So as a preparation for Holy Week, I thought I'd get out an old Newsletter article from 2011 and post it here.
Dear Friends,
We are in the midst of Lent, which means our eyes are set
toward Easter, and the blessed death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The Easter season is what we
live for as Christians, because we know that as Christ dies, our sinful selves
die with him. As Christ rises on the
third day, we too rise, holy and blameless for eternal life in heaven. What a blessed hope and promise God has given
to us.
To celebrate the blessings we receive in Easter, this year we
are going to celebrate the historic Triduum (pronounced Tri-doo-um). The Triduum is an historic service that has
been celebrated since the very early years of the church. It begins with Maundy Thursday with the
Institution of the Lord’s Supper and continues on Good Friday with Jesus’
suffering on the cross. Finally it ends
with the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening, as we boldly await the resurrection
of Jesus sometime early in the morning on Easter Sunday. Each of these services flows into the next
one, even though we may have a break from church inbetween them. Let’s look at each sub-service individually.
Maundy Thursday – Maundy (coming from the Latin word
for command, symbolizing Christ’s command to partake of the Lord’s Supper) is
the celebration of Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper. As we hear each communion Sunday, “on the
night He was betrayed,” Jesus gave us His very own body and blood to eat in,
with, and under the bread and the wine.
This service begins with Confession and Absolution after which the
Lord’s Supper is celebrated. Partaking
in the Lord’s Supper this holy day is a great gift, as we eat the body that
died and rose and drink the living blood that poured from Christ. After its completion, the altar is stripped,
reminding us how Christ will be stripped and humiliated so that our sins might
be forgiven. During the stripping of the
altar, Psalm 22 is read which gives us a picture of Christ’s death.
Tre Ore – Tre Ore is Latin for three hours –
but don’t worry, the service will not last that long! The words remind us of the time Christ hung
on the cross around noon – while the sun stopped shining. It is a great way to commemorate Christ’s
death on your behalf, by worshiping at the same time that Christ
suffered. It begins right where Maundy
Thursday left off. During the service,
we will read the seven last words of Christ from the cross and have a short
2 minute sermon on each one. The service
will hopefully last less than an hour, after which we will show the movie, “The
Passion of the Christ”, in its entirety in the Immanuel Parish Hall.
Tenebrae – Tenebrae is Latin for darkness. This service begins again right where the Tre
Ore left off. It reminds us that as
Christ lies dead in the tomb, the “Light of the world” has been taken from us
by death for a little while. It involves
reading the passion account from John’s Gospel, while candles are extinguished
one by one. This allows us to hear the
entire scriptural account of the death of Jesus for us and our sin.
Easter Vigil – The Easter Vigil is the most
ancient of all of these services, one that was practiced in Jerusalem at the
very tomb of Christ for many years. (If
you are interested in more background information on that practice, talk to Pastor). The vigil service came about as people
gathered in churches the night before Easter to celebrate the resurrection. We don’t know exactly when Christ was raised, so the people gathered the night
before so they wouldn’t miss the moment!
We will gather outside the sanctuary in Immanuel’s Parish Hall, and walk
in with candles in darkness (the darkness of the Tenebrae service.) We will then speak for the first time the Easter
Greeting – Christ is Risen! As the service continues, lights are gradually
turned on to signify the resurrection of Christ, the Light of the World.
During the service, we will hear various Scripture readings
recounting the history of sinful men, all culminating with Jesus’ sacrifice for
sin so that we might once again be God’s holy children.
The Easter Vigil was the day when most ancient baptisms took
place, so during the vigil we will remember our own baptism. We will also participate in the Lord’s Supper
with Easter joy, knowing that while we worship, Christ is raised from the dead,
and so too will we be.
These services may be new to us, but they are ancient and
familiar to the church. They are a great
heritage that we celebrate to remember the Passion of our Lord with Word and song. You are all invited to participate, and we
will also invite our brothers and sisters in Christ from our circuit to
participate if they wish. There is much
more information about these services than can fit in this section, so I have
designed the bulletins to try and teach why we are doing what we are
doing. If you have more questions, let
me know: I am always happy to answer them!
