Liturgical Observance of Holy Week at the Chapel of the Cross

Van Quinn, Organist and Choirmaster

"...in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection..."

The Collect for Palm Sunday

The historical origins of Holy Week are obscure, but we do know from the first-hand reports of a 4^th century Spanish nun named Etheria (Egeria) that special liturgies were enacted throughout the week before Easter in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Processions, vigils, and masses took place at the traditional sites associated with the biblical accounts of the last week of Jesus' life, beginning with Palm Sunday. By the middle of the fifth century Palm Sunday and separate Good Friday services were held throughout Christendom. Over the centuries the special liturgies, dramatizations, and musical expressions of these essential mysteries of our faith evolved into the most profound and soulful known expressions of the human religious experience. The power of these liturgical observances lies in the theological depth and beauty of the realities themselves as well as in their inherently dramatic nature: conflicting theological realties impinging upon one another with the believer caught in the middle; colorful and compelling characters with whom to identify or repudiate; universal themes of truth in conflict with error, light with darkness, good with evil; universal experiences of betrayal, abandonment, injustice, compassion, redemptive suffering; the staggering concreteness of the once and for all event of God's redemption of the world through the passion and resurrection of his Son. There is much to quicken the imagination, boggle the mind, stir the soul, and create an existential crisis that requires the penitence, commitment, and active participation of the believer.

Our observance of Holy Week at the Chapel of the Cross encompasses much of the theological, liturgical, and musical richness of these ancient traditions of the Church. The realities of Holy Week constitute a single theological, liturgical, and spiritual whole. Every part informs and shapes the meaning of every other part, and the whole is infinitely more than the sum of these parts. To miss any of it is to have only part of the story and, accordingly, a truncated experience of the essential mysteries of our faith. Here follows a brief description of our services.

Palm Sunday (Palmarum, or "The Sunday of the Passion"). April 4

This Eucharistic liturgy is theologically complex and personally compelling because it casts the worshipper as a member of the crowd which both acclaims Jesus as the Messiah on Sunday and demands his death on Friday. The Liturgy of the Palms calls us to a week in which "we enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts whereby you have given us life and immortality." A gospel account of the first Palm Sunday is read, the palms are blessed, and the meaning of the event and its symbols is laid out in a prayer. The blessed palms are distributed while the traditional anthem "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest" is recited or sung by one of our choirs (at 9:00, 11:15, 5:15). Then follows a procession with palms during the singing of "All glory, laud, and honor," a hymn composed in the 9th century for the Procession of Palms. The mood of the liturgy changes dramatically with a reading from Isaiah, the recitation or singing of Psalm 22 ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"), and the reading of the great Christological hymn from St. Paul's Epistle to the Phillipians. In this passage St. Paul celebrates the divine kenosis (self-emptying) through which the Son of God takes the form of a servant and becomes obedient even to the point of death on a cross. The most dramatic part of the service (at 9:00 and 11:15) is the singing of the passion narrative from one of the Synoptic Gospels (Luke this year), by three soloists and the choir and congregation. The music is a very ancient plainsong (or Gregorian) chant "tone" reserved in church tradition only for the singing of the passion. In addition to active, prayerful listening to the Evangelist, Christus, and the tenor who sings the parts of all the other actors in the drama, the congregation sings the part of the crowd, stands reverently at the words "And when they came to the place called The Skull...," and maintains a moment of silence before the Evangelist launches into the harrowing account of the aftermath of Jesus' death. After the Passion Gospel the congregation sings "Ah, Holy Jesus, how hast thou offended," a meditation in which the believer acknowledges that the whole of Jesus life and mission was undertaken for him, yet he himself betrayed and crucified the Son of God.

Palm Sunday services are long, but the drama and beauty of the liturgy carries people through. An abbreviated version of the Passion narrative is sung at 9:00. The crosses in church and chapel are veiled in red as a kind of symbolic shroud.

