Maundy Thursday, especially on foot-washing

Maundy Thursday
St. Margaret's Chapel, Duxbury

Tonight we will have our Liturgy for Maundy Thursday in the Chapel. If you are in the area, please join us at 7PM (30 Harden Hill Road, Duxbury, MA).

I am awed by the gift of being able to preside at the beginning of the long liturgy that encompasses the next three days.  The washing of feet is especially powerful, and it may be precisely because it is not comfortable. We must both learn to do for others what Jesus has done for us AND learn to accept, as Peter had to, receiving this as well.

John 13:1-17 - Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

"Bare" - an excerpt from Br. Curtis' reflection (see link below):

Many people are rather self-conscious about their feet.  Feet are a usually-hidden part of our body. There have been some years in the past when, on Maundy Thursday, I have made sure to wash my own feet ahead of time and put on fresh socks. (I wouldn’t want to make a bad impression on someone having to wash my feet.)  When we bare our feet, we are quite exposed, literally and symbolically.  So tonight, what does the footwashing signify to you?  Is there anything you are prone to keep disclosed or hidden from Jesus that needs to come into the light?  What is it about you – your body, your fears, your needs, your memory, your future – that you otherwise keep covered, where Jesus is inviting you to uncover, to be seen and known, held and washed?  Is there dirt that needs to be washed cleaned?  What does footwashing symbolize for you just now?
...You may discover – far beyond your control – that you are being washed by the gift of tears tonight.  Maybe you didn’t even know something was wrong, something was hurt, something was soiled, and you experience tonight a washing of your soul through the gift of tears.
- Maundy Thursday Remembrance – Br. Curtis Almquist

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
- Collect from the Liturgy for Maundy Thursday (BCP online)

More on Maundy Thursday:
https://twitter.com/aNunsLife/status/583616522557489153
Maundy Thursday 2015: The History Behind The Holy Thursday Before Easter

Holy Week and Easter at St. Margaret's Convent, Duxbury

We invite you to join us in worship as we journey through Holy Week to Easter.

Good Friday, St. Margaret's Chapel

April 2 Maundy Thursday 7 PM

April 3   Good Friday         3 PM

April 4 Holy Saturday 12 noon

April 5 Easter Vigil         4 AM

All services will be held in St. Margaret's Chapel, 30 Harden Hill Road, Duxbury MA.

St. Margaret's Chapel
30 Harden Hill Rd.
Duxbury, MA

You are also welcome to stay with us so as to enter into the events of Holy Week more fully. We will be in silence from Maundy Thursday until after the Easter Vigil, allowing those who join us to enter as deeply as possible into prayer during this time.

We still have space available to join the Sisters in worship and prayer for Holy Week or Easter Week. The cost is $75 per night, per person. Rooms are available for individuals as well as couples, and guests may arrive Tuesday afternoon and stay through Sunday afternoon. For more information or to make a reservation, please contact us at 781-934-9477 ext. 501 or at convent@ssmbos.org.

pothole daffodils on which to meditate

This could make a wonderful meditation...

Plantpothole by Sara Griffin (@cyclemor3)

"Tired of Edinburgh roads being so bad and having reported a major pothole several weeks before, cycle courier Sara Griffin took matters into her own green-fingered hands. She filled the pothole in question with 35 litres of compost and added a floral display to create her own plantpothole.

Griffin told the Scotland’s Worst Drivers website that she had reported the pothole on Castle Terrace to the council city centre team a few weeks before, but while they had repaired all the nearby potholes and road defects, they ignored this one."

Spring is here and the potholes are in bloom

(Thank you, KB, for finding and sharing this!)

Monday in Holy Week

Palm Sunday Processions in Cange

Cange, Haiti, is the place to be on Palm Sunday. Not only is it Palm Sunday, but it's also their celebration of thanksgiving to God: "Mesi Bondye 2012" reads the banner.  I wrote this post a few years ago when I was living in Haiti. Due to issues with power and low band width, I couldn't get my pictures to upload, so I put off posting it. Well, it's been a while, but Palm Sunday has rolled back around this year, so it's about time I finally shared this.

banner over the road for the occasion

Palm Sunday Processions in Cange

I didn’t have time to post anything earlier on Holy Week and Easter, but there were quite a number of amazing things I would like to share with you.

The first is from Palm Sunday. We went to Cange, home of the hospital run by Zanmi Lasante/Partners in Health, Paul Farmer’s organization. I hadn’t realized it was on the same campus as the Episcopal Church. It was wonderful to see it after hearing about it for so many years. If you haven’t already done so, you should immediately find yourself a copy of Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder and read all about it.

Art Center for the Cange Campus of the Episcopal Church and the hospital run by Zanmi Lansante/Partners in Health
I am still very sorry I never got to go shopping here! I hear the art for sale is really wonderful, and I've seen some of the iron work produced in the area. For example, in the pictures of the church interior, look at the crucifix on the back wall.

