Holy Monday, 2014
14/04/14 05:15
Our corner of the church isn’t real big on recognizing Holy Monday as a holiday. It isn’t common for Protestant congregations to have worship services on Holy Monday. In the Roman Catholic Church, the reading for the mass is John 12:12-19, a kind of reprise of Palm Sunday. John’s report of the day is short and reminds readers of the raising of Lazarus. It also speaks to Jesus’ popularity as arising from that event. In Eastern Orthodox congregations, Holy Monday is sometimes referred to as Great Monday or even Great and Holy Monday. In their calendar it is the third day of Holy Week, which begins on the Saturday before Palm Sunday with the readings of Lazarus’ raising. In churches that follow Byzantine Rite, the Gospel is the story of the fig tree that doesn’t produce fruit from Matthew 21:19-22. In some congregations the day begins with sunset the night before an an all night vigil focus on reminding the faithful of the judgment that will come to those who do not bring forth the fruits of repentance.
In some Eastern Christian churches, all four gospels are read during the first three days of holy week, with the first half of Matthew read at the third hour on Monday, the second half of Matthew read at the sixth hour of Monday and the first half of Mark read at the ninth hour.
These practices date from the Middle ages and were less common in the earliest history of the Christian church.
The service that we have in our congregation today doesn’t arise from the holy Monday traditions of the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches, but rather from Protestant traditions. In the Protestant experience, emphasis was made on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. By the middle of the 20th century, these traditions had slipped slightly. Many Protestant congregations had only one mid-week service during Holy Week choosing Maundy Thursday or Good Friday as fit the schedule of the congregation. As time passed, attendance at midweek services ion Protestant congregations slipped. By the 1970’s attendance was low enough that many church leaders were afraid that church members would not be familiar with all of the events of Holy Week, going directly from Palm Sunday to Easter in their religious observances and missing the pain, grief, sorrow and anguish of the week. It was feared by some that emphasis on only the feast days and celebrations might decrease the fullness of spiritual experience for church members.
Some congregations, predominantly non-denominational ones, dropped the observance of Lent and Holy Week altogether, focusing their attention only on Easter.
Mainline Protestant congregations began to embrace the concept of Palm and Passion Sunday. The United Church of Christ Book of Worship produced in 1978 has both a liturgy of the Palms and a liturgy of the Passion. The two liturgies can be combined into a single service beginning with the Palm Sunday story and ending with a complete reading of the events of the last week of Jesus life from one of the Gospels. The Revised Common Lectionary reflects these liturgies, providing readings for both services in the usual three-year cycle. For many years our congregation observed this combined Palm and Passion Sunday service on Palm Sunday.
Last year, however, we decided to divide the two liturgies to increase the number of opportunities for people to worship and to allow for more special music and pageantry to reflect the Palm Sunday story and allow increased participation by children and youth in the service. It was natural for us, in our Holy Week schedule, to move the liturgy of the passion to Monday.
So this evening we will gather in our sanctuary for the reading of the story of the last week in Jesus life. This year we read from Matthew and we will have three voices to break up what might become monotonous if read by a single voice. Unlike Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Congregations, we will observe the Protestant tradition of wearing red stoles for the reading. The tradition of red or burgundy instead of purple comes from a focus away from the royal color of purple and the role of Jesus as sovereign and to turn attention to the suffering and pain that Jesus endured in the last week of his earthly life.
For me the service is a kind of preview of the week that is to come. We have two traditional services in Holy Week that employ the organ and the singing of hymns: the Liturgy of the Passion tonight and Maundy Thursday communion. The other services have different musical flavors with blues on Tuesday and jazz on Wednesday. Friday’s service is observed without music. And Saturday’s service, held in the evening is technically the first observance of Easter, following the tradition of beginning the new day with sunset that was common in Jesus time and common throughout many Jewish and Christian communities.
Holy Week provides two important foci for the faithful. The first is Sabbath observance. In our busy and hectic world, we often fail to give enough time to rest, reflection, prayer and the reading of Scripture. During Holy Week we make sure that these disciplines are observed daily as a gift of Sabbath quiet to our congregation. There is at least one hour each day that is offered for recreation and renewal. The second emphasis is upon connecting with loss, grief, sorrow and sadness. Each of us will face the death of loved ones. Each of us will one day need to face our own death. Practicing for these times can help us build the spiritual tools to face them with dignity and grace when our time comes. Of course there is no way to fully prepare for these once-in-a-lifetime experiences, but there re spiritual practices that can be nurtured through discipline and repetition. Each year Holy Week gives us the opportunity and challenge to practice our skills of facing death and grief.
