It's time to step away from the color purple
and to enter Passiontide red days:
welcome to
Palm Sunday and Holy Week 2021
resources for families - and everyone
|
|
What we're wondering about:
What is Palm Sunday?
What is Holy Week?
|
|
 |
PALM SUNDAY - this Sunday
Jesus enters Jerusalem, riding on a donkey - in the words of the Old Testament, Zechariah 9:9: Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey. This is a sign that the Messiah has arrived!
Messiah (Hebrew) = Christ (Greek)
No wonder big crowds gather and honor Jesus by covering the dusty road with their cloaks and palm branches. They wave the branches, too, and shout: Hosanna! - which means "Save us!" and also has been translated as "Salvation is here! Praise God!".
At the temple, Jesus overturns the tables of the moneychangers. "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers!" he cries in anger. Blind and lame people come to him there, and he cures them.
Everyone is still shouting "Hosanna!". The chief priests and scribes are afraid of Jesus' power over the crowd. The priests tell Jesus, "Teacher, make the people be quiet!" - but Jesus replies, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” Hosanna!
|
|
|
|
"De Koning komt!" =
"The King comes!"
|
The story begins with Jesus' birth and follows his life. Does the story have an ending? No - it goes on always.
I wonder where you are in this story?
|
|
How to fold a palm (or a strip of paper) into the shape of a cross: |
|
Holy Week - Monday through Saturday
Monday and Tuesday: Jesus spends his days at the temple. So many lessons are taught. People are hungry for the words of Jesus! They get up early in the morning to meet him in the temple and listen. Jesus' teachings are recorded in Matthew 21–26:5, Mark 11:15–14:2, Luke 19:47–21:38, and John 12:12-50.
Not everyone loves this Teacher. Certain authorities (chief priests, scribes, and others) want Jesus to be killed. But they worry about the crowds, who enthusiastically surround Jesus always. How can they ambush Jesus? They need a sneaky spy.
Wednesday: AKA Spy Wednesday, referring to Judas, who decides to betray Jesus to the authorities on Thursday night, and receives money in exchange, 30 silver coins.
It's also sometimes called Silent Wednesday, because the Gospels don't offer any teachings or activities of Jesus for this day.
And it's also known as the Wednesday of Shadows, featuring the service of Tenebrae (which means "darkness, shadows"). Jesus endured the Shadows of Betrayal, Denial, Aloneness, Accusation, Suffering, Crucifixion, and Death.
At this service, 15 candles are lit, and 14 candles are blown out, one by one, after each appointed Psalm is read. The 15th and final candle - representing Jesus - is hidden. There's a loud BANG, signifying the earthquake when Jesus died, and fear and confusion, maybe even the awful sound of the big stone rolling to seal Jesus' tomb.
(We've jumped ahead of the story, but we know what is going to happen.)
The hidden candle is taken out of hiding and restored to its place, and by its light, everyone leaves, in silence. It is a ponderous time of mourning.
PS Some suggest that the bang (the strepitus) is a hope-filled reminder of something wonderful, that will happen on the Sunday of the Resurrection: the earthquake when an angel of the Lord rolled back the stone of Jesus' tomb, and sat on it! But meanwhile:
After supper and a hymn, Jesus and the disciples walk to the Garden of Gethsemene, on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus prays, the disciples fall asleep, and Judas slips away and comes back with soldiers, who arrest Jesus and take him to the High Priest.
Jesus' trial begins. Peter, who said he would never deny knowing his dear Teacher and friend, Jesus, does just that - three times! - and weeps. And then, with the crowing of the cock, it's Friday.
Good Friday: Jesus' trial is finished and he is sentenced to die. Jesus is taken outside the city, and crucified. He calls to his Father, and dies. The sky grows dark in the middle of the day, the earth shakes, rocks break, the curtain of the Temple is torn in two. Jesus' body is wrapped in a white cloth and placed in a tomb, with a huge rock blocking the entrance, and guards keep watch.
Holy Saturday: a silent and thoughtful day, the final day of Lent. It ends at sunset.
The Great Vigil of Easter (Saturday night): we move to the color white, from shadows to light! Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:18)
|
|
|
Holy Week in a Box!
(And also on Facebook!
|
|
This bundle of resources from last year (our first Covid-19 Easter) contains words of encouragement and lots
of wonderful links, including thoughtful Holy Week activities, a beautiful at-home Vigil, and more.
|
|
A great resource for family activities & crafts for the Triduum. They're brief but powerful (including a challenge to unplug from technology for a while on Good Friday & to reflect on how that feels!).
|
|
|
Click here to learn about this idea for Holy Week at home: “Reverse Advent Candles” is what they call it! There's one white candle each, for Monday through Maundy Thursday, and a purple one, if you'd like, for Good Friday. No candles are lit on Saturday, a quiet, mournful day. (Look forward to lighting them all at Easter!
|
|
|
|
The Paschal candle symbolizes the risen Christ. Create your own, with the symbols that make it special: the cross, alpha and omega, the year: 2021, and five "grains of spices" (often wax nails) that represent Jesus' wounds. Any other decorations - your choice - can be fancy or plain. The Paschal candle is blessed and lit at the Easter Vigil, and is also lit during the Easter season and at baptisms and funerals. Check out some other Paschal candle crafts in the Triduum link above!
|
|
|
|
Dear friends,
Be well, be safe. Love one another. Pray always! Remember the Right Reverend Barbara C Harris' favorite quote: "We are an Easter people in a Good Friday world."
- with prayers of peace and lots of love - Linda
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
