Following Worship at either campus, please join us for a delicious Easter Brunch for all and an Easter Egg Hunt full of goodies for the children.

St. Paul writes, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Big word: Indeed!

Paul is stressing that we must not think of Jesus’ resurrection like a happy ending to another epic fable. The resurrection is not legend. It really happened. Easter is not just a holiday. Easter is history. On time’s infinite line, Jesus’ resurrection is the punctiliar moment that defines reality for us all. If Christ remained dead, he is a fraud and failure. But Christ has indeed been raised. So, the reality: Jesus is exactly what he claimed to be—the Son of God, our Lord and Savior. If Christ remained dead, then the grave is the final, ugly, rotten end of us all. But Christ has indeed been raised. So, the reality is Jesus’ resurrection proves that “all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). The reality of the resurrection does not just change our future, but the way we look at life now.

The greatest theologian of the early church, Augustine, called the season of Easter “a joyful week of weeks”—seven wonderful weeks, each seven glorious days long. In this glorious season, let us meditate upon the breath-taking implications of the resurrection reality. 

Holy Week and the Triduum

Palm Sunday is the sixth Sunday in the season of Lent and the entrance to the climax of the Christian Year—the celebration of the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This week we see vividly what our Savior came to do. We see him suffer and die for our sins and for the sins of the world. And we see him rise triumphantly on Easter morning to assure us that our salvation is complete, the victory is won. 

Prior to the fourth century, Easter Day itself included all three emphases—Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. But the early Church fathers decided that it might be wise to spread those three emphases out over three days. And so Maundy Thursday was formed to commemorate the beginning of Christ’s suffering, as he gathers in the upper room, washing his disciples feet, institutes the Lord’s Supper, then proceeds to the Garden of Gethsemane for prayer. Good Friday was set aside to ponder the intensity of Christ’s passion, as he is put on trial before Pontius Pilate, scourged, and crucified. On the cross, he speaks only seven times before he dies. Finally, the practice of the Easter Vigil was begun. It was not the high festival service of Easter. Rather, it was a service to prepare oneself for that festival. The Vigil was also used as the entrance rite into the Church, as converts were baptized, confirmed, and communed all during the vigil.

The greatest theologian of the early Church, St. Augustine, called these days of special observance, “the most holy Triduum of the crucified, buried, and risen Lord.” (Triduum is Latin for three days.) These days have long been understood as the climax of the Church’s year. Together they form a unit. Therefore, as we celebrate these Three Holy Days, our worship will form a unit—a single service, celebrated over three days, which will take us through our Savior‘s sufferings to his glorious triumph on Easter.