St. Francis' Episcopal Church

Serving Eureka, Wildwood, and Surrounding Communities

Keeping Holy Week

There are a number of things I hope to see in my tenure as founding pastor* of St. Francis’ Episcopal Church.  I hope that we welcome hundreds of new congregants into this spirit-filled fellowship.  I hope that we earn a reputation for our care of needy neighbors in our town and in other parts of the world.  I hope that we can provide opportunities, both lively and serene, for parishioners and visitors to touch the Holy.  I hope that we put up a building that enables us to accomplish God’s mission for us that demonstrates our reverence for God’s creation.  But, more than anything, I hope that I can instill in the members of St. Francis’ a desire to live Holy Week in an intentional way.   

Holy Week—those 8 days including Palm Sunday and Easter—is the most important time in the life of the Christian Church.  This is when we remember the last days of Jesus’ life: the triumph of his entry into Jerusalem; the encroaching danger to himself that his teachings engendered; his giving us a way during his final meal to keep him present with us; his willing suffering and death; and ultimately his triumphant Resurrection.  It is a story that takes us from happiness, to fear, to sadness, to grief, to inexpressible joy.   

My early training as a priest was in a parish which held three services a day Monday-Thursday during Holy Week and a three-hour service on Good Friday.  And people came to these services.  Of course, it was a larger congregation than St. Francis’, but people came because they had learned over the years that to do so would bring greater meaning to their faith and to their lives.   

It has occurred to me that, perhaps, I haven’t been giving this congregation enough credit.  For the past four years, we have had no services on Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week.  I just figured that would be too much to expect people to come.  That’s unfair to you.  How can I expect members to keep Holy Week without giving you an opportunity to worship every day?  Well, I commit myself to offering a worship service every day of Holy Week in 2007.  Mark your calendars. 

For this year, I urge each of you to participate in all of the events we will offer.  First, attend one of the Seder dinners that are being hosted.  A Seder is a Passover meal similar to what Jesus and his friends would have eaten.  We have enough space for all members who wish to attend.  They will take place on Palm Sunday and the Tuesday following.  See inside for the schedule.  Our Maundy Thursday service is always moving.  This is when we remember Jesus’ last supper with his friends.  This year the service will include a ritual washing of the feet of 12 selected members of the congregation.  That night members of the congregation are asked to spend an hour in vigil before the stripped and empty altar.  On Good Friday we will recreate in scripture and song Jesus’ last day.  On Sunday, we will have two opportunities to rejoice in the Risen Lord.   

I’d like to suggest that, unless you have experienced the wrenching sadness of Jesus’ last days, the Easter celebration falls flat.  I figure that each of us has 5,824 non-sleeping hours in a year.  Giving 7 of them during Holy Week is a very small investment of time that will produce great rewards in your faith life.  And it will help me get closer to that goal I’ve set for myself as your pastor.   

In a conversation with a faculty member at the Start Up! Start Over! Conference two years ago, the definition given for a founding pastor was “the first pastor to stay in a parish for 8 – 10 years.”  I’m on track for that.  Therefore, all of you who are members during this time are “founding members.”