Every year, I and three other guys go up canoeing into the Canadian Boundary Waters area (called Quetico Park). We have been going for nearly 30 years . . . canoeing, fishing, and camping. The stuff we bring is “stream-lined.” Which means as light as possible. We only do single portages, that is carrying our canoe and all our equipment in one trip across a portage.
So besides all our personal items (sleeping bag, clothes, etc.). We take [I show the items]:
cook-kit, water filter system, water storage container, first aid kit, pulleys for handing up the food pack, saw and more things. But having those things doesn’t make any sense . . . unless we have a container for them. [I show a large backpack with exterior frame. I start putting the stuff into it.] If it doesn’t fit into our backpack we don’t bring it.
Holy Week is a lot like a backpack. Holy Week is the “container” for all the events and rituals that we will be encountering. Throughout the year, there are different things that occur . . . a death, a meal, a baptism, etc. But finally we have a container to hold all the various items.
Holy Thursday, reminds us of how good it is to celebrate a meal with others. A meal brings closeness among people. On the night we are also commissioned to go serve one another, not just to look at our own needs, but to look at how we can serve. It is ritualized by the action of washing each other’s fee.
Good Friday and the Tenebrae service that night recall the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us by dyeing on the cross. We likewise are invited to look at what do with our pains, our hurts, our wounds. That is, we bring it to the cross and let the power of the God’s redemption flow through us.
Easter Vigil is the highpoint of the church year. In ancient time, it was believed that Jesus would return on the Easter Vigil. We ritualize the stories of history and the power of light being stronger than darkness. We also renew our faith commitments as we baptize and confirm two new members into our faith family.
Easter morning is of course the traditional day of resurrection. We encounter how God continues to break into our lives with hope and with the promise of a fresh start.
I like to think that this entire week is like the hands of God holding us in our woundedness and in our confusion. Come and join us this week at any or all of the liturgies. Ritualize and learn. Pray and be communion to each other. Let God hold your life.