We call this week in our liturgical calendar "Holy Week."

I find myself reflecting on why we call it holy.

In the Jewish tradition at the beginning of the Passover Seder the youngest child asks the assembled family and friends around the Passover dinner table, "Why is tonight different from every other night?" Thus, begins the Passover dinner and the telling of the ancient Hebrew story of the escape from Egypt and the journey to the Land of Promise.

In a very real way, the night of the Passover dinner is no different from any other night. In a very real way the night of the Passover celebration is significantly different since it is a special time set aside for the Jewish people to remember an important part of their foundational story as a people. The night is ordinary in that it is like any other night, and the night is special because the ritual of the Passover points to the unique relationship and formative event in the relationship between God and the Hebrew people.

I believe that Holy Week is like that. We set aside a special time of remembrance to recollect and experience once again the events of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection. This week is no different than any other week. It is an ordinary week. The stores are open, people still go to work, the day to day busyness of our lives continues. It is a week like any other week. And, it is not like any other week. It becomes 'holy' because we set it aside to make special remembrances and liturgies to signify it as holy.

William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, once wrote, "The bread on the altar is holy, because all bread everywhere is holy. But the reason we know all bread everywhere is holy, is because we partake of the bread on the altar which is holy."

There is great insight in Archbishop Temple's statement. There is the recognition that holiness is to be found in the everyday and in the ordinary. Ordinary bread becomes for us the Bread of Life in the Eucharist. There is also the recognition that it is because we partake of the holiness of the Eucharist that we are able to see the divine at work in the world around us.

The same is true of Holy Week. We are invited into this ordinary week of work and school and shopping and at the same time invited into the holiness of the liturgies that we celebrate. Our participation in this week we call Holy enables us to see the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus in the world around us in the everyday and ordinary of our lives.

Why is this week different from any other week? It's not. It is an ordinary week.

Why is this week different from any other week? Because, it is. It is a special time that we set aside to recognize the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus and the passion, death and resurrection in our own lives and in the world around us. It is a time when we take special note of the holiness in us and in our world. By setting aside this time and marking it as holy, it gives us insight into the holiness of our everyday.

I pray for you all a blessed Holy Week and glorious Easter.

Canon Kate+

Maundy Thursday, April 18 - 6:30 pm

Good Friday, April 19 - 12 noon

Easter Sunday, April 22, - 7:30 am and 9:30 am