Easter happened!

This coronavirus situation is carrying on longer than any of us initially thought.  No one expected it to last until Easter and now I'm wondering if we will even see Pentecost outside of a Zoom service.  But I think Eastertide is a particularly good time to reflect on the impact of our current circumstances and our responses.  The whole point of a season of resurrection is to remind us that death has done the absolute worst it can do and it still is not enough to overcome the power of God’s love.  As our Presiding Bishop observed, Easter happened whether Mary and the others saw the empty tomb or not.  Easter happened despite Pilate’s and the religious authorities’ best efforts to the contrary.  Easter not only happened, but the new life it promises continues to happen right now.  I mentioned in a previous video that I don't think there will be a return to a pre-coronavirus normal, and maybe there is a lot about that that we should gladly embrace, but that we will establish a new normal is as certain as the love of God itself.  I am certain about that, not only because of faith in God, but because of faith in the people of St. Andrew's.  Every single day, the responses of the people of this church - with your prayers and participation in worship, your efforts of staying in communication, your creative ways of continuing ministry, your pastoral heart - all reveal the power of God's love stronger than the power of death and the best efforts of a pandemic to diminish God's light in this world. Alleluia, Easter happened!  Easter is happening indeed, alleluia!

Marc

From the “Ivory Tower”

I would be willing to guess that many of you do not know where my office is at St. Andrew’s or that from this office I can see, via camera, what’s happening on Main Street.  I know who drives by, walks by, uses the mail box, and even wants to come into the church.  When we were just concerned with security, I could “buzz” you in when there was no receptionist at the Main Street Lobby desk.  Now, I can meet you at the door and receive or exchange items with you.

One of the interesting things since we have been in COVID-19 lock-down is that almost every person who passes the Main Street doors looks in as if to see if anything is going on inside.  Even dogs will look!  We who may be inside are hoping you are staying safe and enjoying your walks as you get some daily exercise.

The weeks before Holy Week and Easter were like a beehive around here.  The Holy Week booklet was put together, printed, and mailed.  Music was recorded.  The Good Friday Stations of the Cross was recorded.  Daily devotions (from Anne’s condo and Marc’s hotel room) and notifications were done, put together, and sent out.  Sunday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter services were put together. And even a few misty eyes were seen as we realized we would not be together for this holiest time of the year.  That day is hopefully coming soon!

So, should you be driving by or walking by, wave.  I just might see you from the ivory tower – the back half of the second story of the Youth House.  By the way, this Sunday, April 26, is Arbor Day – hug a couple of trees while you’re walking!

Bill Wilds

Holy Week and Easter online worship

Dear friends,

The holiest days of our Church year are upon us, and this year we will walk through them in new and different ways because of the pandemic.  This is a brief description of what you can expect when you join us online for worship:

Palm Sunday

The liturgy on this day begins with the blessing of the palms and typically includes the passion reading, with parishioners taking on roles in the narrative. The passion narrative actually belongs on Good Friday but is included on Palm Sunday for folks who might not attend other Holy Week services and thus would miss the story of the crucifixion.  Our Palm Sunday worship this year will focus on the first part of the liturgy:  the blessing of the palms and the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Our service will be live at 10:30 AM on Sunday, April 5.  Look for the link in your email on Sunday morning, and bring your palm!  (We are delivering palms to our homebound members and will have a cross set up at our River Road entrance on Friday, April 3, beginning at 10:00 AM so that you can come and pick up palms for your family.)

Maundy Thursday

On this night, the theme is sacrificial love.  We hear the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, and the service ends with the stripping of the altar.  Our online worship will end in silence, with pictures of our altar being stripped.

Good Friday

We have mailed to you a hard copy of the service of the Stations of the Cross so that you can follow along as we walk those stations at St. Andrew’s.  We will post the service at noon, the hour when Jesus was crucified.

Holy Saturday

Marc will lead us through this short and somber service.

Easter Sunday

This year our service will begin with two elements from the Great Vigil of Easter:  the lighting of the Paschal candle from newly kindled fire, and the story of God’s deliverance of Israel in Exodus.  We will renew our baptismal covenant and celebrate the glory of resurrection, replete with numerous Alleluias!  (Watch for the unpacking of the Alleluias from the wooden chest where the children stored them for us at the end of Lent.)  This service will also include the first round of your Easter Project videos!

Two additional ways you can celebrate Easter:

• Our flower cross will be in front of the church on River Road all day, on Easter.  Please come and add your flowers to it.
• Watch the Easter Sunday service at the National Cathedral by going to cathedral.org.