Wednesday. April 7

Although it is not a liturgy, the "Bach's Lunch" noontime recital on the Wednesday of Holy Week will present a special spiritual opportunity this year. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's famous Stabat Mater will be sung by soprano Molly Quinn and counter-tenor Jonathan Hiam, accompanied by a string quartet and organ. One of the all time best-loved musical commentaries on the passion, this dramatic work recounts the passion from the standpoint of the Virgin Mary's experience. The rather emotional text is a Medieval "sequence" hymn and the musical setting is from the 18th century.

The Paschal Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Day)

This unified sequence of holy days begins at sundown on Thursday, and ends at sundown on Easter Sunday.

The word "Paschal" is derived from the Hebrew word for Passover but also has long-associations with the Greek and Latin words for suffering. The liturgies of the Triduum focus on the Eucharist as the Lord's Passover meal, on the redemptive death of Jesus which makes possible the new life of faith, on the sacrament of baptism through we are incorporated into the death and resurrection of Jesus and made members of his Body, and on the historical resurrection of Jesus - the new Passover, the "spring of souls today" as Christ "bursts his prison."

Maundy Thursday. April 8.

The power of this beautiful service lies in the layering of conflicting realities that impinge dramatically on one another. The church is at its most beautiful with white hangings, flowers, and veils on the crosses. The Gloria in excelsis is sung in honor of the institution of the Eucharist during Jesus' last supper (a Passover seder meal with his disciples). The first striking departure from the familiar reality of the Eucharistic liturgy is the ritual in which clergy and congregation reenact that stunning moment when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, embodying his new commandment of love, a unique Johannine departure from the Synoptic view of the Last Supper as the first Eucharist.The word "Maundy" is derived from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the traditional chants which accompany the foot washing ritual (Mandatum novum, "A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you.") At the conclusion of the traditional plainsong chants the choir sings 20th century composer Maurice Duruflé's motet based on the plainsong hymn Ubi caritas: "Where charity and love are, there is God." After the Eucharist there is a systematic stripping of the altar and removal of all liturgical and decorative items form the chancel by members of the altar guild and clergy. This signifies the stripping of Christ before his crucifixion and the separation of Christ from his members, ie. the church. This is carried out in silence with deep reverence as the lights in the church are slowly dimmed to near darkness. After the rector has veiled the altar cross in black, the choir and congregation leave the church in silence. Many people remain to pray until the church is closed at 11:00 p.m., a way of honoring the ancient tradition of an all-night vigil before Good Friday.

Good Friday. (April 10)

"The Three Hours," a service lasting from 12:00 noon until 3:00 p.m., the approximate time Jesus spent on the cross, has long been a tradition. The proper liturgy for Good Friday, however, only lasts about one hour and cannot be spread over the three hour period without losing its structure and diminishing its spiritual impact.

We have settled into a pattern of three one-hour services which can be experienced individually but, taken together, provide a sweeping and comprehensive context for watching with Our Lord in his passion. The first hour follows the rite for Morning Prayer and includes a sermon. The second hour involves a less linear and discursive approach, with expanded use of music. This year we will again alternate scriptural and other readings with pieces of music for choir, soloists, and organ, along with an expanded role for silence. The third hour follows the prayer book liturgy, and contains elements that Etheria would recognize. Powerful readings set the stage for a participatory reading of the passion narrative from the Gospel of John. The worshipper encounters a different side of Jesus than that presented in the Synoptics on Palm Sunday. The Johannine Jesus is eternal and pre-exists this world. In his omniscience he knows that he has come from above and will return to his father. He is not a victim at the expense of others. He lays down his life and knows with certainty that he will take it up again. While there is, of course, a fierce struggle against the forces of darkness and deep pathos in this passion, there is no element of suspense. Jesus has already conquered the world, and in the words of the hymn Vexilla Regis, "God is reigning from the tree." After a set of very powerful prayers (The Solemn Collects) and Anthems, a wooden cross is carried into the church while the choir sings the ancient words of the Trisagion in alternate Greek and Latin phrases: "Holy God, holy and immortal, have mercy upon us." The Pange ligua ("Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle"), one of only two hymns mentioned by name in the Book of Common Prayer. After the final prayer the bell tolls 33 times, after which the congregation leaves the barren church in silence.

