For more than 1600 years, Christians have marked the week leading up to Easter as “Holy Week.” A woman named Egeria wrote of her travels to Jerusalem in the early 380’s and described in detail how Christians celebrated the final days before Easter. The week traditionally begins on Palm Sunday, as churches recall our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem to crowds shouting “Hosanna” and waving palm branches. It continues with a memorial of Jesus’s last supper with his disciples on Maundy Thursday. That night, we reflect on Jesus’s “novum mandatum” (Latin for “new commandment”) to his disciples: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34). Good Friday (with “good” meaning “pious” or “holy”) follows – a time to recall Jesus’s suffering and death on the cross. On Holy Saturday, the week comes to a close as Christians commemorate our savior’s body being laid in a tomb. This special week in the church year is followed immediately by Easter Sunday, and the 50-day season of Easter it inaugurates – a time to celebrate our savior’s resurrection and victory over death.
I hope you’ll join us at Knox this year as we observe Holy Week from March 24th to March 30th with services on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. And I pray you can join us for Easter Sunday, March 31st, as well. Wishing you and your family a blessed Lent and Easter season. For more information about our Holy Week services, please visit our events page at knoxpasadena.org.
~Pastor Matt