Holy Week

Holy Week is here, and I'm finding myself strangely envious of my liturgical friends, who seem to know how to handle sacred time a lot better than I do. I stayed with an Anglican while I was in Boston, and learned enough in casual conversation to realize that my ignorance in these matters is vast. You should have seen how shocked he was that some of us celebrate Communion on Good Friday, for instance. You just don't do that in the Anglican church. Next year, I want to observe Lent. For now, I'm going to try to live through Good Friday and Saturday without rushing headlong to Easter Sunday. Sometimes, in my circles, we inject too much hope into Good Friday, and fail to experience it on its own terms. We're so focused on the resurrection that we never really experience the death that comes first. I'm learning, but I still wouldn't mind being more liturgical, at least now and at Advent.

Comments

[Brian Mullins]

Did you say "Advent"? Isn't that a brand of speakers?

[ed]

I know we have talked about this already, but something else I though of early in the morning. Isn't communion more about Good Friday than Easter? Jesus point was that by celebrating it we proclaimed his death & suffering. What better time to celebrate it? Here's my thoughts... I agree for all of us stuck in one or another tradition we'd all benefit from experiencing the others', if for nothing else, to discover things we might have missed or even taken for granted. I think that's your point anyway. But although, yes, we could learn from each other I don't think one way is necessarily "better" than the other, several of my Anglican friends from school used to wish they had a little more hope on Good Friday and not so much somberness. Go figure... I think maybe what's missing is a real connection between the two services. We, regardless of our tradition, do one service on Friday morning, which usually gets our second best in terms of preparation and attendance. And then, typically, we do a big ooplah on Easter, where too much of the attention is on getting out on time to make sure the Easter roast doesn't burn in the oven. (okay, being a little fecicious.) The answer? I don't know. Too much baggage associated with these two services, I think. As Sandy says, "my two cents rubbing together."

[Darryl]

Ed, you're probably right that non-liturgical traditions and liturgical traditions can learn from one another. But here's the thing: we're liturgical. It's just that our "liturgy" is newer, and probably a lot less sophisticated and rich. I don't want to say that one tradition is better than the other, but it's hard to argue with the fact that the ancient liturgies are probably better at points. Case in point: if we don't connect Good Friday and Easter Sunday, that's a huge shortcoming in the way we do things! Even more so at Advent, when it feels more on the sentimental side. That's where I could really use liturgy.

[Ian]

ok for the benefit of us in the cheep seats .. what is liturgical?

[kevin]

Traditionally, Maundy Thursday would be the communion service. Tonight's service is a remembrance of The Last Supper, the night before his death.

[Darryl]

From the Wiki encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgy) From the Greek word λειτουργια, which can be transliterated as "leitourgia," meaning "the work of the people," a liturgy comprises a solemn religious ceremony, following a carefully prescribed formal ritual. The word is most commonly applied to the religious ceremonies of some Christian churches. In particular, the Catholic Mass is a liturgy. In this case, I'm referring to the Anglican liturgy.

[Ian]

merci .. i think i understand

[kevin]

Or, if Anglican doesn't mean anything, think Episcopalian. Methodist, Presbyetrian, and Lutheran churches are typically liturgical, as well, though not usually following as "high" a liturgy as the romans/anglicans/episopals.