Telling the Whole Story

A lot of my friends are excited about Easter...

I'll admit, I'm excited too... But not just for Easter. I feel like we're forgetting something amid the plastic eggs, Jelly beans, and plush bunny rabbits.

We forget the real story.

A story not easily rendered in pastels on a greeting card.
A story of pain, betrayal, torture and surrender.

That's why I don't just go to church on Easter morning when everything is bright and happy and the tomb is empty.
And that is why I present to you Holy Week.... in four clips of the Liturgy.

I go to church on Maundy Thursday, when Jesus gives us the greatest gift of all-- His own Body... Before wailing in the garden and being taken to be tried.

 

I will watch as the altar, formerly draped with the purple of Lent, is stripped of all color and left bare.

 

 

 I will be in church the following night when we read the text of His Holy Passion, and remember everything He did to win us back from the Devil.

 

I will hear the symbolic closing of the tomb, and leave in blackness and silence, just like John and the Virgin Mary left the tomb 2,000 years ago.

 

 

 

I will be in church again on Saturday as we hold a wake over the tomb, reading the promises and begging for the Light of Christ to shine again.

 

I light my candle in the hope that Christ has overcome death, hell and the devil.... and will help me overcome.

 

Then,

I will return on Sunday, filled with joy, and we will pronounce,

 

"He is risen!

Alleluia, He is risen indeed!"

 





 

 

 I pray that all of you have a blessed Holy Week, and wonderful Easter!