Our Lenten journey has brought us to Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. In this final part of our journey, things shift. In our liturgies, we are invited to become more actively involved than usual. Today, and throughout the week, we engage in a process of remembering. The word “remember” is related to the word “member,” to belong to, to join in. When we “re-member,” we enter into an event or a story. We become part of it. On Palm Sunday, we re-member Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem by holding palms, singing a song of praise, and even joining in the procession. Some people re-member the story of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion by taking the parts of various people in the reading of the Gospel story, a departure from our usual pattern of a deacon reading the Gospel lesson for the day.
As we move through Holy Week, the pattern of re-membering continues. On Maundy Thursday, it is Jesus’ final meal with his disciples and his act of servanthood: footwashing. On Good Friday, the story of Jesus’ death on a wood cross and our own action of venerating the Cross. On Holy Saturday, in the afternoon, we will have a service of light and water. Children will be offered lighted candles, with the message that they are the light of Christ.
Why do we emphasize this re-membering in Holy Week? Because it is the most important week of the Church year. These are the events that are at the heart of our faith. Because, by becoming actively involved, we enter into the events. We become part of them and they become part of us.
I wish you a blessed Holy Week.
Deacon Sue Nebel
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