Holy Week: Walking with Jesus

Holy Week, and Maundy Thursday in particular, has always held a special place in my heart. The magnificence of the commemoration of the Last Supper, with the tenderness and humility of foot-washing; then the bareness of the altar, stripped and ready for Good Friday; the suddenness of the disciples’ desertion acted out by the congregation themselves as they depart in silence - it’s a drama that illuminates in technicolour the significance of the Eucharist.

The Easter Triduum, also known as the Paschal Triduum or the Three Great Days, is the most intense and significant point in the Christian year. We walk with Jesus for just over 72 hours, from Maundy Thursday evening to Easter Sunday morning, as he has a final meal with his followers, foretells his own death, is betrayed and executed, and then rises again. It is a time for emotionally deep reflection, of painful intimacy with Christ’s experience, in which we must face-to-face not only with Christ’s agony but also with our own need and vulnerability, a time when sorrow and rejoicing go hand in hand.

We are lucky at St Mary’s to have an abundance of services to guide us through Holy Week, not only from Maundy Thursday onwards, but from an earlier point, beginning this weekend on Palm Sunday and continuing with something special every day until Easter Sunday. I’m especially looking forward to singing compline with you at 8pm on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, and hearing homilies from members of our own congregation to get us in the right frame of mind for the Triduum itself.

I think it is important to experience Holy Week intensely. Whether you come to one service or many, I pray that in allowing ourselves this unique moment of closeness to Christ, we may find the meaning we need to illuminate the rest of the Christian year. Holy Week is a process of walking beside the bruised and battered Son of God as he goes to his death and then triumphs over death itself. It helps us to understand what it means to be his followers. It is our privilege and our joy.