I've spent the past two days pondering the road I walked this year to Easter. For the first time, I'm not planning my life around a work schedule, so I took this opportunity to plan my life around the Holy Week services at my church. I attended and read at the "Journey to the Cross" service on Wednesday. I participated in the Maundy Thursday service. Good Friday found me at the "Stations of the Cross" service at noon and then back to church at 7pm that evening for Tenebrae, a service of readings and music. As that service ended, the altar was stripped bare, all the candles were extinguished and the congregation left in darkness and silence. Saturday night I returned for the 8pm Easter Vigil. Again with stories and sung liturgy we were moved through the Easter story. Then with great fanfare....trumpets and glorious music by the choir... the altar was redressed, the candles were lit, the lights came up, we were blessed by sacred incense and purified by sprinkled Holy Water. Easter arrived....Alleluia! We then celebrated with champagne and treats in the Parish Hall. More than once during this week of stories and song, I was moved to tears at the tenderness and passion of the journey to the Cross. More than once, I was touched by light moving into darkness and back into the Light once again. For the first time in my faith life, I felt both the pain and the joy of Easter. I'm thankful for the unique combinations of events that made this walk to Easter possible.
The photo is of a drawing done by a parishoner of St.Timothy's altar, cross and bricks.
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