Holy Week

In the Methodist religion, there's not much emphasis on Holy Week.  In fact, up until this year, I can't even remember our church having Holy Thursday and Good Friday services.  This year, however, our minister decided to change that.  To be honest, I wouldn't have gone to either one of them if it weren't for the fact that Jay's in the confirmation class and is required to go.

I'm really glad that I went.  First, it brought back a lot of memories of growing up and going to services at Our Lady of Lourdes in Elmira.  I remember Father McCabe strapping a robe around his waist and washing the feet of 12 parishioners during each Holy Thursday service.  I remember the 2PM Good Friday services and the sense of drama that they always had.  Drama and Catholicism don't usually go together as much of my recollection of growing up Catholic is how routine and orderly everything always was.  Finally, I remember going to confession on Holy Saturday.  I used to hate that, not because I had all these horrible sins that I needed to confess but because it just seemed so odd to go in that little "closet," shut the door behind you, slide open the grated window, run through your list, and then be told that they'd all go away in return for saying a couple Hail Mary's and Our Father's.  I was so happy when the Church decided to go to a service in which we were all absolved of our sins en masse.  If my memory serves me correctly, they started holding that service on the Wednesday of Holy Week.  For any of my siblings who might be reading this, that was the famous "Let us kneel - Let us stand" service that, while better than individual confession, seemed to go on forever.

Besides the memories, what I really liked about going to Holy Thursday and Good Friday services is that it reminded me of what really happens during Easter week.  As we were told during the Palm Sunday service last week, if you skip from Palm Sunday directly to Easter, you miss out on quite a bit.  That is so true.  I can't say I'd forgotten the readings about the Last Supper, the washing of the feet, Judas' betrayal, Peter's denial, the appearance before Pilate, and the crucifixion.  But, I hadn't heard them in a very long time.  It felt like I was hearing them for the first time.  There are so many emotions in those readings -- rejection, uncertainty, fear, anger, and pain.  In other words, there's a tremendous amount of humanity in the Holy Thursday and Good Friday services.  I don't remember sensing any of that before.  The 20-year break may have actually been a good thing.