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Next Friday, April 7, we’ll be observing Good Friday, as we did last year, with a Tenebrae service. It will begin at 7:15 pm, while it’s still light outside. There will be 13 candles on the altar, which we will extinguish one by one as we complete 13 readings. The service will end in darkness, as we exit by the light of a single candle remaining lit, a symbol of hope.
Tenebrae services can be held anytime during the Triduum — the Thursday, Friday and Saturday before Easter. It’s a Christian tradition of telling the story of the events that led up to the murder of Jesus on the cross, including the gory details.
As Unitarian Universalists, of course we adapt the script a bit. We tell the story of Jesus in seven parts, with secular stories in between. It’s a way of bearing witness to violence perpetrated throughout the ages to prop up oppressive systems and regimes.
It’s not a happy service, but it’s powerful. And it’s important work to do, bearing witness in this way without sugar coating. Hopefully, it’s the kind of work that challenges us to go deeper, to find the ways in which we have been perpetrators or passive observers who’ve done little or nothing while others suffered.
Last week, Johnnie Rodriguez sent me a link to a performance by Val Tutson, the Executive Director of Rhode Island Black storytellers. Ms. Tutson earned a Master's Degree from Brown University and performs all over New England. In this piece, which seems to be recorded from her home, she explores what Joseph of Arimathea might have been going through as the person responsible for burying Jesus.
You see, this particular Joseph was a quiet follower of Jesus — a secret disciple — even as he sat on the council that condemned him to death. The story that Ms. Tutson tells is a first-hand account of not doing enough to prevent a horror, then bearing witness to the event, and trying afterward to be of service.
That’s what Tenebrae is all about: telling stories of violence, so that we can pay attention to our own complacency and reflect on what we could have done differently, in order to hopefully do better in the future.
I hope you’ll join us for the Tenebrae service. It’s not an easy experience, but it’s moving and makes the celebration of Easter feel more promising. Even if you aren’t a believer in the resurrection, Tenebrae helps create a framework for the hope of new beginnings.
In Peace,
Rev Denis
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