The Heart of the Liturgical Year

As we enter Holy Week this Sunday, I’d like to offer a couple of thoughts.

First, Holy Week is at the heart of the liturgical year. We have several services throughout the week, and each service is quite unique. On Palm Sunday, we gather on the grass for the blessing of palms, recalling Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem for his final week as we process into the church. Once inside, the tone shifts, and we begin to focus on the suffering of Jesus, which includes a dramatic reading of the passion narrative, this year from Luke. This is why Palm Sunday is often called “Passion Sunday” as well. As always, our worship culminates with the Eucharist, in which we retell the story of our redemption.

I’ll write more about the services of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil next Thursday, but, suffice to say, the unique liturgical moments in each service – whether the procession with palms on Palm Sunday, foot-washing on Maundy Thursday, walking the stations of the cross on Good Friday, or lighting the new fire at the Easter Vigil – draw us into the story of Christ’s passion and resurrection in special ways.

Second, please begin to pray about people in your lives whom you might invite to church on Easter Sunday. Even though our culture has become “post-Christian,” I suspect that many people might be open to coming to church on Easter Sunday. Ed Stetzer, who studies and writes prolifically on church dynamics, recently wrote, “In reality, the most effective evangelistic methodology right now is probably people bringing their friends to a church gathering.” What better day to bring people to church than Easter Sunday, the day on which we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death, and the dawn of the new creation!

In our cultural moment so full of confusion, cynicism, anger, and despair, it could be that some of our friends, neighbors, and coworkers might be open to coming to church. If they come, they just might find that God is real, that God loves them, and that God desires to transform them, and, through them, the world around them. The death and resurrection of Jesus change everything.

My hope and prayer for all of us is that, as we enter Holy Week yet again, we would experience something more of God’s power and God’s love, and that we might be opening to offering that power and love to those around us.

Peace,

Chris