Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior
gave his body to be whipped
And his face to be spit upon:
Give us grace to accept joyfully
The sufferings of the present time,
Confident of the glory that shall be revealed;
Through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever. AMEN
---Collect for Wednesday in Holy Week---

Holy Week

For the last two years, I have done an online Stations of the Cross for the Pax. This year, however, we have the opportunity to walk the beautiful Stations of the Cross here at St. James. If you have not had a chance, I encourage you to check out an Ipod, and walk the Stations during Holy Week.

This time I have included in the Pax the Collects for Holy Week beginning with today. Yesterday in our staff meeting, Charlie+ used them as a devotion. I found it a very helpful exercise to hear them said one after another. It gave an opportunity to meditate upon the movement of Holy Week – from the posture of waiting, through the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the time of rest on the Sabbath.

I encourage you to take these prayers into your own personal time of peaceful Sabbath this week. There is no better time to live in the present moment than in Holy Week, for each day brings its own reflection and remembrance.

Let Christ speak to you, through the waiting, the agony of betrayal, and death. When have you experienced similar things? When have you found yourself either betrayed or betrayer, near death, or suffering loss? Let Christ touch you as you walk with Him through this Holy Week.

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 for Maundy Thursday---

"Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners,
so that you may not grow weary or lose heart."
Hebrews 12:3

As we move toward the dark days of Holy Week let us cultivate wisdom and courage.

A group of us were talking about the struggle and discomfort of walking through the Holy Week stories once more.

Sometimes we want to keep our eyes on Easter instead of the hard stone of the Way of the Cross.

Living through the events of Holy Week through worship and prayer reminds me that I am not walking alone.

Holy Week encourages me to take one step at a time. Betrayal, and pain, and sacrifice are the stepping-stones of the road that leads to Good Friday.

Good Friday is the meeting place of vulnerable human flesh, outrageous sin and divine love.

Why do we walk this road with Christ?

Where else would we go?
What other road leads us to wisdom and to courage?

When I was 22 I met a man who had been Bishop of Coventry Cathedral.
He told me a story of destruction and resurrection.
The original cathedral was bombed during WWII and left with no roof and very little in the way of walls. A Cathedral city with no cathedral is like a body without a heart.
The people decided to rebuild the Cathedral, not out of defiance but out of forgiveness.

Shortly after the destruction, the cathedral stonemason, Jock Forbes, noticed that two of the charred medieval
roof timbers had fallen in the shape of a cross. He set them up in the ruins where they were later placed on an altar of rubble with the moving words 'Father Forgive' inscribed on the Sanctuary wall.

Surely, this is the way of the cross. We walk knowing that we will be given an invitation to repent of our own sins and forgive others who may have sinned against us.

Forgiveness and love-these are the virtues of Holy Week.

Father forgive.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
From the Coventry Litany

Have a Blessed Holy Week.
Debra

Daily Morning Prayer:
http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/churchonthewebpage.htm

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family,
For whom you Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed,
And given into the hands of sinners,
and to suffer death
Upon the cross; who now lives and reigns
With you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever. AMEN
---Collect for Good Friday---

This Week at St. James:

Thursday: 8pm Maundy Thursday Liturgy
Friday: Office Closed; 8pm Good Friday Liturgy
Saturday: 8pm Easter Vigil
Sunday: 9:00 and 11:00 Easter Services; Easter Egg Hunt in between services
Monday: Office Closed
Tuesday: 7:30 Board of Trustees meeting
Wednesday: 8:30 Healing Eucharist

Prayers Etc.

For those on our prayer list:
David; Owen; Arabella; Brittany; Lori S.; Jennifer D.
Rob C.; Nancy K.; Bill D.; Mary S.; Susan L.; Elizabeth C.
Vicki; Dawn; Joe; Oliver; Charlie M.; Matt S.
Mary B.; Anne P.; Alan; Larry; Betsy; Andrew Jason; Mimi and Poppa B.

For Laura and Lyle.
For those who are deployed and their families.

Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of the living God,
We pray you to set your passion, cross and death
Between you judgment and our souls,
Now and in the hour of our death.
Give mercy and grace to the living,
Pardon and rest to the dead;
To your holy Church peace and concord;
And to us sinners everlasting life and glory;
For with the Father and the Holy Spirit
You live and reign, one God, now and forever. AMEN
--Prayer at the end of Good Friday--

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in his justice
Which is more than liberty.
There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members in the sorrows of the Head.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of the mind,
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more simple
We should take him at his word,
And our lives would be thanksgiving
For the goodness of our Lord.

O God, Creator of heaven and earth:
Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son
Was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath,
So we may await with him the coming of the third day,
And rise with him to newness of life;
Who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever. AMEN
--Collect for Holy Saturday--

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

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