Entering the Three Days

I love the Triduum, the three holy days leading up to Easter.  It is the culmination of a Lenten journey that never ceases to teach me something new each year. 

But the Triduum itself holds a special place in my heart.  I never experienced the entirety of it until I was in seminary in 2006.  That year, on Maundy Thursday, I experienced foot washing and individual absolution for the first time.  I felt the Holy Spirit wash over me that day as one of my favorite professors spoke the words "In accordance to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins" to me.  Wow.  Weight off my shoulders that morning.  Then to watch the stripping of the altar for the first time...to move into Good Friday and Holy Saturday with the Easter Vigil at Holy Trinity in Wrigleyville.  The power of moving through those three days for the first time is something that I will never forget.

That year I got to do it from the pew, still an active participant, but getting to watch.

Now I have the privilege of  leading the foot washing, of speaking the words of absolution, of stripping the altar, leading the Good Friday and Easter Vigil liturgies.  And it is still as powerful of an experience for me as it was sitting in the pew.

And I bet you cannot tell which service is my favorite.

Yes, I love Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.  I yearn for that movement from Golgatha to the empty tomb, the steps from "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" to "At the Lamb's High Feast we sing!"  There is something missing when when one of these days is missed.  Things don't seem right when I hear "Christ is Risen!" when I haven't heard the grief stricken "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Which is why I had to make an extra pass by a church in Oklahoma one day when, at the beginning of Lent, the sign out front said "Christ is Risen!"  We had barely started lent, not even close to Gethsemane...and it felt like something was missing. There is no "Christ is Risen" without a crucifixion. 

But when it comes to the Triduum, there is something about Maundy Thursday that holds my heart more than the other two days.  There is the privilege of getting to wash feet and proclaim absolution.  But the greater privilege is getting to watch folks from the congregation wash each others feet. The gentleness of a parent washing his or her children's feet.  The love of life partners who have been together for years washing each others feet.  The humility of those who will wash any feet presented to them.  There is SO much power in this act, so much Holy Spirit at work when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable to each other and present our feet, manicured or not, scraggly nails, scars, and all, to one another to be washed - whether we need it or not - following the example of our Lord.

If you haven't tried it yet and you're feeling adventurous, give it a go.  Wash the feet of a loved one or a stranger tonight during worship.  Then take a look around you when we go to the table for Holy Communion and note how the spirit has been at work.

Blessings to you as we walk through the Triduum and on to Easter.