Bringing Holy Week Home | Daily Readings & Liturgies
Some of you may or may not know that yesterday kicked off Holy Week in traditional church calendars. Holy Week is the week leading up to Easter Sunday when we reflect on the final days of Jesus' earthly ministry. It kicks off with Palm Sunday (this was yesterday!), which marks the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to the praise of the people.
The tone of the week drastically shifts after he arrives in the city, however, when cheers of, "Hosanna in the Highest!" are replaced with, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" only a few days later. On Good Friday, we solemnly remember the death of Jesus. But then on Easter Sunday, we celebrate the fact that he has raised from the dead and into eternal life! And all of this he accomplished not only for himself, but for each and every single one of us.
We'll share more details about our Scattered Worship plans for Good Friday and Easter Sunday on tonight's All-Church Video Call, but in the meantime, we want to invite you to bring Holy Week home in a couple of ways.
1) Read Exodus 10-12
During yesterday's Scattered Worship, we asked you to read Exodus 10-12 on your own this week. We will be walking through the plague of darkness on Good Friday and the flight of God's people out of slavery on Easter Sunday. Since those focal passages will span three whole chapters (10-12), we naturally can't burrow down into every verse in our videos.
However, we'd love for you to give them your personal attention, and we've made it easy for you to do that with this PDF guide that breaks down each of the three chapters into six chunks - one for each day, Monday through Saturday this week. There's extra space in the margins, greater gaps between lines, and even links to corresponding "40 Minutes in the Old Testament" podcast episodes to help you take notes, jot down questions, and more.
2) Daily At-Home Liturgies
Beginning yesterday, we're posting daily liturgies on our website this week that you can read at home by yourself or with others. You can view yesterday's and today's, and check the homepage of myvillagechurch.com each morning for the next one.
What's a liturgy? Think of it as a purposeful order of something - just like our Order of Gatherings on Sundays! These at-home liturgies have a similar structure from day-to-day (opening, Psalm, gospel reading, prayer, benediction), but in just a couple of minutes, they'll help set your heart and mind on the person and work of Jesus in a different way each day of the week.
Church calendars, liturgies, and other regular rhythms can be a familiar breath of fresh air when many other things are different or uncertain. Our hope is that these resources will help you enter into Holy Week no matter where you find yourself, that you might more deeply know and trust the God who meets us wherever we may be in Christ, enters into us by his Holy Spirit, and promises to bring us all the home into the presence of the Father.