Surrendering to the Season

I don't know why, but for some reason the impact of Easter has hit me more significantly this year than it has for the last few years. The journey of Holy Week has been a special one so far, starting with an ecumenical Palm Sunday celebration with the churches of Brunswick last Sunday morning.

One of the challenges of the Sunday before Easter is to decide whether to observe Palm Sunday (where the focus is on Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the donkey, with palms waving, hosannas all over the place, etc) or Passion Sunday (where the focus is on Jesus' passion/death). At Brunswick UC the tradition is usually to go for the Palm Sunday option (mainly because it fits in with the ecumenical celebration, I suppose).

However last Sunday evening, at Queen's Chapel was a different matter. Because we only have chapel during term time, and classes break for a fortnight over Easter, our last chapel service before Easter was a beautiful combination of many of the elements of the traditional Palm/Passion Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies, and concluded with the chapel being stripped of all ornamentation and black cloths placed over the communion table and ambo. (and we will celebrate the "Easter Day" on the first week back). This was an especially moving service, of scripture readings, poetry and music (including some luscious things for the choir to sing).

Then on Maundy Thursday, Brunswick had a rather lovely service of movement and communion, which involved footwashing, communion and finished with a meditation on the cross using music and liturgical dance (now I'm not usually overly into liturgical dance, but this was done very well, and was just right for the tone of the service ). At the end, there was this amazing physical juxtaposition of a large wooden cross in the sanctuary, with a crown of thorns hung on it, immediately underneath the illuminated stained glass window depicting the Last Supper, and above that, Jesus' trial. It was an amazingly potent image.

This morning we had our Good Friday worship, which took the form of a dramatic telling of the story of the last few days of Jesus' life through the eyes of three contemporary young people, supported by music and prayer, and great chunks of scripture (which made up most of the narration of the story). I had the privilege of being a part of this worship, as one of the story-teller/readers. The whole thing came together amazingly well, and many people commented on how powerful it was. There was a particular moment just after the trial scene, where all the actors and readers were standing still on stage, and some singers from the congregation sang the hymn "Were you there when they crucified my lord" . Each person sang one verse a cappella, and after they finished, moved to the front of the 'stage' area facing the congregation, so in the end there were the readers in a semi circle up on the stage, with the singers in the same formation at the bottom of the steps as they all joined in on the last verse together. (People were moved; I heard quite a few snuffles at this point)

So now, we have journeyed through the darkness of Jesus' death, and are still solemn, awaiting the good news of Easter Day. The church that one of my friends attends observes a traditional Easter Vigil on the Saturday night, and when he told me about it, I got rather excited, as it reminded me of a reading from my worship class last year, which described such a vigil. At the time I read it, I remembered being inspired, and wishing that I could experience such a vigil- so it looks as if my wish will come true tomorrow night.

Then of course, there will be the celebration of Easter morning at Brunswick, which I'm sure will be full of life, music and creativity. Then in the afternoon, the Easter march through the city (and then a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down, methinks! :-)

It's interesting that my experience of Easter this year is very different to my recent experience of Christmas. These are the two times of the year which are traditionally the busiest and most frantically full for ministers (and although at these times, ministers tend to encourage their congregations to take time out to contemplate the meaning of the season, there is little time for the minister to do this amid the busyness of preparing all the worship services and activities around this time. That is an irony that has not been lost on me).

I certainly experienced the busyness at Christmas, when I was working in my placement at Launceston North/Lilydale. However, right now, I am enjoying the luxury of being able to surrender myself completely to the Easter season and all that it means, enjoying the worship, without any of the stress of 'being the minister'.

I think it must be a case of 'enjoy it whilst it lasts' because this year (or possibly next year) will be the last time I'll be free to do that for a while, I suspect.