This morning, (Friday) I had the joy of welcoming the pupils, staff and parents from West Dean School into St Andrews Church for a Palm Friday/Sunday service. The children and teachers processed to the church through the village waving palm branches and singing, following a wonderful pony taking on the role of the donkey. The service was full of songs, readings and prayers, and we blessed Easter Gardens and saw beautiful crosses some of the children had made. I also gave them a whistlestop tour of the events of Holy Week, and I’d like to share it with you too, because Holy Week is not just Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Day.
Palm Sunday – Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey and is greeted by cheering crowds waving palm branches and singing ‘Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’
Holy Monday – Jesus cleanses the temple. He over turns the money changers tables, and drives out the sellers of sacrificial animals. Not because what they were doing was wrong, it was required in Jewish law, no, because they were so intent on WHAT they did, they had forgotten WHO they were doing it for. ‘My Father’s house is a house of prayer’ said Jesus, remember that, remember WHO you are here to worship and make that your focus.
Holy Tuesday – Jesus spends the day teaching. Teaching his disciples, teaching the people, spreading the news of the coming Kingdom of God and trying to make them understand what was going to happen to him, and why.
Holy Wednesday – We don’t know much about what Jesus did, but Holy Wednesday is also known as Spy Wednesday, the day Judas went to the Jewish leaders and offered to betray Jesus. Offered to hand over the Messiah for money.
Maundy Thursday – At supper with his friends Jesus did three things. He took the role of a servant and washed the disciples’ feet. He gave us the New Commandment – ‘Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another’. And he broke bread and shared wine – ‘Do this in Remembrance of me’. At the service on Maundy Thursday we will be remembering the first ever Last Supper – ‘On the night before he died, which was this night’.
Good Friday – Jesus is crucified, he hands over the care of his mother to one of his disciples, he asks God to forgive the people, and then he breathes his last ‘It is finished’. He is taken down and placed in the tomb and as far as his disciples, the Jewish leaders, the Roman authorities and the people are concerned, that it is. It truly is finished.
Holy Saturday – Nothing happens. It can’t. It is the Jewish Sabbath. In the church it is a day of reflection and contemplation, a day spent in prayer.
Easter Day – Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Alleluia. The Greatest Day, the most important day in the year, the most important day in our history. Far from being finished, the story of Easter, the joy of the Glorious Resurrection, has only just begun for us and for the whole world.
This hasn’t been the usual kind of Ramble, and my summing up of Holy Week may seem a little simplistic, but I hope that it will inspire you next week to think about what happened, to reflect on what Jesus did, not just during Holy Week but for the three years he spent with us, as one of us, and to maybe join us on Easter Day as we joyfully shout ‘Jesus Christ is Risen Today. He is Risen Indeed. Alleluia’, and to then go out into the world renewed, refreshed, and inspired to be like Jesus, and to do as he did – To love one another, as he loves us.
Rev Sarah
Sunday 24th March – Palm Sunday
Holy Communion
10am
St Andrew’s, West Dean
Messy Church
4pm
East Dean Village Hall
Thursday 28th March – Maundy Thursday
Eucharist of the Last Supper
6.30pm @ St Andrews, West Dean
Rev Sarah Manouch
07468 854864 priestvalleyparish@gmail.com
Please note that I am part-time. My principal working days are Friday and Saturday as well as Sunday. I am not available on a Thursday