Wednesday in Holy Week: Do we have to “accept joyfully our suffering”?

The theme of Wednesday in Holy Week is suffering. Fasten your seatbelt:

The reading from Lamentations 2:1-9 is about the destruction of Jerusalem, “her gates have sunk into the ground.” The Apostle Paul, writing in 2 Corinthians 1:23-2:11, talks of not being “overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.” And Mark 12:1-11 quotes Jesus telling the rather hideous parable of the vine grower who sends his son to the vineyard where the tenants kill him.

Even the prayer for Wednesday in Holy Week underlines the theme of the day:

“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 …”

The other day, a couple people asked me why we seem to be “descending” into Holy Week. What’s with all this suffering? Can’t we get on with it and “ascend” to the glory of Easter?

Do we really have to “accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time”?

It is true that there are branches of Christianity that glorify suffering with self-flagellation and re-enactments of the crucifixion with real nails and real blood. The readings for today seem to feed into the masochism of those traditions.

So why do we descend at all? Why not get straight to Easter?

The descending is a reminder, first, of our own mortality, and that suffering inevitably accompanies life. Paul’s letters tend be filled with advice to “toughen up.”

The biblical writers are telling something more about the mystery of death. We will get to the new life of resurrection but first we pass through the wall of death. Rather than “accepting joyfully” our suffering, we should not be so quick to glorify death as “natural.” Death sometimes comes as a relief, and death sometimes comes quickly, but there is nothing good about death. Death is the ultimate enemy to be conquered because it robs of us of seeing the life that comes next.

And there is something else at work: Jesus goes to the Cross, not be emulated by us by glorifying his suffering, but rather he goes to the Cross to stand with us in our worst suffering – to suffer with us. We don’t have to re-enact suffering – there is plenty of it in our world to go around.

He goes to the Cross in a plea with us to end the suffering, to end the torture, to end the warfare. He pleads with us to not accept joyfully the sufferings of this world, but to bring end the violence, end the injustice– and eliminate the human-made crosses that kill people and create hells on earth. The traditional icon above symbolizes that by showing Jesus rescuing Adam and Eve from the gates of Hell and bringing them out of death and into new life.

This Holy Week each of us can do something that others might suffer a little less. It may not be huge, but it will be something:

Episcopal Relief and Development is our arm around the world that brings needed help and relief in places destroyed by hurricanes, earthquakes, famines, disease, poverty and other calamities. Robert Ratdke, president of ERD will be with us April 22 at St. Paul’s and I hope you will join us to meet him. You can find out more about ERD and how you can contribute by clicking HERE.

The other organization I highly recommend: Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC). These brave souls go to the most war ravaged lands of this earth to care for refugees and those caught in the crossfire. They advocate with governments for relief, and at no small risk to themselves. Please contribute to CIVIC by clicking HERE.

May you have a blessed Holy Week, and may your walk this week bring you to a closer awareness of the divine within you.

By James Richardson, Fiat Lux

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.

Wednesday in Holy Week: Strengthen me

Last night I was called to visit two members of our parish who were in the emergency room at a local hospital. Neither was in a life-threatening situation, though both certainly wished they were somewhere else. 

A priest friend of mine who has specialized in hospital visitation for years told me once that every time she goes into a hospital room she says to herself "Lord, I am in over my head. Give me strength." And so I do that each time I visit someone in the hospital. 

Wednesday in Holy Week is about having strength. Tomorrow night the Great Three Days of the Easter Triduum begin, and we remember the events of the Last Supper and betrayal. Today, Wednesday in Holy Week, we remember that Jesus prayed for strength.

This morning's Daily Office readings go to that theme. The epistle for the day is the wonderful love letter of Paul to the persecuted Christians in Philippi (Philippians 4:1-13). Somehow they survived for they were able to preserve Paul's letter. In the letter, Paul tells them "the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." And epistle ends with Paul saying "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." It is another way of saying, "Lord, I am in over my head. Give me strength."

Today at St. Paul's will be busy. At noon I will be offering an instructed Eucharist (meet me in the Library). At 5:30 pm is Evening Prayer, and Pastor Janet Legro will be offering a message for children. Our community night dinner is at 6 pm, and I will offer another instructed Eucharist at 7 pm in the chapel. Join us for as much as you can. And may the Lord give you strength!

The artwork today shows the East Transept window at Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento, where I was ordained and served as associate dean for six years, and where Lori and I worshipped for 18 years. The window depicts Paul. In his right hand is a scroll, signifying his letters. In his left hand is a sword, signifying the "sword of the Spirit" and the sword that legend has it was used to behead him. To read more about the windows of Trinity Cathedral, read the highly informative narrative by my friend The Rev. Canon Dr. Grant Carey by clicking HERE.