Holy
Week and Easter Resource Kit - 2001
Maundy
Thursday or Holy Thursday:
The
focus for this Holy Thursday is compassion.
Compassion: another way of saying this word is: COME-passion
Holy Thursday as it is referred to by the Catholic Church, or
Maundy Thursday as it is referred to by Protestant Churches,
is often seen as the beginning of Passion Week at least in terms
of the worshipping body. The full participation of the community
of faith in re-membering
the Passion of
Christ, often begins with a Seder Meal, taken from our Jewish
ancestry or a special Holy Thursday service. This can be a pivotal
point in the life of the worshiping community. It begins a
week which prepares the Christian Church for witnessing the
passion of Christ and prepares the individual Christian for a week
filled with compassion.
There are many
ways to create a meaningful presence on Holy Thursday.
A few suggestions follow:
· A Seder – There
are many resources available to follow a liturgy of the Seder
meal. One possible consideration is to invite a neighboring Rabbi
to work with you in the development and implementation of the
Seder.
· Silent
Communion –
Communion is a very reverent and meaningful Christian symbol for
most MCC churches and individuals. Because it is offered weekly,
as a part of our worship experience, illustrating the
consecration, invitation and distribution of the sacrament in
silence, with gestures, could be very powerful. If you think this
would be meaningful for your congregation, it would be important
to prepare people in advance for this experience by notifying the
church in the newsletter and or during Sunday announcements. It
might also facilitate a powerful and moving experience to have a
brief narrative of the sacrament included in the bulletin used for
this Holy (Maundy) Thursday service.
· Sign Language
Communion – Consider
asking someone to sign the words of institution, invitation and
distribution by inviting either a member of your church who signs
or a person from the community who knows Sign Language. This
silent communion could be a powerful presence for both the
hearing, hearing impaired and deaf in your service.
All printed parts of this service may be signed. It is
recommended that the bulletin or handout be placed at each seat
around the table so that people who are not familiar with sign
language may follow the script.
Place a large table/s in the sanctuary depending on number of
people you anticipate will be present for this service. Always
have more seats than expected and you might consider having an
"Empty Chair" which could represent Elijah if you are
having a Seder or Jesus if you are commemorating the Last Supper.
Music/Drama:
While people are gathering for the worship service ushers, church
leaders, and or the pastor might be dressed in regular street
clothes and an apron. If theater or drama is a gift of a member in
your church, other possible costuming could be worn to set the
stage for this commemorative meal.
Perhaps a solo flute or piano or classical music can be played in
the sanctuary as people gather for this worship experience.
Candles at the table will lend a warm, worshipful mood.
Once people have gathered around the table and are seated you can
begin the following readings.
Scripture
Reading
Matthew 15 vs. 32 to 38
And Jesus call his disciples to him and said, ' I have compassion
on the crowd because they've been with me now three days and have
nothing to be to and I am unwilling to send them away hungry lest
they faint on the way.' And the disciples said to him, 'Where will
we get bread enough in the desert to feed such a large crowd?' And
Jesus said to them, 'How many loaves have you?' and they said,
'Seven and a few small fish.' And commanding the crowd to sit down
on the ground, the he took the seven loaves and the fish, and
having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples,
and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and
were satisfied. And he took up seven baskets full of the broken
pieces left over from those who ate.
A reading from: Dear
HEART, COME Home
by Joyce Rupp.
Compassionate one
I sit with empty hands
wondering about the losses of my life.
I sit with empty hands
pondering the pain
of many goodbyes.
I sit with empty hands
searching for decisions
about difficult choices.
I sit with empty hands
facing the limitations
of my life.
I sit with empty hands
looking for my life
among the broken pieces.
I sit with empty hands
sifting through drains
that have disintegrated.
I sit with empty hands
feeling the ache and sorrow
of all my losses.
I sit with empty hands
yearning for the unfolding
of my true identity.
Compassionate One,
I sit with empty hands
trusting that your presence
embraces my pain,
shelters my vulnerability,
and gives meaning
to my countless dyings.
Communion
or Seder
Confession
All:
When we sit with empty hands, may we be reminded of the love and
the courage you set in motion as you shared the gift of a
common-union. Touch our hands that we may infuse the work of
our lives with the same love and courage. May we give when
receiving seems grander. May we love even beyond our widest
reach. May we forgive even in our deepest disappointments. May
we trust even within our greatest fear. We pray that this
communion time will be a teacher for us, reminding us, much like
Jesus at his last supper, that when our hands are empty from
giving our very lives, then we will be full.
