A different sort of Holy Week

We will certainly remember this Lent. For how much we have given up, how much we are protecting, for how many we have lost. Our experience of Holy Week, with its pattern of services, usually follows Christ’s journey on the way to the Crucifixion and the bright reality of the Easter resurrection. This year will feel very different. Though we know that we are all privileged to stay at home in order to protect the vulnerable in our communities, it is jarring to think that we will not be able to mark this journey in person in church. 

Two weeks ago, we closed the doors of St Mary’s and opened the gates of communal life online. And while we cannot go to church, we are adapting, listening more, and seeing our friends and loved ones more often. Our daily pattern now revolves around online prayer and social interaction, around trying to reach members of our community and close ranks around them, making sure no one is alone and isolated. We are suffusing the fabric of our lives with the sacred round of prayer and worship, keeping our community alive through prayer. This week we will offer a series of podcasts to mark Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. There will also be Morning Prayer at 9am and Compline at 8pm from Monday to Friday.  

Not without trepidation, I welcomed this new way of praying and being together. Occasionally, it is challenging and hard - I sometimes fail to balance it all. But it does allow me to practice my faith in unexpected settings and I am challenged again and again to be quiet and reflective. And in a way, it brings me closer to the people I care about, precisely because it challenges the set rhythms of our social interaction. I will remember this Holy Week for not being able to go to St Mary’s and enjoy the quiet of the chancel on Good Friday. But I will also remember how we prayed together on Zoom and how I felt more connected to our community than even before.

Ana-Maria Niculcea

Communications, Learning and Outreach Officer