I’m still adjusting to the Synod’s liturgical change from a pure Palm Sunday to a Passion Sunday preceded by a Procession of Palms. Synod in its core meaning is “walking together” and I seriously attempt to do so. Part of the constitution of the Synod is both Article 3.7, “encourage congregations to strive for uniformity in church practice,” and Article 6.4, “exclusive use of doctrinally pure agenda, hymnbooks and catechisms in church and school.” Divergence isn’t necessarily heretical, but The Church is bigger than my personal feelings, wants or desires. After about a decade of denial and anger that they had changed it, and a year or two of bargaining, I just accepted the Sunday of Palms and Passion. But accepting that liturgical change on one day in Holy Week, I’ve started to think causes ripples in the entire week.
The biggest one is on Good Friday. My practice before – which is an option in the approved Altar Book – was the collective congregational reading of the passion story in the form of the Tenebrae service. Tenebrae is that service with the steady dowsing of the lights. It was not so much the theatrical elements, although those are fine, but the collective reading of the story. The Passion story is the core memory of all believers. That Good Friday service was a yearly remembrance almost like the Jewish Passover meal. But when you’ve read at least a good part of that on the Sunday prior, just repeating it seemed off.
But there is a very similar Good Friday service – maybe the actual origin of that Tenebrae – that is not about the entire passion – everything from after the Supper to Christ’s burial – but has a much tighter focus. Jesus across the four gospels says seven (7) things from the cross. It is often called the Seven Words from the Cross, or the Seven Last Words. This tighter focus also has roots deep into the Christian past. There are significant musical setting in Latin from the 1500’s, German settings from the 1600’s solidly post Reformation, with maybe Haydn’s 1787 work being the standout. There is also a pop version. Andrew Lloyd Webber kinda ends Jesus Christ Superstar with the seven words.
So, this Holy Week, this is what you can expect. Today, Palms and Passion, is the expansive view of everything. From the crowds singing Hosanna to shouting crucify. From the angst of the Chief Priests, “See the world has gone after him.” To their cruelty mocking him on the cross in what they think is their triumph. From all the disciples gathered to all of them scattered. From the life of a victory parade, to the hurried march to placement in the tomb. Palms and Passion becomes a story of contrasts. What does faith see in the entire scene?
Thursday, Maundy Thursday, is the institution of the Supper. Maybe it is just that I haven’t contemplated it yet. There is another tradition for this night, that of foot-washing. The Maundy comes from Latin Mandatum, mandate or command. The foot-washing is usually paired with the command to “love one another as I have loved you.” But that foot-washing scene is not that one that Jesus tells us to keep doing. On that night he says “do this in remembrance of me,” the this being the Supper. And in a Synod that attempts to hang onto closed communion – the Supper being for those who are baptized and profess belief – a yearly ceremonial focusing on the supper alone seems appropriate.
And Good Friday will maintain the Tenebrae, the dowsing of the lights structure, but it will be focused around those Seven Last Words. And our Hymnbook includes a hymn meditation to go along with them, LSB 447 Jesus, in Your Dying Woes. Having done the Seven Words a couple of times, I think you might be surprised at the emotional effect of meditating on their simplicity. While being tied to the very specific day of Crucifixion, they speak directly to our wants and worries in a powerful way.