The week can seem long with all of the services. It will demand endurance, another skill that is useful in this life. As we often say to grieving families, hard isn’t necessarily bad. Sometimes doing the hard things is the best thing that you can do.
The hard week ahead may indeed be one of the best investments we can make in the lives of the people of our congregation.
In some Eastern Christian churches, all four gospels are read during the first three days of holy week, with the first half of Matthew read at the third hour on Monday, the second half of Matthew read at the sixth hour of Monday and the first half of Mark read at the ninth hour.
These practices date from the Middle ages and were less common in the earliest history of the Christian church.
The service that we have in our congregation today doesn’t arise from the holy Monday traditions of the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches, but rather from Protestant traditions. In the Protestant experience, emphasis was made on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. By the middle of the 20th century, these traditions had slipped slightly. Many Protestant congregations had only one mid-week service during Holy Week choosing Maundy Thursday or Good Friday as fit the schedule of the congregation. As time passed, attendance at midweek services ion Protestant congregations slipped. By the 1970’s attendance was low enough that many church leaders were afraid that church members would not be familiar with all of the events of Holy Week, going directly from Palm Sunday to Easter in their religious observances and missing the pain, grief, sorrow and anguish of the week. It was feared by some that emphasis on only the feast days and celebrations might decrease the fullness of spiritual experience for church members.
Some congregations, predominantly non-denominational ones, dropped the observance of Lent and Holy Week altogether, focusing their attention only on Easter.
Mainline Protestant congregations began to embrace the concept of Palm and Passion Sunday. The United Church of Christ Book of Worship produced in 1978 has both a liturgy of the Palms and a liturgy of the Passion. The two liturgies can be combined into a single service beginning with the Palm Sunday story and ending with a complete reading of the events of the last week of Jesus life from one of the Gospels. The Revised Common Lectionary reflects these liturgies, providing readings for both services in the usual three-year cycle. For many years our congregation observed this combined Palm and Passion Sunday service on Palm Sunday.
Last year, however, we decided to divide the two liturgies to increase the number of opportunities for people to worship and to allow for more special music and pageantry to reflect the Palm Sunday story and allow increased participation by children and youth in the service. It was natural for us, in our Holy Week schedule, to move the liturgy of the passion to Monday.
So this evening we will gather in our sanctuary for the reading of the story of the last week in Jesus life. This year we read from Matthew and we will have three voices to break up what might become monotonous if read by a single voice. Unlike Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Congregations, we will observe the Protestant tradition of wearing red stoles for the reading. The tradition of red or burgundy instead of purple comes from a focus away from the royal color of purple and the role of Jesus as sovereign and to turn attention to the suffering and pain that Jesus endured in the last week of his earthly life.
For me the service is a kind of preview of the week that is to come. We have two traditional services in Holy Week that employ the organ and the singing of hymns: the Liturgy of the Passion tonight and Maundy Thursday communion. The other services have different musical flavors with blues on Tuesday and jazz on Wednesday. Friday’s service is observed without music. And Saturday’s service, held in the evening is technically the first observance of Easter, following the tradition of beginning the new day with sunset that was common in Jesus time and common throughout many Jewish and Christian communities.
Holy Week provides two important foci for the faithful. The first is Sabbath observance. In our busy and hectic world, we often fail to give enough time to rest, reflection, prayer and the reading of Scripture. During Holy Week we make sure that these disciplines are observed daily as a gift of Sabbath quiet to our congregation. There is at least one hour each day that is offered for recreation and renewal. The second emphasis is upon connecting with loss, grief, sorrow and sadness. Each of us will face the death of loved ones. Each of us will one day need to face our own death. Practicing for these times can help us build the spiritual tools to face them with dignity and grace when our time comes. Of course there is no way to fully prepare for these once-in-a-lifetime experiences, but there re spiritual practices that can be nurtured through discipline and repetition. Each year Holy Week gives us the opportunity and challenge to practice our skills of facing death and grief.
The week can seem long with all of the services. It will demand endurance, another skill that is useful in this life. As we often say to grieving families, hard isn’t necessarily bad. Sometimes doing the hard things is the best thing that you can do.
The hard week ahead may indeed be one of the best investments we can make in the lives of the people of our congregation.