I did some research and found out that this Easter (on March 23) will be the earliest Easter in my lifetime. It won't be on March 23 again until 2160. The earliest date on which Easter ever occurs is March 22. This happened in 1818 and won't happen again until 2285.
One byproduct of an early Easter is that St. Patrick's Day occurs during Holy Week. St. Patrick's Day is not really much of a religious holiday anymore as much as it is an excuse to have a party and pretend that you're Irish.
Some might see this as a blemish on Holy Week this year. I prefer to say "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." When you think about it, everyone was celebrating when Jesus came to Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week. Why not join in and do the same today? In one way, St. Patrick's Day celebrations give us a better opportunity to be in a happy and joyous mindset early in Holy Week just like those people were 2000 years ago.
This brings up a big soapbox of mine. I am a big advocate of making Holy Week have some of the same rhythms for Christians today that it did the first time it occurred. I am not a fan of bundling the Passion into Palm Sunday. I can't stand the designation "Passion/Palm Sunday." I think that enables Christians to not participate in a Holy Week and not feel the rhythms of that week as it actually happened.
As such, I don't like to make reference to the crucifixion on Palm Sunday and I don't like to celebrate Communion on Palm Sunday. I prefer to celebrate Communion on Maundy Thursday and talk about the crucifixion on Good Friday. I like to wash feet on Maundy Thursday after the supper just as Christ did. I like to pretend that Christ is dead on Saturday and be surprised on Sunday when he is risen.
Because of this, I think that Christians should take one week out of the year and really live according to the rhythms of Holy Week. I think that we should all be in worship on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday--and not just the two Sundays on either end of Holy Week. If you miss the week in between, then you may have missed the impact of Easter.
This week, we will have communion and foot/handwashing on Thursday at the PSC at 5:30p and a community Good Friday service at First Presbyterian at noon. Hope to see you there!
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2 comments:
Great entry Andy! You know, it is true to say that we Christians often lose sight of the true scope of Holy Week, and we fail to realize what a emotional roller coaster ride it must have been for the disciples and the Christian community in general. To have your leader ride triumphantly into the spiritual capitol of your people at the beginning of the week, and then by the end of it to have that same leader killed must have been unreal.
It was quite funny when you said today that the UGA team's loss today flowed with the rhythm of this week, but in a way it was kind of true. The utter joy of witnessing history and having a new sense of hope for the future followed by the crushing reality of defeat was emotionally exhausting for myself, a person who lives and dies (foolishly) according to the results of my school's sports teams.
Good stuff!
Great entry Andy! You know, it is true to say that we Christians often lose sight of the true scope of Holy Week, and we fail to realize what a emotional roller coaster ride it must have been for the disciples and the Christian community in general. To have your leader ride triumphantly into the spiritual capitol of your people at the beginning of the week, and then by the end of it to have that same leader killed must have been unreal.
It was quite funny when you said today that the UGA team's loss today flowed with the rhythm of this week, but in a way it was kind of true. The utter joy of witnessing history and having a new sense of hope for the future followed by the crushing reality of defeat was emotionally exhausting for myself, a person who lives and dies (foolishly) according to the results of my school's sports teams.
Good stuff!
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