EASTER

Another Lent, Holy Week, and Easter have come to an end, although technically Easter is celebrated for 50 days. It's always a struggle to get everything done in time. I find it difficult to observe the season, especially Holy Week and Easter Day. It's not just that there is a lot to do, but you're always preparing things out of sync with the day. Easter services are planned early in Lent and the Easter Day sermons written during Holy Week. So while everyone is supposed to be contemplating the death of Jesus, my mind has already got to be working on the meaning of the Lord's resurrection. I am never quite in the moment.

The only exception is the early morning Easter Vigil that starts at 7 a.m. and runs for almost 2 hours. Most people who attend the Vigil know what to expect, but one year some people complained that it was "excessive." They never came to another Vigil. The Vigil is the ancient Easter celebration in which people stayed up all night preparing for Easter. It was the occasion also for Baptisms. The heart of the service are the series of lessons including Creation, The Flood, Exodus, Valley of Dry Bones, and the Burning Fiery Furnace. We do a vigil fairly unlike any other. Instead of psalms and canticles between the lessons, we sing hymns and songs. Some are very traditional–"Morning has Broken" after the Creation, "Eternal Father" after the flood. The spiritual "When Israel was in Egypt's Land" follows the Exodus. The strangest one is "Dry Bones" after the "Valley of the Dry Bones" (The head bone's connected to the neck bone.) And we sing "Trees of the Field" while we dance (well, walk) around the church. I wrote a new version of the "Song of the Three Young Men" for the last song. It uses the early American tune, "Holy Manna." I'll try to post a copy of it at the end of this blog. Click it to make it larger. I wrote a musical setting, but don't have a way to post a midi-file for it.

I've long wanted to have pictures projected on a screen during the Creation reading, but we don't have the equipment to do this, and I am not sure I have the technical skills to do it. Besides, I have a certain unease with technology in church. I really have to get beyond this, but some years ago I attended a worship service where the minister read the lessons (rather pompously) from some sort of hand-held electronic device. I loathed it. Then I read the following.

Experience the Passion of Christ — in 140-character bursts.

In a marriage of Christian tradition and digital technology, Wall Street's Trinity Church is using the micro-blogging service Twitter to perform the story of Jesus Christ. The main characters will tweet the Passion play for three hours beginning at noon on Good Friday. The feed also can be delivered to mobile devices or e-mail addresses.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090410/ap_on_hi_te/rel_twitter_passion_play

I don't know. I suppose I would have been against the use of printed Bibles instead of handwritten ones.

Well, whatever means you get the Word, may the Good News of Christ Risen give you joy and peace. May the Lord bless you on your journey and welcome you on your arrival.

Wayne












































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