In this Holy Week edition of Forward Today, Scott suggests you try attending every service of the Three Holy Days this year, writing, “It is a big time commitment, for sure. But there is no better way to spend time with Jesus, to see him differently.”
Dear friends in Christ,
Holy Week is the most important week of the year for Christians. For this week, we remember the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Tomorrow we enter into the mystery and awe of the Three Holy Days. We will mystically journey to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is mystically made real for us. It is a kind of pilgrimage, without leaving our physical communities.
My experience as a parish priest is that some people liked to skip one or more of the services of the Three Holy Days. Some people don’t like the idea of foot washing. Others prefer not to attend the solemn, and sorrowful, Good Friday service. I’ve run into people who think the Great Vigil of Easter is “too long” so they don’t come.
When I was a parish priest, I used to make this promise. And I still stand by it. If you come to all three services of the Three Holy Days, it will change your life. You will leave the Great Vigil of Easter with a deeper faith and a renewed purpose. Try it. And then let me know if it worked for you, especially if you’ve never gone through all three services.
It is a big time commitment, for sure. But there is no better way to spend time with Jesus, to see him differently. For you will meet him in friendship, in tender care, in betrayal, in sorrow, in agony, in death, and in resurrection. And in all this, you will have new insights into God’s great love for you.
Blessings to you as we approach with awe the most important days.
Yours faithfully,
Scott Gunn
Executive Director
Today’s featured sale item is Derek Olsen’s Inwardly Digest: The Prayer Book as Guide to a Spiritual Life.
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