Today we enter the Great Three Days or Triduum of Holy Week - Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. They all look toward and anticipate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday as did all of history up to that point.
Liturgy is an interesting thing. By the Spirit of God, we encapsulate in time a moment that happened some two thousand years ago. And as we remember that moment by faith, its power and presence - the presence of Christ in that moment and in the here and now - are made real to us. So it will be when we celebrate and remember Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper at our Maundy Thursday service, tonight at 7pm. (Please don’t forget we’ll be meeting at White Rock Fellowship, 6800 Town N Dr, Dallas, TX 75231.)
Similarly, Good Friday’s noonday service of Meditations on the Stations of the Cross are more than sentimental recall. By faith we watch and pray with Jesus as he bears the cross for us, those who abandoned him and shouted “Crucify him!” a few short days before.
And while we won’t have any services on Holy Saturday, I invite you to observe the day with quiet, resting, and reflection if possible. This Collect for Holy Saturday sums up the attitude of the day well as well as anticipates the joy of Easter:
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Remember, friends, the Easter joy we’ll share on Sunday is but a foretaste of the jubilant kingdom our God is bringing both now in faint whispers and one day in fullness as our risen Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
Until then our worship will be by faith, but one day by sight.
Jay+