Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter

Holy week was a flurry of activity. It started with the Maundy Thursday service at Republican Grove UMC. Joanne did sign language to the song "Messiah". We also had a dramatic reading of "The Old and the New: Passover Lamb"; with Betty Jo Dawson, Patricia Fisher, and Heidi Dawson. Maundy Thursday remembers the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples, we remembered with Communion.

The Maundy Thursday service was followed with a time of refreshments and fellowship. The fact is, it was more like supper than it was like refreshments, but I am not complaining at all. It was a very good evening.

Our Good Friday service was conducted at Providence UMC. Our Tenebrae readings were called "Facing the Shadows". The readings were dialogues of indivduals who were part of the Gospel story.

The Shadow of Betrayal~Judas: Carl Wayne Adams

The Shadow of Inner Agony~Salome (The Mother of James and John): Anita Adams

The Shadow of Desertion~John: David Adams

The Shadow of Denial~Peter: A.J. Nuckols

The Shadow of Accusation~Mary Magdalene: Stacey Wyatt

The Shadow of Mockery~Thomas: Bill Wyatt

The Shadow of Death~ Mary, the Mother of Jesus: Lisa Nuckols

The Carpenter: Brian Daniels

After each reading a candle was extinguished, until after the final reading and the entire room went dark. At that point the service is over and everyone leaves in silence.

The Good Friday service remembers the day that Jesus died upon the cross. It is meant to cause inner contemplation before Easter. The bulletin for the service ended with this: "Even in the midst of this darkness, God is with us. Go with peace and hope. Amen."

The Easter Sunrise service was held at St. Andrews UMC at 7 AM. It was a special morning and the worship was particularly meaningful.

After the Sunrise service we had breakfast at St. Andrews UMC. This is one of the days in the year that the guys get to do the cooking. Personally, I think the ladies just think we men can't mess up scrambled eggs.

We not only had the eggs, but also breakfast casseroles, muffins, fruit, ham biscuits, sausage biscuits, and more. My main concern was that we had coffee and we did! I have a hard enough getting my body going at 7 AM, I needed my coffee - high octane.

After the Easter Sunrise service, we continued to the regularly scheduled Easter services at Republican Grove UMC and Providence UMC.

This was Cortney Dawson's first Easter Sunday and she was ready for the day.

At Providence UMC, we had some folks sick and some out taking care of them. They may not have been with us in body but they were in spirit. Brian Daniels did triple duty; in addition to receiving the offering and reading the scripture, Brian also played the hymns on CD. It was his first time working the machine and he did a fine job.

Something you learn in a small church is that it's not about numbers. It's about what God is doing in the church. He was doing a work this Easter Sunday in all three churches of the Mt. Airy Charge. He continues to draw us closer to each other and to draw us out to the community and world around us.

Christ is Risen!

Lent

Ash Wednesday is the start of the Lenten journey of 40 weekdays (Monday through Saturday) that takes the church to the eve of Easter. We had our service at St. Andrews UMC on the 17th of February. We had a time of scripture reading, singing, a short lesson, and communion. This year is unique in that Ash Wednesday had Communion and Easter falls on the first Sunday of April and we will also have Communion. Now, I don't know about you, but for me bookending Lent with Communion is a special gift. This is going to be a very interesting Lenten season.

Sundays celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, therefore, the six Sundays that occur during Lent are not counted as part of the 40 days of Lent, and are referred to as the Sundays in Lent.  The number 40 is connected with many biblical events, but especially with the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing for His ministry by facing the temptations that could lead him to abandon his mission and calling.  This season of the year is equal only to the Season of Advent in importance in the Christian year, and is part of the second major grouping of Christian festivals and sacred time that includes Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost.

The color used in the sanctuary for most of Lent is purple, red violet, or dark violet .  These colors symbolize both the pain and suffering leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus as well as the suffering of humanity and the world under sin.  Purple is also the color of royalty, and so anticipates through the suffering and death of Jesus the coming resurrection and hope of newness that will be celebrated in the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Lent has traditionally been marked by penitential prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Christian churches that observe Lent focus on it as a time of prayer, especially penance, repenting for failures and sin as a way to focus on the need for God’s grace.  It is really a preparation to celebrate Easter, and the resurrected life that Christians live and hope for.

Many modern Protestants consider the observation of Lent to be a choice, rather than an obligation. They may decide to give up a favorite food or drink (e.g. chocolate, alcohol) or activity (e.g. going to the movies, playing video games) for Lent, or they may instead decide to take on a Lenten discipline such as devotions, volunteering for charity work, and so forth.
  

In addition to the service we passed out Lenten devotionals supplied by the Society of Saint Andrew.  http://www.endhunger.org/  We used these last year and they were very well received and used by the churches. I encouraged everyone to use this as a preparation during Lent. I have found that I have such a busy life that if I don't use all the resources that I can find to prepare my heart before Easter or Christmas, I get to that special day carrying the load of my daily life and missing what God had for me.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who experiences this. So I encourage you to do whatever you can to prepare yourself for what God has prepared for you this Lenten season.

 

 

Harrington Easter

Courtney put pictures of the family from Eater Sunday on her blog. http://www.splashinggrace.blogspot.com/ I told her I was going to borrow a couple of them for my blog.
The problem was that I couldn't pick out a favorite, so I just used them all. I have some of the best looking grandchildren around and I'm not too shy to want to show them off to you.

