Holy Week and Easter Review

In general, Holy Week was a little crazy. It was the first time I had to fly solo on this whole venture. I kept having to put off all the administrative stuff so that I could just focus on worship and preaching. Here’s a rundown:

 

1. Monday – Wednesday

 

No public services. For the most part, this was spent making sure everyone was in place for the upcoming week. It was fairly quiet, which was nice. Two of the program staff were on vacation the first part of the week because spring break for the school system happened to coincide with Holy Week. This actually sucked, as I usually take spring break off for one of my vacation weeks.

 

1. Maundy Thursday

 

Service was pretty good. It was done according to the rubrics found in the Lutheran Book of Worship – Minister’s Desk Edition. Basically the sermon is at the front end, followed by readings, washing of feet, and Holy Communion. I did insert a lavabo into the mix once I went up to the altar with the assisting minister. Concerning washing of feet, we invite everyone to participate, and a 1/3 of the congregation does so. This is up from last year. The service hasn’t been especially well attended in the past, and I would like to see it become more important in the lives of parishioners.

 

After the service, there was a traditional stripping of the altar. This year we added me removing my vestments and handing them to the assistant, who then took them to the sacristy, so that I was only vested in my cassock. I thought removing all the white on the surplice, stole and chasuble and then being left standing there in black resonated with the congregation, as we received several comments about it. The altar guild got a little zealous this year with the black drapes. They even covered the windows in the nave. It looked fine, but was just a lot of black. I prefer the more sparse approach.

 

1. Good Friday

 

We did Stations of the Cross at noon. I used an order first adapted by Zion Lutheran in Detroit, and then further adapted it to our local use, giving due credit. It is an interesting order, with readings from Martin Luther’s sermons included to serve as meditations. This was the first year we did it, and we had pretty good attendance, about 30.

 

After service I went to the shed with one of our members to bring in our big wooden cross, but it was missing. Fortunately, said member went to giant lumber yard and came back with a new cross, this one actually big enough to hang someone on.

 

We did a Tenebrae Chorale in the evening. Yes, Lutherans love making everything into a chorale. The basic difference in this format and a traditional Tenebrae is that the chanted psalms are replaced with metrical hymnody. The choir did a wonderful job – per usual – leading this service. The only thing I don’t like is the need to have sound effects. I don’t need to hear nails being driven to “get it”. I find a little contrived and hokey. But everyone loves it, especially the chair of our worship and music team, so we do it. Eh.

 

After the service, when everyone had left the building, I was left alone with my thoughts. I sat down in the back of the church and looked at the darkened sanctuary. It almost seemed overwhelming how dark it was. I couldn’t help but feel that this was my last going to be my last Holy Week and Easter at this church. It felt sad, but necessary.

 

1. Holy Saturday

 

So we don’t do any formal services at the church on Holy Saturday. I have been trying to get them to do the Vigil, but we do ours on Sunday in the predawn hours. I spent most of the day making sure I was prepared for the next day, going over the sermon again and again. I also did last second things, like make sure there was wood for the new fire and such.

 

1. Easter Sunday

 

I arrived at the church at 5:15 for back-to-back-to-back-to-back services. The Vigil was observed at 6:30. It is still pitch black in these parts at 6:30. On top of it, it was 23 degrees when I pulled into the parking lot, a bit chilly for we southern folks in Spring. We lit the fire, sang the exulstet, did an abbreviated liturgy of the Word (I think five readings, rather than 12), renewed baptismal vows, the Gospel, sermon (the Easter sermon of St. John Chrysostom), and had Eucharist. Then 8:15 LBW II, 9:30 Contemporary, and 11:00 LBW II.

 

1. Post-Easter

 

I came home and enjoyed some gumbo and a bottle of Shiner Bock. Mrs. LP, the baby and I all napped for the next couple of hours. We hung out, had a bottle of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale (a barley wine, technically, at 9.6%), some more gumbo, and settled in for a night of mindless television.

 

I took yesterday and today off. Yesterday was the baby’s first day at day care since Mrs. LP returns to work full time this week. We did a trial drop off of about an hour or so. We were very relived to go back to get her and find her smiling and playing. The ladies in the infant room are a couple of old grammas, so we felt pretty good about that. Anyway, she is no worse for the wear. Mom and dad on the other hand, had a rougher time.

 

We arrived home where I was greeted by a message on my machine from the synod, who wanted to know why our council president up and resigned. HUH? News to me! Sure enough, I log into email and there it is. So the rest of the afternoon is a little hectic, but so it goes. Then another email from another council member who may quit, that it is too much work during the transition, and without the president, she isn’t sure she still wants to be involved. Then the vice-president emails and says “I will not accept the presidency”, so there is a power vacuum. And needless to say, word travels fast and there are people now clammering for that position so that they may have more say so in the time of transition while we are looking for a new pastor.

So, at about 1:00 am, I woke up with such intense acid refux that I had stomach acid in my mouth (my throat still hurts). I sat up and watched X-Files reruns until almost 4:00 am. I returned to bed, slept poorly, and got up at 7:30ish. I guess it goes without saying that there will be no post-Easter lull this year.

 

Where is the eject button?