"The Stations of the Cross", which will be observed on Good Friday evening tells the story of God's redemptive acts on behalf of fallen humanity as they unfold in the last hours of Jesus' life. There are two principal characters in this drama, Jesus and hismother, as well as a number of minor figures. The first scene is the court of Pontius Pilate where the crowd chooses Barrabas and Jesus is condemned to death. Jesus then takes up his cross and begins the painful journey to Calvary. Along the way he meets his mother, has his cross taken up by Simon of Cyrene, has his faced wiped by Veronica, comforts the women of Jerusalem who are keeping watch with him, and falls three times. Arriving at Calvary Jesus is stripped of his clothes and nailed to the cross. Jesus dies upon the cross, is taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb. The fourteen "stations" are based on both biblical and non-biblical traditions. The service reenacts the traditional stops along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem and Rome.

Holy Saturday April 11

A very simple service of scriptural readings and prayers in which the congregation "rests" for a moment with Jesus as he rests in the tomb.

The Great Vigil of Easter. April 11

Truly the "mother of all vigils" the Easter Vigil begins after dark on Holy Saturday. The new fire is lit outside the west door of the church and the Paschal candle, one of our most important Easter symbols, used throughout the year at baptisms and funerals, is lit. A solemn procession into the darkened church is punctuated three times at ever higher pitch: "The Light of Christ! Thanks be to God." When the procession reaches the east end of the church the candles of choir and congregation are lighted from the Paschal candle. Then a cantor (usually our rector) sings the Exultet, an exalted 4th century proclamation of the mysteries of this holy night. As is the case throughout this particular service, the Passover and Exodus themes provided the theological context for both Easter and Baptism. "This is the night" - Exodus, Baptism, Resurrection. Then follows the Vigil, a series of Old Testament readings, Psalms, and Canticles recounting the creation of the world, the great flood, the deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea, and various prophecies, all of which set the stage for the drama of redemption, consummated on this holy night. There follows a homily and a procession to the Baptismal Font. The Easter Vigil was the preferred time for Baptism in antiquity and baptisms are always performed at the Chapel of the Cross. If there are no candidates for baptism, the congregation would still renew its baptismal vows. After the baptismal procession the altar candles are lighted from the Paschal Candle. The priests, now vested for the Eucharist, proclaim the Lord's resurrection: "Alleluia! Christ is risen." Then follows the Gloria in excelsis and a somewhat abbreviated Eucharistic liturgy. In the splendor of the Easter Vigil one can understand why Easter was known in the Church as "the Feast of feasts."

Easter Day. April 11

While the services on Easter Day are jam-packed with exuberant worshippers and are thrilling to the very bottom of your heart, it is the content of the familiar liturgy which makes it special. There are no unusual liturgical elements in the services of Easter Day. The sound of the trumpets, the great hymns, exalted music from the choirs, powerful preaching all give expression to the inexpressible joy of the Resurrection. While all the services are virtually identical in most particulars there are some differences worth noting. The 7:30 service has organ music and hymns. At 9:00 the plain wooden cross carried into the church on Good Friday is bedecked with spring flowers brought to the front of the nave by the parish's children during the opening procession. At 11:15 the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah is sung during the return of the Gospel Procession. There are trumpets at both 9:00 and 11:15. The 5:15 service takes as its Gospel the Lukan account of the Resurrected Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The 9:30 p.m. service of Compline, although it technically falls outside the Triduum (since it takes place after sundown) will close the day with appropriate Gregorian chants and motets.

The Great Fifty Days of Easter

Although it is another story, it should be noted that the celebration of Easter extends through the celebration ofFeast of the Ascension up to the Day of Pentecost. Easter themes continue in the lessons, preaching, and music, and the Paschal Candles is lighted at all services. In fact, every Sunday is, theologically speaking, a little Easter.

May your heart "burn within you" as you live into the power of Jesus' Resurrection throughout your life.