Right now, however, I would like to focus on two amazing parts of the Palm Sunday liturgy. Palm Sunday is the anniversary of their founding, so they always have a special thanksgiving as part of the service – and do they know how to give thanks! And, so very Episcopalian of them, they can process. The Palm Sunday procession with the palms and the offertory procession were like nothing I have ever seen.

lining up in the yard behind the church

The Liturgy of the Palms began behind the church. Multiple choirs and a band, acolytes galore, parishioners, clergy, sisters, visitors – any who wanted to participate gathered for the blessing of the palms. Led by the cross and the thurifer swinging the thurible with sweet-smelling incense, band playing and choirs singing, we headed down the long, curving driveway and down the hill.

 I was toward the back with the clergy, so by the time we reached the highway, traffic had long since been stopped we all processed down the street. Mind you, this is the main north-south highway in the area, not a side street. People were standing on rooftops and hanging out windows to watch.

When we reached the other entrance to the campus, we turned back in and headed back up the hill and around into the church, where, unsurprisingly, the enthusiastic singing inside didn’t quite match the place in the music of the energetic band and singing outside. Some issues never change from church to church or from country to country. I felt right at home. And a joyful noise was made to the Lord.

Then there was the offertory. I don’t even know how to begin to describe it. I’ve gotten accustomed to beautiful offertory processions on patronal festivals, but this was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Not only was it beautiful and colorful, with the offerings slowly danced up the aisle, usually on baskets carried on the heads of the parishioners, but also it was incredibly varied – and it just kept coming.

First of all, the offerings themselves. I have seen the beautiful baskets of vegetables and fruit, and this was no exception – except there were baskets of all sizes, some so large it was hard to imagine their being carried. This is a real example of people giving of their life and labor in a tangible way. An entire stalk of green bananas – or maybe plaintains – arrived on the head of a man who made everyone laugh with his dance (most of which I couldn’t see). These offerings were mostly handed off to the acolytes in the front by the altar and taken to the sacristy. Flower arrangements were placed at the foot of the altar.

My first surprise was a series of items that were completely practical and nothing I had seen in a procession before. These, too, were laid at the foot of the altar as something that could be immediately of use to the church. Items I noticed included packages of copy paper, a mop, and a large jug of Clorox (essential in these days of cholera). I was impressed.

live turkey and chicken in offering baskets

Then there was the livestock. In the baskets along with the vegetables were quite a number of chickens. Live chickens. Afterwards in the sacristy, some of them were still sitting in their baskets on top of the vegetables. Others may have come up separately (I couldn’t see everything), as I saw a few handed off from acolyte to acolyte, wings flapping.

escaped chicken exploring the altar area

One got loose and proceeded to walk around clucking in front of the altar until someone noticed and scooped it up. There was a good-sized turkey as well. But what really astonished me was the goat, who was remarkably calm, all things considered.

live goat in offering basket
very calm, don't ask me how

I lost all sense of (American-mannered) propriety and began taking photos, something I would never do at home – but I was so far from being the only one. I did ask first, just in case. Most, including the clergy, were on their feet, craning their necks, laughing, admiring, enjoying the music, the thanksgiving and the praise. Picture-taking here is not often considered inappropriate in such circumstances, and even one of the other priests had a camera phone in use.

preparing the elements using wine brought up

Of course, there were the usual offerings as well, both the special offerings collected elsewhere in honor of the occasion and brought up in decorated boxes, and the plates that were passed.

offerings in decorated boxes

Later that day, I was remarking to a sister what an amazing offering that was, and I said, “… and it must have lasted at least twenty minutes!” She stared at me. “Twenty minutes??? Sister, it was an hour!” Time flies when you’re having fun, I hear. I shouldn’t be surprised. The 9AM service, which started around 9:30, lasted until around 1:30. Even with the procession down the highway, the time had to have gone somewhere. It certainly didn’t seem that long; I would have guessed two hours.

the clergy afterwards

So what happened to all those offerings?

offerings being sold behind the church

After the service, what usually happens is that the produce and animals are sold out back and the proceeds are given to the church. There was so much to sell that I actually saw the sale in progress.

Looks like we'll be bringing home some shopping, too. Easter dinner?

On the way out, we picked up two seminarians who were waiting for a taptap back to Port-au-Prince. Remember the live turkey I mentioned? He had been bought after the service and was already settled in the back of our vehicle, where we have fold-down benches.

traveling companion

The seminarians rode back with him, and there was no pecking.

Thanksgiving abounded.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

As long as I am posting and have found this, I'm going to add some of the pictures I took on the road on the way there and home.

Welcome to Mirebalais
This is the town where Partners in Health now has a second, much larger hospital, state of the art. What an amazing ministry that is. By the way, there is a link to donate to them off on the right side of my blog.

Mirebalais

Not too many of these houses anymore, but they're still around.

Holy Week Myers-Briggs

Found something awesome at

Church of the Resurrection - Holy Week Myers-Briggs

If you don't know your type, they also have a link to an online test.

A bit more seriously, they also remind us that Holy Week is "time outside of time."

Indeed it is.

May we all make space and time to enter this "time outside of time" in such a way as to live this week fully, open to whatever God has in store for us, ready to walk this road with Jesus.

yesterday's iridescence

Jenney's Pond and Cordage Park, Plymouth, MA