"Love in Three Acts" [Holy Week Meditation]
The Great Three Days or The Easter Triduum is the high point in the drama of the entire Christian year. These are the days when Jesus passes over from death into new life. This drama is really a love story in three acts.
Caravaggio [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons
Act One—Love Defined: Maundy Thursday
The love story begins on Maundy Thursday which commemorates that last night when Jesus washed the feet of his friends and shared a final meal with them. The word “Maundy” comes from the Latin “The Great Three Days novum” or new commandment of Jesus: “to love one another as I have loved you.”
We enter into the love story as we gather on this night to experience love defined in a service which includes footwashing (how we are called to be servants one to another) and the Eucharist (a meal of remembrance and empowerment to which all are invited).
Before we come to the next act, a Vigil is kept all night in the chapel which becomes our Garden of Gethsemane, waiting and praying.
Act Two—Love Outpoured: Good Friday
On Good Friday the love story takes us to a cross where following betrayal, arrest and trial, Jesus is crucified. In the vulnerability which comes when facing death, Jesus is seen in the fullness of his humanity. Christians can only understand this day as “good” because they follow the story through to the conclusion.
We enter this act of the drama as we gather on Good Friday to hear the story of the Passion and to offer our prayers in the presence of a large wooden cross which is brought into our midst. A portion of the sacrament which was consecrated the night before is offered to those who wish to receive strength for the journey from the foot of the cross. The service ends in utter darkness.
Act Three—Love Transformed: The Great Vigil of Easter
This night is awesome in the ancient meaning of the word. On this night we experience love transformed as we go from darkness to light, from death to deliverance, from the old creation to the new.
We begin Act Three in the darkness. Into this darkness a new fire is struck and a candle lit, marking a whole new act of creation that is about to burst into the world. Then stories of God’s love and deliverance are told again. We are reminded of our own baptism and initiation into the way of faith. Then with the cry, “Christ is risen,” we share in the first Eucharist of Easter.
We return on Easter Day to celebrate with joy this love story which we have just enacted. Become part of the Great Three Days—this unfolding drama of love—and then experience with trumpet and song, with word and sacrament the Feast of Easter Day!
[Note: An earlier version of this reflection was shared with the community of Grace Memorial Episcopal Church during my time as Rector there, 1994-2014. The ritual acts described reflect the practices of the community at that time.]
