Coming to worship on Palm/Passion Sunday (or Saturday) and not returning again until Easter Sunday morning is, to many of us, exactly like that world with only one verse. You can experience part of the story, but not all. The interesting thing is: this song grows richer and more profound with each additional verse.

Do you need Thursday’s verse? Its words include eat, drink, wash, love. This is the verse where love is not just an empty sentiment, but a real, tangible act of grace with washbasin and towel. Yes, everyone, young and old, is welcome to remove shoes and socks and have their feet washed. On this night we are reminded that our feet are dirty and our flesh is mortal. In the face of that reality, we wash and eat and live, that we might love one another as Christ has loved us. Many people appreciate the stark drama as this service ends with the stripping of the altar, the removal of all color from the chancel, and we leave in silence.

And Friday’s verse? Good Friday is the only time all year when we hear the Passion of Our Lord from John’s Gospel, proclaiming Jesus a triumphant king who reigns from the cross. It is the night when we pray the ancient Bidding Prayer and we widen the focus of our prayer concerns to embrace the entire world. The verse we sing this night invites us to come forward to reverence the cross, the emblem of God’s unfathomable compassion for this world. Have we enough time in our day to contemplate this tree of life and how we might share God’s compassion with the world?

But it is Saturday’s verse that really rocks! We begin outside around a bonfire, light our new Paschal candle for the first time, journey into the Parish Life Center for a family reunion. What does every family do at a reunion? Tell stories! And so, that is what we do, telling, not reading. Telling one another who we are, to whose family we belong, because our lives are full and busy and disorienting, and sometimes we lose our way, our identity. Come sing with us this night – the song of creation, of crossing the Red Sea, of watching lifeless bones dance again, the song of a furnace and three men and an angel. Come sing of water – of baptism. Come get wet, and hear one more story, the most amazing story of your entire life. And when we share the meal of the Lord's Supper this night, this one night of the year, we celebrate with sparkling, golden champagne. The service comes to an end, but, like many families, we want to share our joy, and we join one another at a reception in the Gathering Space.

Throughout Lent, we have been receiving clues that God promises to bring life out of death for all creatures. Return on Easter Sunday morning and hear about the very earth shaking for joy as this is accomplished! Sing “Alleluia” again! Revel in the beauty of the Easter garden! Drink in the sights and sounds and fragrance! And finish singing the glorious hymn, the rich, four-stanza hymn that you began on Maundy Thursday.

Deborah Heuer

• Maundy Thursday, April 13, 7:00 pm  Gather for foot washing, Holy Communion, and the stripping of the altar.  
  

• Good Friday, April 14, 7:00 pm  Return in silence and listen to the words Jesus spoke from the cross. Reverence the cross, giving thanks for God's great love for us and all of creation.  
  

• Easter Vigil, Saturday, April 15, 7:00 pm  Gather outside for the Easter Vigil as we light a new fire outside and the paschal candle leads us into the church. Celebrate baptism and Christ’s Easter victory. Stay after the Vigil to celebrate together the Resurrection with light refreshments in the Gathering Space.