The Day After The Procession
What gives with the Monday of Holy Week?
I love the Palm/Passion service. We enter worship waving branches and palms. We leave in silence because the LORD has been silenced. He is crucified. The dramatic turn is palpable.
At least, that’s what we did at St. James the Less, Ashland Va. What did you do at your church? And what weekday services will you attend? Will you attend the Maundy Thursday service? If so, will there be a footwashing? How about Good Friday? Some places go all out on this service hosting prayer vigils and the like. Those vigils cary some communities through to The Great Vigil of Easter where we kick off a Resurrection party in many congregations. Here in Virginia, a sunrise service on Easter morning is not uncommon. Then there’s the main Sunday service itself. Easter Sunday.
So. Many. Liturgies.
Some communities will add other events during the week like a Wednesday Tenebre service. Or maybe a simple meal on Tuesday.
But what of Monday? Is it the day of Holy Administrivia? Does it focus on the folding of bulletins or the editing of PowerPoint presentations? Are our musicians ready? What are y’all up to? And what are you doing if you aren’t involved in any of these ministries?
As a former pastor, I feel this distinct urge to Do The Things. “It’s Holy Week. I have a bunch of sermons to finish up.” But today, I am a hospice chaplain. I made some phone calls. I updated some charts. My scheduled visit got cancelled. Several of my patients passed over the weekend. So, it’s a little quiet over here. Hospice ministry is often like this…even when our schedules are filled. We sit and wait, often in the darkness. The vigil starts well before Friday night.
Today’s Franciscan Nugget: “Day Twenty Five - The Second Note - Love - Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35) Love is the distinguishing feature of all true disciples of Christ who wish to dedicate themselves to him as his servants.”
Here’s a little foreshadowing of Thursday’s liturgy. Mandatum, y’all. It’s not a suggestion. It’s not cajoling. It’s a command, from the very Word through which the cosmos was created. And yet, we hem and haw, we wonder and negotiate. We marginalize. We criticize. Why is love so damned hard?
Love one another. Don’t be an asshole (Thanks,
.). Yet, here I am being an asshole to someone with whom I am supposed to be in fellowship. There they are being an asshole to me. Love is patient, they say. Love is kind, they say. We know it when we see it, and we know when it is absent. The only recourse we have is to become more loving ourselves. We have to do our own work. It is impossible to make someone else more loving. We can only love more ourselves and hope that it catches on.But what if it doesn’t? That’s the cross. Be wary of false crosses, please. Steer clear of abusive situations and gaslighting. But that’s where God’s love unrequited leads…it leads to Golgotha.
Monday of Holy Week. What gives?
