Palm Sunday to Easter 2022 at Grace Church


In the Grace Church community we continue our return to in-person worship services even as we offer live stream of as many services as possible. This year we will observe Holy Week with services of both kinds. Our worship schedule is shown below. We hope you will join us, either in person or via live stream, for these services.

The Holy Week journey begins with the Palm Sunday service, which opens with the rejoicing of the entry into Jerusalem and ends in silence as we contemplate what is to come. The remainder of the week is focused on the Passion of Jesus. The three days before Easter beginning with Maundy Thursday and including Good Friday and Holy Saturday are sometimes referred to as the Easter Triduum. Other usage for the Easter Triduum reckons the days from the evening of Maundy Thursday through the evening of Easter Day. The term may also indicate any three-day period of preparation for a feast. The period of preparation concludes with the glory of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. (episcopalchurch.org)

In addition to the worship schedule, examples of liturgy, music, and literature pertaining to each day of Holy Week are found below. These are offered in the hope they might be of use in preparation for Easter Sunday.


Mary Ann Ruehling
Your Editor
*************************
Please Join Us for Worship During this Holy Season

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday –April 10th
  • Holy Eucharist, contemplative
  • 8:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary
  • Sunday Cool
  • 9:30 a.m. via Zoom
  • No Adult Forum
  • On break until the fall
  • Holy Eucharist
  • 10:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary & live streamed
  • Procession of the Palms before the service. Please arrive 10-15 minutes before the servicer if you wish to participate.
  • Coffee Hour
  • Following the 10:30 service
  • Childcare available 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Maundy Thursday – April 14th
  • Holy Eucharist – 7:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary & live streamed
  • Childcare available

Good Friday – April 15th
  • Solemn Liturgy – 7:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary & live streamed
  • Childcare available

Holy Saturday – April 16th at Christ Church, Georgetown, 31st and O Streets NW
  • The Great Vigil of Easter – 8:00 p.m. in person

The Sunday of the Resurrection: Easter Day – April 17th
  • Holy Eucharist, contemplative
  • 8:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary
  • Sunday Cool
  • 9:30 a.m. via Zoom
  • No Adult Forum
  • On break until the fall
  • Holy Eucharist
  • 10:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary & live streamed
  • Coffee Hour
  • following the 10:30 service
  • Childcare available 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
*************************
Meditations for Holy Week
Palm Sunday

The Donkey

When fishes flew and forests walked
   And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
   Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
   And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody
   On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
   Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
   I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
   One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
   And palms before my feet.
Source: The Collected Poems of G. K. Chesterton (Dodd Mead & Company, 1927

In this poem by G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), the donkey comments on his undignified appearance and his less-than-pleasant voice, which lead to a lack of respect from others. In the last stanza, he reveals his glorious secret--that it had been his privilege to bear Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
*************************
On Holy Monday, Jesus cursed the fig tree, cleansed the temple, and responded to questioning of his authority. (Mark 11:12-25)

Mark uses the cursing of the barren fig tree to bracket and comment on his story of the Jewish temple: Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem when Jesus curses a fig tree because it bears no fruit; in Jerusalem he drives the money-changers from the temple; and the next morning the disciples find that the fig tree has withered and died, with the implied message that the temple is cursed and will wither because, like the fig tree, it failed to produce the fruit of righteousness. The episode concludes with a discourse on the power of prayer, leading some scholars to interpret this, rather than the eschatological aspect, as its primary motif, but in Mark 13:28 Jesus again uses the image of the fig tree to make plain that Jerusalem will fall and the Jewish nation be brought to an end before their generation passes away. (Wikipedia)
Cursing of the Fig Tree (Byzantine Icon)

*************************

Tuesday of Holy Week


The Collect:
O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer)
The Memorial Cross in the Grace Church Garden
*************************

Wednesday of Holy Week

In Christianity, Holy Wednesday commemorates the Bargain of Judas by a clandestine spy among the disciples. It is also called Spy Wednesday or Good Wednesday in Western Christianity, and Great and Holy Wednesday in Eastern Christianity. In Western Christianity many churches of various denominations observe the tenebrae service on Holy Wednesday. (Wikipedia)

Gospel for Wednesday of Holy Week (Revised Common Lectionary)
John 13:21-32

At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples-- the one whom Jesus loved-- was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do." Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival"; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once."
"The Kiss of Judas" (ca. 1304-1306) by Giotto di Bondone (d. 1337)

*************************

Maundy Thursday

The term Maundy Thursday is believed to be derived from the Vulgate’s (Latin Bible's) translation of the words of Jesus on this Thursday:

"Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos ut et vos diligatis invicem. in hoc cognoscent omnes quia mei discipuli estis si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem.”