Benediction
Let us go from here filled with compassion for our world.
COME- passion,
fill our hearts and let it be.
(As people leave
the sanctuary you might wish to hand them the reflection from
Joyce Rupp printed above, with the following suggestion: During
the rest of this Passion Week keep in prayer, something or someone
for which or whom you have deep passion. As you sit in prayer with
empty hands, may your heart be open.)
Good
Friday
The focus for this Good Friday is FORGIVENESS.
Forgiveness:
forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves.
Good Friday is in some ways the culmination of Passion Week. It is
the day that has been set aside by the Christian Church to
remember the death of Jesus on the cross. Some churches,
particularly the Roman Catholic Church, celebrate this day with a
reenactment of the “Stations of the Cross”. This is a
service of the Catholic Church that happens throughout the year
but has particular meaning on Good Friday.
Good Friday is a
day when a simple service helps us remember the death of Jesus and
prepares us for the resurrection which will happen Easter Sunday.
One
of the most striking Christian characteristics which occurs for us
in the crucifixion story happens when Jesus turns to the convicted
criminal hanging beside him on Mount Calvary and offers him
forgiveness. Later in the same Bible story Jesus says of those
persecuting him, “Forgive them for they know not what they
do.” Jesus teaches us that forgiveness is a gift. This act
of forgiveness is one of his last actions and one which prepared
him to move into new life; a gift he gave himself and a gift he
gives to us. Forgiveness is a path which helps to create the space
and make a way for us to move into new life.
There are many ways to create a meaningful worship experience on
Good Friday. One possible suggestion is to incorporate the
“Stations of the Cross” in their traditional format or perhaps
create them into contemporary understanding of the stages we move
through as human beings. You might want to call this
"Stations of our Lives."
There are 14 stations that make up the “Stations of the
Cross.” To create a contemporary understanding of the
suffering of Christ, and in developing the “Stations of our
Lives,” the following 14 readings can be read by different
members of the gathered community with each person standing
solemnly in their place among the congregation and reading their
particular selection. When they finish reading the selection, they
will take what is written on the paper and lay it at the foot of
the cross.
In order to include all of those gathered for this service, make
post cards inside envelopes and pens available to each
participant. During the service have each person write a person(s)
name, or themselves or someone who is particularly difficult to
love or even an experience which needs their forgiveness and have
a processional at the end of the service where people can lay
their forgiving notes lay at the foot of the cross.
As a general rule the sanctuary is stripped bare of all color,
flowers, etc., and often times the cross of the Church will be
draped. This serves to symbolize that Jesus is hidden from us as
Jesus enters the tomb.
The Readings
(14)
The Scripture Readings
1. Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to You,
O God.
Hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
If you O God should mark inequities,
God who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
I wait for God, my soul waits,
And in your word I hope;
My soul waits for God
More than watch people wait for the morning
O Israel, hope in God!
For with God there is steadfast love,
And with God is plenty of redemption.
And God will redeem Israel
From all of its inequities.
2. Colossians 3:
12 -16
Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion,
kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one
another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving
each other; as God has forgiven you, so also must you forgive.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together
in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your
hearts, to which indeed you are called.
Contemporary
Readings:
3.
e.e. cummings
no time ago
or else a life
walking in the dark
i met christ jesus
my heart flopped over
and lay still while he passed
as close as i am to you
yes
closer
made of nothing
except
loneliness
From the book: One
Day My Soul Just Opened Up
by Iyanla
Vanzant
A commentary on
forgiveness...
4. "The truth is, when you forgive, you are doing it for
yourself. As it relates to forgiveness, you must give up
what you do not want in order to make room for what you do want.
You must give up pain, anger, resentment, and fear in order to
experience goodness, joy, peace, and love. Offering another
that forgiveness they need strengthens the spiritual nature in
you."
5. "When you withhold forgiveness or love from anyone, for
any reason, it diminishes your awareness of the abundance of the
good in life. You are struck in so much old stuff, new stuff
has no way of getting to you. In essence, the good that you
withhold from others will be withheld from you."
6. "As long as you hold onto the belief that anyone on earth
can do anything to you, you will be unable to forgive.
People cannot change who you are and what you were born to be.
They can create obstacles in your path. They can do things
that make you believe you are other than what you are, but people
cannot change, alter, or in any way hinder the truth of your
being. The truth is you are divine."
7. "We cannot realize that there is always more to life than
we can see and that the truth is not always visible to the naked
eye. We mistake what we know for all there is. What we
do not realize is, we don't always know the whole story."
