Hi everyone, on behalf of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church I want to wish you all a deeply meaningful Holy Week and Easter!
For many of us Lent has been a challenging experience, in a way that has been unique to each individual. For us at St. Andrew’s it has all been about taking measure of our impact on the earth, in our daily lives with people, and in feeling God close as we made decisions living out our ethical beliefs.
I heard some pretty moving things through these 40 days and nights. A decision to research clothing companies before making a purchase, to see whether it exploits people to for profit. An examination of the textile industry and justice issues. The idea of not just recycling but trying to completely eliminate the use of packaging in how we buy food and other products. Sustainability and our impact on the earth, how our eating choices, mass production and monoculture are a far greater cause of the degradation of the environment than what people usually focus on. Eating ethically.
We examined how we impact our relationships with an intention toward mindfulness. How profoundly we can be a healing and positive presence to others. Accepting people as they are instead of how we think they should be, and starting from there with compassion. Stepping over the things that separate us in our relationships and choosing to go to those we are separated from. Seeing how simple, thoughtful and kind words profoundly affect how someone feels about their day, or themselves.
We spent time looking at the things many of us do, and have been doing for years and appreciating volunteerism as a way of life that matters so much, whether we only affect one person, or countless numbers of people. We looked at how some of the greatest people on our planet were affected by the simple words and choices of someone, shaping them into what they are now.
We haven’t just been thinking about things. Each person in his or her own way brought forward these thoughts and lived them. As we prepare ourselves to enter into Holy Week, we are going to see how Jesus did exactly the same thing. The choices he made about how he wanted to show up in this world, his ethics, compassion, his impact. The whole point of having faith is to recognize that we were each created to do good in this world.
Holy Week and Easter is our time to let ourselves be moved by what Jesus sense of that was. It is my hope that we will emerge from Easter knowing not only that our own path has become so mindful of our impact on the earth and on one another, but that we are both affirmed in knowing we are surrounded by billions of people finding their own way to do the same thing.
Holy Week worship schedule:
Palm Sunday 9am traditional service followed by 10:30am contemporary service
Maundy Thursday 7pm celebration of the Last Supper, and the stripping of the altar
Good Friday 10am Tenebrae (7 candles and the 7 last words of Christ)
Easter Sunday 9am traditional service followed by 10:30am Holy Eucharist