–Anne

Tridu-wha?

Following the spiritual roller coaster that is Palm Sunday (shouts of "hosanna!" as Jesus makes his "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem followed by a Passion narrative from one of the synoptic gospels), toward the end of the week we enter into a three-day period known as the Triduum (most common pronunciations are TRI-doo-um or TRI-dyoo-um, with a short i, though I have heard tri-dum and tri-DOO-um) - "tri" for "three," and "duum," related to the Latin word for "days": Maundy Thursday, from which comes Jesus' Eucharistic adaptation of a Passover meal and foot-washing; Good Friday's commemoration of Jesus' crucifixion; and The Great Vigil of Easter, often held on Saturday evening or very early Easter Sunday morning, which, except for the Eucharist, is an entirely different service than we experience on Resurrection Sunday.

For those who are familiar with the three services of Holy Week, or at the least Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, you might notice that neither of those services conclude with any kind of dismissal; they just end with the ministers leaving in silence (often on Maundy Thursday with the stripping of the altar - a very powerful moment to allow that stark silence to stand on its own).  This is because the Triduum actually is one service, walking through the entire paschal event in sequence.  For reasons of modern life, however, we have come to observe each of the three parts of the service across three days because to do all three in one sitting would take anywhere from four to six hours, maybe even longer depending on just how elaborate you make the Vigil!  These days, fewer and fewer people are observing even Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, much less the Vigil, in their churches.  Not sure how many (if any) people would show up if we proposed to offer the entire Triduum service(s) all at once!

Still, especially with circumstances as they are this year, we invite you into a Triduum experience, maybe deeper than usual, by joining together online, walking through the Prayer Book (pp 274-295) and adapting what you can for home use (or finding other resources our Episcopal tradition offers), or even developing your own practices that bring the Triduum fully to life in a new way (we'd love to hear what you come up with!).  Regardless of circumstances and adapted practices, all Triduum blessings be with you!

-Marc

The St. Andrew’s Easter Project - Please submit your video by Wednesday, April 8!

Background

This Easter, we will hear the story of Jesus’ resurrection as told in John’s gospel.  Easter is the high holy day of Christianity, the day that gives everything else and all of our lives meaning.  Most years we celebrate Easter together in worship, with glorious music, exquisite flowers, a (hopefully!) rousing sermon, and shared Eucharist.  This year, our lived Easter experience will actually be much closer to that of Mary Magdalene, who was alone when she met the resurrected Jesus.  So let’s take this opportunity to engage deeply with the Easter story from our new vantage point of social distancing.  What insights do we gain about the meaning of Easter when we encounter it in a more personal, individual way?

What is the St. Andrew’s Easter Project?

The St. Andrew’s Easter Project will be a collection of videos filmed by parishioners in which they share reflections about John’s Easter story.  It will be a way for us to hear from one another about what Jesus’ resurrection means in our lives right now.

Who can participate?

Anyone and everyone. Your video can be of just you yourself; or of your family all together sharing their reflections. You can be 5 years old or 95 years old. If you have a smartphone or laptop with filming capacity but don’t know how to make a video, we have folks who can talk you through the process. If you don’t have access to video technology, we can find someone to interview you by phone and record your reflections that way.  We can work together to ensure that everyone who wants to participate is included.

How do I prepare to make my video?

Read John 20:1-18.  Read it again.  And probably again.

Think and pray about these questions:

• What part of the story resonates the most for you right now?  Why?
• Where and how have you encountered the risen Lord?

Plan what you want to say to answer those two questions. Your video should be no more than 3-5 minutes long.

How do I submit my video?

If you took your video on your computer: 

Start an email to be sent to  standrew@standrewsepiscopalchurch.net. Then click on the paperclip to attach a video. (When you choose your video, it will probably tell you that it is too large and it's sending it as a google drive link.  That is fine.) Once the file is attached, simply send the email.

If you took your video on your phone:

More than likely you'll need to save your video to Google drive and send it that way.  Here’s how: 

Click on the video, then the share button, and then on the Google drive symbol. 

Once the video has been saved to google drive, start an email to be sent to  standrew@standrewsepiscopalchurch.net. Then click on the paperclip to attach and choose “insert from drive.”  Once the file is attached, simply send the email.

If you have any questions or concerns, email our Easter Project technology person, Raven Cadena, raven.cadena@gmail.com