Easter Sunday 2009 at Republican Grove UMC and Providence UMC

Republican Grove UMC and Providence UMC didn't have to listen to the same sermon from the Sunrise Service. But, they did get to hear Joanne sing again. I have to figure some way of getting her to do that more often.

Fred and Theresa's grandsons joined us at Providence, so I got to use my children's message. I had plastic Easter eggs made to look like sheep with candy inside for both of them. We had quite a few left over and Joanne claimed them since they were filled with Hershey chocolate Kisses, her favorite.

As Brian does every Sunday, he read the scripture for us. If I could only have him at each service to do that for me.

We hope you had a Blessed Easter. We did!

2009 Easter Sunrise Breakfast

After Easter Sunrise service, we had breakfast prepared by the men (minus me).
Breakfast was great, we had a great time fellowshipping together.

Unfortunately, the cooks made it out of the kitchen just in time to get the last of all the food they had prepared.

I enjoyed my first breakfast since Ash Wednesday. I gave up breakfast and lunch for Lent. I really missed my ham and eggs.

2009 Easter Sunrise Service at Saint Andrews UMC

Easter Sunrise Service at St. Andrews started at 7 in the morning. Next year I may suggest a coffee pot in the sanctuary.

The choir sang twice during the service. The second time was to close the service.

Daniel Nuchols has been playing for the choir and did a great job.

Joanne got drafted to sing. I ordered an accompaniment CD and informed that she would be singing on Easter. The song is titled the "Easter Song" and she nailed it.

Easter Sunday is the only Sunday of the year that I need to have two sermons prepared. Since there are folks from Republican Grove and providence who will attend the Sunrise Service and then return to their churches for their Easter service at their regular time.

I just can't see making someone have to listen to me preaching the same thing twice. Well, except Joanne, she has to listen to me three times each Sunday. So, I guess she actually she gets a break on Easter.

Palm Sunday

The beginning of Passion week at the Mt. Airy Charge. All three of the churches have special services in the coming week. Providence UMC will have the Maundy Thursday service, Republican Grove UMC will have the Good Friday Tenebrae service, and St. Andrews UMC will have the Easter Sunrise service. Providence and Republican Grove will have their Easter services at their regular Sunday times.

Mt. Airy Charge Easter 2008

March 23rd 2008, Easter Sunday and my birthday. The last time Easter was on March 23rd was in 1913 and the next time it happens will be in 2160. I wasn't around for the last time and I won't be around for the next. So, today is a day of firsts. My first Easter Sunday / Birthday combination. My first Easter as a pastor. My first Maunday Thursday, Good Friday, and Sunrise services as a pastor. So it was a special day for me on top of being a special day in itself.

Our Easter Sunrise Service was at St. Andrews at 7:00. Joanne and I had to make it out of the house by 6 to get there on time and we barely made it. Well we actually left at 6:15 and I had to really hustle, (God was merciful that there were no State Police, Sheriffs, or deer out) but we made it. There were folks walking in the church laughing and saying, "Well we can't be too late we got here before the preacher!"
I was glad to see folks from the other churches there. It was a blessing to see members from all 3 churches attending the Maunday Thursday, Good Friday, and Sunrise Services during this week.
Joane wanted to get a shot of the preacher his first Easter Sunday on the job. The fact is I was sweating bullets and the outside temp was around 40. I think that it being Easter made me want to get it right. If I can ever stop trying to get it right, I may just get it right.

Folks got a kick that Jo and I were both wearing pink. We hadn't planned it, but it did make us look rather coordinated. We were actually lucky to be wearing matching socks and shoes.
After the Sunrise Service there was a big breakfast for those willing to get up this early. We had eggs, sausage and ham biscuits, muffins, fruit, and lots of orange juice and coffee. We were enjoying the food and fellowship so much we almost forget that we had to be at Republican Grove at 9:00. But, we made it there on time.

At Providence UMC after service we had an Easter Egg Hunt. Fred and Theresa Reiger's grandchildren were with us. Providence was the only church where I got to use my Easter Children's message. We had packed two candy packs and realized we needed four. So, Joanne ran back to the car and packed two more, while I stalled the service for a few minutes.

They hid the eggs in plain view at the ends of the pews. I was hilarious watching the kids look in all the harder places to hide stuff and walk right by the ones out in the open. I guess when you expect something to be difficult and hidden, you don't recognize it when it easy to get and so obvious. Ooh, that'll preach!

It had been a very busy week. Last Sunday, after the morning services and having lunch and a nice visit with the Reigers, we went to visitation for a member of Republican Grove who had died Friday night. Monday was the funeral in Brookneal, with the burial at the church cemetery. This was my second funeral in two weeks. Thursday night we had Maunday Thursday Service at Republican Grove. Friday night we were at Providence for Good Friday Tenebrae Service. The Sunday we had Sunrise Service at St. Andrews and Easter Services at Republican Grove and Providence at there regular times.

After Monday I needed the Thursday, Friday, and early Sunday. There is an old song by Carmen that says, "It may feel like Friday night, but Sunday is on the way!" Monday was the Friday night for me, the rest of the week with all the services drew me back to Sunday. That was where I should of been all the time.