Liturgy and Sacramental Action by The Rev. Hartshorn Murphy
Until the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, all churches were "liturgical churches" which observed the rhythms of the liturgical year. Beginning with Advent, the season before Christmas, we, the Church, are pregnant with expectation with Mary. At Nativity, we are in the cave with the shepherds and Magi, filled with wonder and awe. During Epiphany, the season of manifestation, we walk the roads of the Galilee and Judea with Jesus and hear teaching and preaching which comforts and terrifies us and see miracles of healing and restoration. During this season of Lent (for "lengthening" days toward spring), we turn our faces with Jesus toward Jerusalem and walk with him the Way of Sorrows. At Easter, we rise with Jesus to a New Life and at Pentecost, are filled with the Holy Fire of the Spirit: empowered for mission and witness. In the "ordinary season" following Pentecost, the longest season of the year of nearly 30 Sundays, we hear the story of the Church, the living presence of Christ's Body in the world, our story - only to begin the pattern again with advent anticipation. This centuries old pattern is marked by song and story but also by liturgical action.
From time immemorial, the Three Great Days of the Church Year, known as the "Triduum" which begins with Maundy Thursday and extends through the Great Vigil of Easter, were considered as a unitive celebration of the paschal mystery (the passing of Christ from life, through death, to New Life.) One symbol of that unity is the omission of the dismissal at the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies which suggest that these actions are indeed, one continuous liturgical act. Let's take a closer look.
Maundy Thursday (April 17th) commemorates the novum mandatum or new commandment of John 13:34 ("I give you a new commandment: love one another; as I have loved you, so you are to love one another.") In John 13, Jesus scandalously demonstrated his love for his friends by washing their feet. In the ancient world, the washing of feet was an act of greeting and hospitality observed in all levels of society. In wealthier homes, this act was performed by the lowliest slave for in a world in which many went barefoot and shared the roads with animals, this task was a practical necessity and yet both odious and humiliating. That the head of this fictive family of disciples would stoop to perform this act, (which when there was no slave would be performed by the youngest male member of the "family", John) was an act of great humility, essentially reversing the hierarchical value system of ancient culture: those who would be great must be the servant of all.
On Maundy Thursday, we are in the Upper Room with Jesus; both shocked and humbled by his example. On this night, you as disciples will be invited to come forward so that your clergy, symbolic heads of this fictive family, might wash your feet as an act of humble service. This action reminds us that those who exercise priestly authority in this community are in truth, servants of the servants of God. But as prophetic action, it reminds you that you are to servants of God's people in the world by bearing their burdens ("washing them" as well).
After the Eucharist, we strip and wash the main altar so that it resembles nothing more than a white washed tomb ready to receive the Savior. Bearing our cut flowers, we move into the chapel to watch with Jesus as his disciples did in the Garden of Gethsemene "for an hour." The Blessed Sacrament will "repose" on the chapel "Altar of Repose", until the next phase of this liturgy on Good Friday. In this way, we connect the act of service and the Eucharist with the betrayal and death on the cross.
On Good Friday (April 18th), we walk the Via Delarosa (Way of Sorrow) by walking with Jesus the fourteen stations (or events) of the Crucifixion and then we have the opportunity to come forward to venerate the cross in any way that we find meaningful. (Some kneel in silence, some kiss the cross, and some simply touch.)
Bread and Wine, consecrated on Maundy Thursday, is shared and following the service, those who wish to may make a confession to a priest. This time for confession acknowledges the historical fact that those who had been separated from the community by sin (and had been excommunicated) could be restored during the Triduum, so that they might enter into Easter Joy and receive the sacrament at the Easter Vigil). Confession should not be a spontaneous act but deserves careful (and prayerful) preparation. Some burdens we bare can not be resolved by denial or even therapy. We need to hear and receive the forgiveness of God who "puts away our offenses" rather than asks us to adjust to them. (For those interested in making a confession, you might review the rite found in the Book of Common Prayer pages 447-452.)
The event painfully entered into on Good Friday, finds its completion with the next phase of this worship trilogy. At the Easter Vigil (Saturday, April 19th), we are in the tomb with Jesus. Our deadened lives and hopes await deliverance and we are raised to a New Life of abundant grace. We enkindle a New Fire, the Light of Christ, which drives away the darkness of despair and fear and then the passing over from life to death to new life is powerfully symbolized in the sacrament of New Birth: baptism. With those being initiated into the faith, we renew our own vows and are sprinkled with the same baptismal waters. In the primitive churches, this was the Easter Paschal Celebration which completed the actions begun at sundown Maundy Thursday. The dismissal - a charge to go into the world to live Christ's life of humble service, sacrificial love and triumphant joy - comes at the end of this worship. (In our day, for the general public, we offer services on Easter Sunday morning for convenience.)
All these actions and symbols - washing and watching; walking and waiting; feet and flowers and fire - are powerful sacramental realities. But know this: sacramental actions are not parables to be observed but are rather actions in which we are invited to participate; for "liturgy" is literally: "the work of the people."
In the name of the Church, I invite you to the commemoration of the Three Great Days as times of commemoration and renewal.
Copyright © 2003 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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