HOLY WEEK ON TELEVISION

It just wasn’t the same, but, then, how could it be? Society, by and large, was shut down, our churches included, and necessarily so. And they will continue to be shut down, no matter what the President says, as long as we do not feel safe. God understands and so do we, thank God! But we could still worship as best we could – and we did!

Arlena and I “attended” Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter services on television but truly not as spectators but as worshippers. There were three superb sermons, devout liturgies and wonderful music even with no real congregation present in the churches. They made due and we made due. It was the best we all could do given the circumstances which were totally out of our control.

What was in our control was staying safe, doing what we could do to keep well and keep in contact with the ones we love: family and friends. We made masks for our loved ones and got them out into the mail garbed in one of the masks we made. We ordered food from Aldi and Kroger (via our daughter) for Arlena’s Mom and for ourselves. We watched a lot of old movies, worked puzzles (me), did needlework (Arlena) and took long walks. The one Easter morning was eerie. We walk parallel to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. There were times, sometimes for almost a minute, when we say no one on the road: a sign of these times.

Back to last week’s worshipping experience. Apart from the truth that I hope we never have to do this again, I feel uplifted. I was reminded in one sermon that so much that I – all of us, if I may speak for all of us – take for granted, should not be taken for granted in the future: a conversation over coffee, fun at the ball park, children running free. On Good Friday I was reminded that, as I have always believed that there is always resurrection, that resurrection does not come in three days or sometimes and often in three months. But it comes.

And, finally, the Presiding Bishop on Easter, reminded us that it is Easter, the tomb was and is empty. As the women back then who went to the tomb were surprised by what they found, namely an empty tomb, so, too, we will be surprised by what we will find this Easter and the days to come all because that tomb was empty. Our God was there back then and our God is here right now. And our God will see us through.

This past Holy Week, probably more than ever before, at least for me, celebrating alone with my wife while sitting in comfortable seats, doing what we could do to help the helpers and, of course, ourselves, was probably the best Holy Week of my life. Yes, I missed what everyone else missed: being with family and friends, sharing worship together, renewing our Baptismal Promises: all that. But more than that, the message of Holy Week and Easter remains: there is resurrection. There will always be resurrection. That is the Easter promise. That is what we believe. That is what we know.