8. "Sometimes, we make the mistake of thinking that other
people have the power to control or alter our destiny. It is
our beliefs, mistaken and otherwise, that ultimately determine
what we will do or be in life, not another person."
9. "When you believe you know the whole story of why someone
did what they did and believes that if they had done anything
else, you would be different, it is time to forgive."
10. "If you don't like yourself, it is time to forgive."
11. "If there's anyone, anywhere on the planet you can
honestly say that you do not love, it is time to forgive."
12. "What I withhold from another will be withheld from
me."
13. "I forgive all! I release all! For
this, I am so grateful! To forgive is to be free."
14. A
Prayer for Healing
Healing God,
come to my hidden corners,
open the doors to my soul rooms
that are tightly locked.
Awaken in me.
Bring to life all my deadness.
Enthuse the depressed emotions.
Reenergize my inner weariness.
Bathe the grime of my ego-centeredness.
Clarify my confusions.
Fire my neglected loves.
Brush off my dusty dreams.
Nurture my spiritual hungers.
Ease my sore relationships.
Deepen my sense of self-esteem.
Stir of my connection with the world.
Tenderly gather in your arms
all that still needs healing,
all that remains wounded and wanting.
May I grow each day into greater wholeness
with a stronger, purer inner freedom.
--Joyce Rupp
Music
Benediction
Psalm 130
From The New
Century Hymnal page
709.
Please leave your
“forgiving notes” at
the foot of the cross and leave the Church in silence
Easter
Sunday Sunrise Service
The
focus for this Easter Sunday Sunrise Service is:
Mystery and
Wonder
To live and live again, after death, is a mystery and a wonder.
Easter
Sunday
culminates Passion Week. For many Christians Easter Sunday
is the highest holy day in the life of the Church. Easter
Sunday is a way all humankind learns again in a powerful way
about the dimensions of hope which can bring new meaning to life,
even life after death. Passion Week as we have experienced it this
year has brought us moments of compassion and forgiveness.
Reflecting on the life of Jesus today, we observe again, a mystery
and wonder. We have come to know as the life, the death and the
resurrection of Jesus the Risen Christ.
There are many ways to make Easter worship special and different:
For Easter Sunrise Service, consider meeting in a city park. Get
permission from the city officials for you to plant to tree. Have
a plaque made to honor someone in your Church who has died this
past year or for someone who is living whom you wish to honor. Have
each person who comes to the Sunrise Service bring a spring bulb
(be sure to have extras on hand for those who forget or for
visitors) and plant them around the tree.
While you are planting the tree and bulbs at the very beginning of
the service, you might consider singing the following song.
Music: Morning
Has Broken
Call to Worship
One: This morning God's love breaks through once
again.
Many: We have a moment now, to feel the warmth of God's
glory.
We pray new growth will burst forth.
One: This day we experience the compassion of
God in Jesus the Christ.
Many: We have today to sing for Joy and to experience our
passion, renewed.
One: This morning we are free because we have
forgiven
ourselves and others.
Many: We are forgiven and in forgiving, we are free.
One: This is the day that our God has
made,
All: We will be glad,
and rejoice in it!
Scripture
Readings
I Corinthians 15: 51-52
Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the
dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed.
The Gospel
John 19: 41-42
Now in the place where he was crucified there was the garden, and
in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. So
because of the Jewish Day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at
hand, they laid Jesus there.
Confession
ALL:
Thank you, God, for the gift of Jesus. Thank you God, for
the gift of my life. Thank you God for the gift of the lives
of those around me here in this place today. Thank you God
for this new day. Thank you God for your compassion.
Thank you God for your forgiveness. Thank you God for the
mystery and the wonder of life.
In our gratitude, we commend our lives to you this day, we ask as
we gather together in community with Christ, that we would
re-member your love, your kindness, your faithfulness and not take
them for granted.
Forgive us again, and let us receive your gift of common-union
knowing that we have been healed and blessed. AMEN!
Benediction
This is a new day! Go from this place knowing that you have
NEW LIFE!
Share your life!
Give your life!
Forgive, have compassion and let it be. AMEN
Rev. Judy Dahl,
UFMCC Director of Global Outreach
8704 Santa Monica Blvd., 2nd Floor
West Hollywood, CA 90069 USA
Phone: 1-310/360-8640 Fax: 1-310/360-8680
E-mail: UFMCCHQ@aol.com
Website:
http://www.ufmcc.com
