Holy Week and Easter in Borrego
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Every spring, the calendar of the Christian churches comes round to the Forty Days of Lent, a time of self examination and reflection, very much like the season of Ramadan in Islam.
These weeks culminate in Holy Weeks, the time from Palm Sunday, this year April 13, till Easter Sunday, April 20. Easter, coming from an Old English word for spring, is the celebration of Jesus being raised from death. But the Resurrection is preceded by several other special days. Called Maundy Thursday from the Latin mandatum or commandment, Thursday in Holy Week commemorates the last supper Jesus had with his disciples.
At this meal he gave them bread and wine to share, this becoming the central sacrament of the church, holy communion or the Eucharist. Thursday also recalls Jesus' washing the feet of his friends as an act of love, a commandment he urged them to continue--their love for each other and all the world. Good Friday seems wrongly named for it is the day of Jesus' death on the cross. Yet this self giving is for Christians the ultimate sign of God's love for all humankind and the world. On the next day, Holy Saturday, towards evening, a vigil service of readings, the proclamation of the resurrection and holy communion begin the Easter celebration. Finally on Easter Sunday services of song, prayer, readings and communion feast the rising of the Lord from death, a promise to all of new life with God and each other forever.
Easter Sunrise Service
This year with sunrise on Easter Sunday, April 20 at 6:09am, the annual Easter Sunrise Service will take place behind the Community Methodist Church on Church Lane. Clergy and members of Borrego churches and all wishing to celebrate will listen to scriptural readings, an anthem by a volunteer choir, a short sermon and hymns and prayers. The Borrego Ministers Association hosts this Sunrise Service and accepts contributions at it for their emergency relief work and food coupons for neighbors in need. St. Barnabas offers holy communion right after the Sunrise service. Later at 9:30am St Barnabas and St Richard's have their Easter Eucharists, Community Methodist holds Easter service at 10am. Holy week services at St. Barnabas are listed elsewhere here in The Sun. Other churches can be contacted for their services and times.
All are invited to these beautiful celebrations of faith and love.
The Rev. Michael Plekon, PhD
Professor Emeritus: Sociology, Religion & Culture The City University of New York - Baruch College
845.380.6343
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