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34–35)

Thursday in Holy Week is part of the Triduum, or three holy days before Easter. The service is based on John 13:34. The ceremony of washing feet was also referred to as “the Maundy.” Maundy Thursday celebrations commemorate the institution of the eucharist by Jesus “on the night he was betrayed.” Egeria, a fourth-century pilgrim to Jerusalem, describes elaborate celebrations and observances in that city on Maundy Thursday. Special celebration of the institution of the eucharist on Maundy Thursday is attested by the Council of Hippo in 381. The Prayer Book liturgy for Maundy Thursday provides for celebration of the eucharist and a ceremony of the washing of feet which follows the gospel and homily. There is also provision for the consecration of the bread and wine for administering Holy Communion from the reserved sacrament on Good Friday. Following this, the altar is stripped and all decorative furnishings are removed from the church. (episcopalchurch.org)

Maundy Thursday
Charles Mercier (French, 1832-1909)
*************************


Good Friday
Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) was born in London and began to write poetry when she was a young girl. Her influences were as diverse as the many poetic forms in which she wrote: sonnets, ballads, narrative poems, lyrics, even Christmas carols ("In the Bleak Midwinter" to name but the most famous). Rossetti died in 1894 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery in north London.

"Good Friday" was published in Christina Rossetti’s 1866 collection The Prince’s
Progress and Other Poems. The poem is about Rossetti’s struggle to feel close to Christ and the teachings of Christianity, and to weep for the sacrifice he made.

Rossetti regrets the fact that when she stands and looks up at a depiction of Jesus Christ being crucified, the sight does not move her to tears, unlike the women revered in the Christian tradition who mourned Christ’s death, and St. Peter, one of Christ’s Apostles, who wept "bitterly" over Jesus’ sacrifice. Even one of the two thieves between whom Jesus was executed was moved by his sacrifice.

The sun and the moon also seem to have been affected by the Crucifixion, since they both disappeared from view as if in mourning, and the sky turned dark in mid-afternoon when Jesus died. No, Rossetti says, it is only she who is not moved by it, but she wishes she were. Rossetti thus concludes "Good Friday’: by entreating Jesus Christ to continue to try to reach her with the power of his sacrifice, likening him to a shepherd who needs to find her, one of his lost sheep.

Rossetti ends by alluding to the story of Moses, the Old Testament figure who led the Jews out of Egypt and to Israel. According to the Book of Numbers, "Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also" (20:11). Since Christ is greater than Moses, Rossetti argues, if he smites a rock, it will be of such power that Rossetti will be converted and overcome by the power of Christianity. (Dr. Oliver Tearle, interestingliterature.com, 2016)
*************************

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday is the Saturday after Good Friday, which recalls the day when the crucified Christ visited among the dead while his body lay in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. In the Episcopal Church there is no eucharist on Holy Saturday. The Book of Common Prayer provides a simple liturgy of the word with collect and readings for the Holy Saturday service. In the ancient church, those preparing for baptism and perhaps others continued the fast they began on Good Friday. Holy Saturday ends at sunset. Fasting and other preparations end at sunset or with the Easter Vigil, which begins the celebration of Easter.

The Easter Vigil is the liturgy intended as the first (and arguably, the primary) celebration of Easter in the Book of Common Prayer (pp. 284-95). It is also known as the Great Vigil. The service begins in darkness, sometime between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter, and consists of four parts: The Service of Light (kindling of new fire, lighting the Paschal candle, the Exsultet); The Service of Lessons (readings from the Hebrew Scriptures interspersed with psalms, canticles, and prayers); Christian Initiation (Holy Baptism) or the Renewal of Baptismal Vows; and the Eucharist. Through this liturgy, the Book of Common Prayer recovers an ancient practice of keeping the Easter feast. Believers would gather in the hours of darkness ending at dawn on Easter to hear scripture and offer prayer. This night-long service of prayerful watching anticipated the baptisms that would come at first light and the Easter Eucharist. Easter was the primary baptismal occasion for the early church to the practical exclusion of all others. This practice linked the meanings of Christ's dying and rising to the understanding of baptism. (episcopalchurch.org)
A Celebration of Saints at the Easter Vigil
Br. Michael O'Neil McGrath, OSFS (Oblate of St. Francis de Sales) (contemporary)

*************************

Easter Sunday
The Feast of the Resurrection
Altar of Grace Church

*************************
WEEKLY SCHEDULE AS OF APRIL 2022

Sundays

Holy Eucharist with Contemplative Music--8:30 am

Sunday Cool--9:30 am, via Zoom

Adult Forum--9:35 am, via Zoom (On hiatus until fall)

Holy Eucharist with Music--10:30 am

Both Sunday morning services are held in-person in the church. The 10:30 am service is also available via livestream.  Details are available in the Sunday emails and on the website at www.gracedc.org.

10:15 am: (Last Sunday of the month) Prayers for the Nation and the World, with Remembrance of the Fallen; in-person at the Memorial Cross
 
Tuesdays 
12:15 pm: Centering Prayer;  Links to Zoom and the Order of Service are in the Tuesday morning emails.

Wednesdays
7:00 pm: Evening Prayer with Sermon Discussion; Links to Zoom and the Order of Service are in the Wednesday morning emails.

Saturdays:
11:30 am: Grace's Table (in-person)
*************************
Parking for Church Services
Grace Church now has ample parking available in nearby lots. Details are found at the link on the website: Click here for details about parking at Grace Church.