Holy Week And Easter | bethstedman.com

Archive for the ‘Holy Week and Easter’ Category

Holy Saturday

March 22nd, 2008

Here is a prayer for Holy Saturday from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. It struck me this morning and has become my prayer for the day.

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.

May you eagerly wait with God today for the coming resurrection and new life of tomorrow.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

Photograph by Beth Stedman

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Good Friday

March 21st, 2008

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

Photograph by Beth Stedman

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Solemn Reproaches of the Cross

March 21st, 2008

O my people, O my church, what have I done to you, or in what have I offended you? Answer me. I led you out from the land of Egypt to make you free, but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

What more could I have done for you that I have not done? I planted you, my chosen and fairest vineyard; but when I was thirsty, you gave me vinegar to drink and pierced my side with a spear.

God, have mercy upon us.

I went before you in a pillar of cloud, and you have led me to the judgment seat of Pilate. I gave you a royal scepter, and the keys of the kingdom, but you have given me a crown of thorns.

God, have mercy upon us.

My peace I gave, which the world cannot give, and washed your feet as a sign of my love, but you draw the sword to strike in my name. I offered you my body and blood, but you scatter and deny and abandon me.

God, have mercy upon us.

I sent the Spirit of truth to guide you, and you close your hearts to Him. I pray that all may be one in the Father and me, but you continue to quarrel and divide, and you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

I grafted you into the tree to my chosen Israel, and you turned on them with persecution and mass murder. I made you joint heirs with them of my covenants, but you made them scapegoats for your own guilt, and you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

I came to you as the least of your brothers and sisters; I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. And you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

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Maundy Thursday

March 20th, 2008

Today is Maundy Thursday – it is the day we remember Christ washing the Disciples feet. I was doing a little research on Maundy Thursday and found this on Wikipedia:

The word Maundy is derived through Middle English, and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase “Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos” (“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you”), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet.

Along with my fried Tara (see her post on Maundy Thursday here) I found the meaning behind the days name to be very interesting and challenging. In the past Thursday of Holy week was not a day I really gave much thought to. I knew that it was related somehow to the foot washing but it wasn’t really a part of Easter for me. My family would often go to a service on Good Friday but we never went to church on Thursday and never really included Thursday in our Easter/Holy week celebrations. But, today I find myself thinking about Maundy Thursday. How can I enter into Christ’s command to “love one another as I have loved you” today? How can I commemorate and celebrate and remember the miraculous act of the God of the universe stooping down to wash the feet of dirty and sinful human beings – of stooping down to serve them and to serve me?

With these thoughts in mind I stopped researching about Maundy Thursday and went to read through the many blogs that I read daily. Phyllis Tickle has been blogging through Lent and yesterday she wrote about Maundy Thursday and what is to come in the Triduum. It struck me and challenged me. HERE is what she wrote.

Today I have to work, tonight we have dinner plans, but I hope to carry with me the significance of this Sacred day even amidst the mundane details that are my life today. I hope to remember the significance of the God the all stooping to serve, the significance of the Last Super and the Eucharist and to in some ways enter into these sacred events today.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

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