Holy Week, Easter 2015 Recap – Relive the Entire Week!

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Have you been gathered in beloved community?
Have you known the dark night of the soul?
Have you ever been lost?
Have you ever been found?
Have you been set ablaze by the Light of Christ?17082133405_ba8b7072d1_z

 

If you have answered yes, then you have discovered the Paschal Mystery. Christ’s death and resurrection, what we call the Paschal Mystery, is the heart of Christianity, and it is the life-saving center of our own lives and stories. It is indeed a mystery how the love of Christ, made known to us on the cross, and the transforming power of God, revealed in the resurrection, saves us, but we know that they do. Christ’s Paschal Mystery finds us in the darkness of our human life, gathers us in beloved community, and makes us, once again, a new creation.

17081378041_d13db78a1e_zDuring Holy Week we experienced the life-saving mysteries of Christ’s death and resurrection anew. The services of Holy Week are the most meaningful and life-changing services of the year for many. During Holy Week, we not only remembered Christ’s saving acts for us, but we entered into the Paschal Mystery. We participated in the very acts of Christ’s passion, so that on Easter we could become God’s Resurrection people, agents of God’s transforming love to this broken world.

Click the links below to relive, through photos, the magic of Holy Week.

Palm Sunday The first day of Holy Week and the last Sunday in Lent, is known as Palm Sunday or the Sunday of the Passion.  On this morning, we journeyed with Jesus, celebrating his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and entered into the life-saving mystery of his death on the cross with the Passion reading.  Click here for photos.

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Maundy Thursday We gathered in beloved community to break bread and share Christ’s servant ministry. We gathered as Jesus did with his disciples on the night of the last supper, to carry out the commandment Jesus gave his disciples then: “love one another as I have loved you.” We did this by washing one another’s feet as servants to one another and by sharing a simple yet sacred meal of bread and wine as friends. Water. Grain. Grapes. Love. This is the stuff of salvation.  Click here for photos.

Keep Watch with Jesus; Overnight Vigil On Maundy Thursday, the chapel was transformed into the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” On this night, we spent an hour in watch and prayerful meditation with Jesus Christ as we remembered his last night before the cross, spent praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. This overnight vigil began immediately following the Maundy Thursday

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service and concluded at the Noon Good Friday service. Coffee and tea were provided, as well as meditative music and other spiritual resources. “Could you not stay awake with me one hour?” This was truly a humbling and powerful Christian experience.

Good Friday On Good Friday we commemorated and participated in Christ’s suffering and death because we believe they have purpose—the salvation of the world. We believe that Christ’s death has conquered death, in all of its forms, once and for all: that is why we call the Friday on which he died “good.” When we have found ourselves on one of life’s many crosses, Christ, who suffers with us, has sustained us. We meet Christ on the cross, and we know that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. In baptism, we die with Christ on the cross, promising to surrender ourselves to God for the sake of our salvation, and to enter into the suffering of others for the sake of their salvation. We walked the way of the cross for salvation’s sake 

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The Great Vigil of Easter Fire. Light. Word. Water. Bread. Wine. These are the symbols that lead us from death to life with Christ in this ancient service, the most important service of the year. The service began with the kindling of a new fire – the light of Christ breaking into the darkness of 

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our world. And then we heard the story, our story, of salvation. We gathered on the patio around the fire as we shared our ancestral stories of how God has worked for our salvation since the beginning of time, and how we still participate in God’s ongoing story of salvation. We renewed our baptismal covenant as we committed ourselves anew to be people of Christ’s resurrection. And we celebrated that resurrection in the first Eucharist of Easter. This is the principle liturgy of the year gathered around the simplicity of a campfire at sunset. Click here for photos. 

17081271181_17e80f07e7_zEaster Sunday Alleluia! Christ has Risen! On Easter we celebrated the victory of Christ’s resurrection. Following the joyous services, we gathered for a champagne reception along with an Easter Egg Hunt for the children. Click here for photos.

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A message from Rev. Aimée:  “Thank you friends at All Saints-by-the-Sea for a transformational Holy Week and Easter. Thank you for showing up, going deep, touching pain, and bearing joy. Thank you for the many, many hearts and hands and bodies that helped make it all so meaningful. What a privilege to journey the Way with you.”