Dear friends, Like déjà vu, it’s time to prepare for Holy Week in a pandemic… again. Last year at this time, the pandemic had just begun to disrupt our lives and the world. We didn’t know during Holy Week 2020 that we would be in for another whole year of distance and isolation; a year
but now
in today’s gospel
we encounter a Jesus
who uses water to redefine what relationships might be.
On Palm Sunday, the church celebrates Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and Jesus’s journey toward the cross. We commit ourselves to pave the way for well-being in our neighborhood. We wave our palm branches and usher in mental health justice, paving the way with our faith and our commitment to act…
The Three Days: this is the highlight of the church year. The most ancient of our worship practices, the Triduum (meaning “three days”) is three separate gatherings on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday that make up one service. Each time we meet there is a distinctly different feel and focus.
The story of these three days is our story. Reborn in the waters of baptism, we are sent into the world for lives of costly service, but we are not sent alone. So we gather on these nights with those who are preparing to receive the gift of baptism to remember a supper spent with friends, testimony offered the face of empire, and the God of salvation whose story is as old as creation.
All orders must be into the office by March 13th at 9am!
CROSSwalk is a four-mile, Holy Week procession across the heart of the Chicago to remember murdered youth and connect participants with opportunities to protect children and mitigate violence. CROSSwalk began as a conversation about honest, relevant liturgy that ties the pain and loss of Christian Holy Week with the reality of everyday life in Chicago.