Our mission is to be a presence in Albuquerque,

where Jesus' unconditional Love is central to life.

for Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024

MAKE CENTRAL, CENTRAL TO LIFE

TENEBRAE, "THE SHADOWS," SERVICE - FRIDAY, 7:00 PM

On Good Friday we will gather to remember the Crucifixion of Christ in a service of Tenebrae, or “the shadows,” as we hear the Seven Last Words from the cross. These seven sayings, which range from pleas for forgiveness and reconciliation to cries of despair, remind us that Christ became fully human and, as such, was subject in his final moments to the great sufferings of humankind. Through the music of our Good Friday service, we will experience how this suffering continues to plague our human family when we do not care for each other as Christ commanded us to do. Moira Smiley’s piece “Refugee” was born out of her work with the forsaken in refugee camps- living beings desperately seeking shelter in a war-torn existence. “Famine Song,” documents the perseverance of those who experienced deep hunger, thirst, and emptiness in the wake of war-created famine in Sudan. Mark Miller’s “I Believe” is a setting of words that were found written on a wall by Jews in hiding during the Holocaust. We will hear mourning through the songs, arranged by Moses Hogan, of those who experienced the effects of slavery. We will also journey to hope through the words of Native American elder Steven Charleston, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska and citizen of the Choctaw Nation, whose writings will be used throughout the service as brief reflections on the Seven Last Words. 

As we travel into the shadows of Christ’s final hours on earth and reflect on how those shadows mirror our own historical and present moments of darkness, consider how we as people of faith might light candles against spiritual night. Can we resolve to move through the world with a renewed sense of compassion? Can we, as the great choir of witnesses, sing the darkness to light?

-Dr. Karen Marrolli

EASTER @ CENTRAL

Celebrate Easter with us!

8:30 and 11 a.m. services

in our Sanctuary.

The Central UMC Chancel Choir, directed by Dr. Karen Marrolli, and Q Brass, will lead our Easter music celebration.

Dr. Andy Stoker preaching the sermon,

"Come Unto Me."

MUSIC ON EASTER SUNDAY

In addition to music by Moses Hogan, Samuel Barber, Kyle Pederson, Moira Smiley, and Mark Miller, our Good Friday service features reflections by Native American elder Steven Charleston, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska and citizen of the Choctaw Nation. The inclusion of Rev. Charleston’s writings also helped to inspire the direction of the text of this year’s Easter Offertory, a new composition for choir and brass by Music Director Karen Marrolli. In his book The Four Vision Quests of Jesus, Rev. Charleston writes, “Native American Christian theology shifts the focus of [the Crucifixion] from individual salvation to communal redemption. It moves our attention away from the mantra that Jesus came to die so that ‘I’ might be forgiven and inherit eternal life. It opens up the vision that Jesus came to live as we live, all of ‘us,’ even the most marginalized, so that we might finally learn to love one another and live in harmony with creation as the tribe of the human beings.” As such, this new piece asks us to ponder how Christ’s death and resurrection should spur us to move forth in community with one another. 

Alleluia! The light returns,

Kindling all who in darkness have yearned.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Though the powers of death on this earth

Left Christ lost and entombed 

In grim exile, behold the rebirth!

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Alleluia! The dawn arrives,

Brightening all that the darkness disguised.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Though the powers of rage on this earth

Lust for fury and fear,

Let our lives proclaim mercy and mirth.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Jesus walked this road

So that we might see clearly

The path to each other,

To community:

No one left forsaken.

Alleluia! The morning appears,

Shattering hatred and drying all tears.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Though the powers of scorn on this earth

Hurl the outcast in shadow,

Our living will sing out their worth!

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Roll the stone away

Bring the resurrection

Of life with each other:

Shared humanity,

No one lost in longing.

Alleluia! The light returns,

Warming all who in winter have yearned.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Now the powers of death on this earth

Cannot reign through division

And darkness! Behold the rebirth!

Alleluia! Alleluia!