up before dawn Monday to drive to Washington DC to participate in a "Stations of the Cross" from the White House to Capitol Hill, led by our Episcopal bishops to remember the victims of gun violence in our country.

If the snow plows clear our road, and I can get out, I will be there. Pray for those who are in danger, those in grief, and those who care for them. May you have a blessed and Holy Week.

Experiencing Holy Week: A thumbnail guide

We begin again the descent into the desolation of Holy Week, and beyond to the new life beyond that is Easter. Today is Palm Sunday, and I hope you will join us if you can at St. Paul's Memorial Church.

This is the most spiritually moving and intense week of the Christian calendar.

As I have done in years past, I will post here about my experience of Holy Week as it unfolds for me. I pray you will be open to the presence of God, and to the surprises as they unfold for you.

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

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Palm Sunday begins outside with the waving of palms and the great triumphant entry by Jesus into Jerusalem. We will be hearing the story of the arrest of Jesus through the eyes of Gospel of Luke, and the story will end in the courtyard when Peter denies knowing Jesus.

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.

Stations of the Cross – Each weekday in Holy Week we will have meditations led by Joe Lenow at the “Stations of the Cross” at 6:30 pm in the nave (the main church).

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

Wednesday of Holy Week is marked by a 12:15 pm Eucharist and Evening Prayer at 5:30 pm, and our community night supper.

Maundy Thursday begins the Great Three Days, or Easter Triduum. We will have a simple Eucharist at 12:15 pm. Then in the evening, we will have the traditional foot washing when we remember how Jesus became a servant of his followers, and all are invited to come forward to have their feet washed by the clergy. Our own Emily Williams Guffey, who is a first-year seminarian, will be our guest preacher.

The first day continues at noon on Good Friday. From noon to 3pm, we will hear short homilies offered by members of the congregation, including some of our University students, who will reflect on the scenes and people who experienced the death of Christ. Their reflections will be interspersed with prayers and music.

Private confessions – The clergy will be available from 3pm to 6pm to hear private confessions in the Chapel.

At 7 pm, we will say the prayers for Good Friday and distribute Communion bread that we have reserved from Maundy Thursday and kept in the Chapel. At 8 p.m., we sit in the darkness, with candles dimmed, one at a time, and hear readings from the Book of Lamentations, in the solemn observance of Tenebrae, a Latin word meaning “shadows.” It is among the most moving services of the year.

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.

The Great Vigil of Easter – On Saturday evening at 7:30 pm, after sundown comes our first opportunity to celebrate the third day of Easter: The Resurrection – and the most 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.

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.

A special invitation from Bishop Johnston: Stations of the Cross to remember victims of gun violence; Walk from the White House to the Capitol on Monday of Holy Week

Dear friends,

A few days ago, I received letter from our bishop, Shannon Johnston, inviting all of us to join him and other Episcopal bishops in Washington D.C. on Monday of Holy Week, where they will lead a “Stations of the Cross” procession from the White House to Capitol Hill. During the walk, we are being asked to pray especially for victims of gun violence in our nation.

I plan to join them, and Bishop Johnston would like to invite you to come if you can. Afterwards, we will be meeting with governmental and Church leaders for a briefing on specific gun legislation proposed in Congress. I am aware that we are of many minds on legislation, yet I hope we can be of one mind as people of faith about the need to lower violence in our country, and to educate ourselves about the proposals under consideration by our lawmakers.

The House of Bishops recently gathered on retreat at Kanuga, N.C., for eight days on the topic of violence and loss. The bishops shared their personal experiences of losing loved-ones to violence. One bishop told how, in his former life as a police officer, he shot and killed a man. Bishop Johnston said he was “deeply moved” by these testimonies, and so he wants to lead this procession on Monday of Holy Week.

The procession will begin at 10:30 am in Lafayette Park. St. John’s Episcopal Church, across the street, will provide light refreshments at 9:45 am. If you can come, please notify Bishop Johnston’s assistant, Amy Williams, by Friday at awilliams@thediocese.net.

Whether you are able to come, please keep the victims of violence in your prayers in Holy Week as we remember how Jesus died violently on the Cross, and how he overcame death to show us a new way to live.

Blessings,

Jim+

Below is the communication from Bishop Johnston:

Episcopal Bishops from Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and Newark invite everyone in their dioceses to Washington to pray for the victims of gun violence across our country in a public stations of the cross. We invite everyone to this public liturgy, to pray and offer public witness.

We'll begin at 10:30am on March 25th in the park across from St. John's Lafayette Square and make our way down National Mall, praying as we go. The Stations liturgy will conclude at the Capitol, and those who wish to meet with political leaders to ask for specific legislative action will proceed to the Rotunda. At approximately 2 p.m. we will assemble in the Library of Congress for remarks from church and government leaders in support of gun reform and legislative actions pending in Congress.

I will be leading those clergy and lay persons from the Diocese of Virginia who wish to attend this important and poignant event. I know this is quite short notice, but I only learned of all of the details at the recent House of Bishops meeting at Kanuga and was deeply moved by this vision to pray for the victims of gun violence and for meaningful legislation that will help to end such tragedies in our country. Please do get the word out to all of your clergy encouraging them to attend and to invite members of their congregations as well. St. John’s Lafayette Square will be providing coffee, light refreshments and restrooms before the walk beginning at 9:45am.

An important detail: Please emphasize that those who will be attending should send an email to my assistant, Amy Williams, at awilliams@thediocese.net before noon on Friday March 22nd so that she can give a headcount to St. John’s Lafayette Square so they can plan accordingly for hospitality. I hope to see you there at 10:30am on March 25th.

Faithfully yours, 

+Shannon