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Good Friday
Apr. 6th, 2007 03:33 pmWhen Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself." Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself. (Matthew, 27:3-5)
Saint Judas
by James Wright
When I went out to kill myself, I caught
A pack of hoodlums beating up a man.
Running to spare his suffering, I forgot
My name, my number, how my day began,
How soldiers milled around the garden stone
And sang amusing songs; how all that day
Their javelins measured crowds; how I alone
Bargained the proper coins, and slipped away.
Banished from heaven, I found this victim beaten,
Stripped, kneed, and left to cry. Dropping my rope
Aside, I ran, ignored the uniforms:
Then I remembered bread my flesh had eaten,
The kiss that ate my flesh. Flayed without hope,
I held the man for nothing in my arms.
Saint Judas
by James Wright
When I went out to kill myself, I caught
A pack of hoodlums beating up a man.
Running to spare his suffering, I forgot
My name, my number, how my day began,
How soldiers milled around the garden stone
And sang amusing songs; how all that day
Their javelins measured crowds; how I alone
Bargained the proper coins, and slipped away.
Banished from heaven, I found this victim beaten,
Stripped, kneed, and left to cry. Dropping my rope
Aside, I ran, ignored the uniforms:
Then I remembered bread my flesh had eaten,
The kiss that ate my flesh. Flayed without hope,
I held the man for nothing in my arms.
This Is My Commandment
Apr. 5th, 2007 09:32 pmToday is Maundy Thursday, the first of the Triduum, the Great Three Days before Easter. For our Jewish brethren it is Passover; for Christians, it is the anniversary of the Last Supper. 'Maundy' is derived from the Latin word 'mandatum,' meaning commandment, and it refers to the command our Lord gave us during the meal:
"I give you a new commandment, that you 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.
and again:
"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:9-12.
"I give you a new commandment, that you 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.
and again:
"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:9-12.
Well, yesterday was Maundy Thursday, the first day of the Great Three Days before Easter. "Maundy" is a corruption of the latin word for Command; on Maundy Thursday we celebrate the Last Supper, at which Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and commanded them to love one another. The service (at St. Mark's, anyway,) consists of scripture, footwashing, Communion, and the stripping of the altar.
Today is Good Friday, the day Our Lord was crucified. We have two choices of worship today: Stations of the Cross at noon, or Tenebrae (the Service of Shadows) in the evening. I like Tenebrae, myself. ( Read more... )
Tommorrow is Easter Vigil. It's the least important of the Great Three Days (a lot of churches who do Maundy Thursday and Good Friday don't do the Vigil). It's not as fun. It's based on the fact that the Jewish day begins at sundown the day before, so Christ was raised Saturday night. The world just didn't know it until Sunday morning. Anyway, the service starts after dark, and there's candlelight, and a procession, and chanting, and scripture reading, and sometimes a baptism. It's kind of long and boring.
BTW, if you're confused by the fact that there were three days between the Death and Resurrection, but there's only two between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? It has to do with the fact that the Jewish day does begin at sundown the day before, and by the time the formal cycle of feasts was being set up the church had progressed far enough from its Jewish roots that nobody knew that and they got confused.
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seldear has a great commentary on Easter from the Sunday Morning Herald (It's down at the bottom of the page). It's only five paragraphs long, and it has meaning for both sacred and secular, so check it out. Here's the text by itself on Seldear's page
Today is Good Friday, the day Our Lord was crucified. We have two choices of worship today: Stations of the Cross at noon, or Tenebrae (the Service of Shadows) in the evening. I like Tenebrae, myself. ( Read more... )
Tommorrow is Easter Vigil. It's the least important of the Great Three Days (a lot of churches who do Maundy Thursday and Good Friday don't do the Vigil). It's not as fun. It's based on the fact that the Jewish day begins at sundown the day before, so Christ was raised Saturday night. The world just didn't know it until Sunday morning. Anyway, the service starts after dark, and there's candlelight, and a procession, and chanting, and scripture reading, and sometimes a baptism. It's kind of long and boring.
BTW, if you're confused by the fact that there were three days between the Death and Resurrection, but there's only two between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? It has to do with the fact that the Jewish day does begin at sundown the day before, and by the time the formal cycle of feasts was being set up the church had progressed far enough from its Jewish roots that nobody knew that and they got confused.
And
seldear has a great commentary on Easter from the Sunday Morning Herald (It's down at the bottom of the page). It's only five paragraphs long, and it has meaning for both sacred and secular, so check it out. Here's the text by itself on Seldear's pagePalm Sunday/Passion Sunday
Apr. 9th, 2006 10:01 pmThose of you from non-liturgical backgrounds might not know that today is Palm Sunday, which (in the Lutheran church, at least,) is also the Sunday of the Passion. I think the Catholics might break that up into two sundays, but I could be wrong.
This means we have two gospels. The first is the Palm Sunday gospel sometimes read in a processional: Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, with crowds singing Hosanas and lining his path with palm fronds and cloaks. The second Gospel reading is the entire Passion narrative, i.e. everything from the Last Supper through the Crucifixion. In my home congregation, we read it as kind of a dramatic presentation, with verses to the Gospel Hymn interspersed to break it up. This year, the lectionary is taken from the Gospel of Mark, the most concise of the Gospels. And we take out the sermon to make room. Still, it's a long service when you put in the whole Passion narrative. For those of us who go to all the Holy Week services, as I do, it means we hear everything twice: the Last Supper on Maundy Tursday, and the Crucifixion on Good Friday.
Anyway, there's a really cool poem by Robert Cording, called ( The Man Running Naked into the Dark )
It was written in 2004. I'm not that big on most modern poetry, and I don't tend to like free verse, and this poem is both. I heard it during Chapel my senior year at Luther College and fell in love with it.
This means we have two gospels. The first is the Palm Sunday gospel sometimes read in a processional: Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, with crowds singing Hosanas and lining his path with palm fronds and cloaks. The second Gospel reading is the entire Passion narrative, i.e. everything from the Last Supper through the Crucifixion. In my home congregation, we read it as kind of a dramatic presentation, with verses to the Gospel Hymn interspersed to break it up. This year, the lectionary is taken from the Gospel of Mark, the most concise of the Gospels. And we take out the sermon to make room. Still, it's a long service when you put in the whole Passion narrative. For those of us who go to all the Holy Week services, as I do, it means we hear everything twice: the Last Supper on Maundy Tursday, and the Crucifixion on Good Friday.
Anyway, there's a really cool poem by Robert Cording, called ( The Man Running Naked into the Dark )
It was written in 2004. I'm not that big on most modern poetry, and I don't tend to like free verse, and this poem is both. I heard it during Chapel my senior year at Luther College and fell in love with it.
