We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, who are still here, and we honor with gratitude the land itself and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.
Can you imagine being Mary, the mother of Jesus, that day?
Mary stood there with her sister, with Mary the wife of Clopas, with Mary Magdalene and with the beloved disciple on that dusty, horrid hill, Golgotha, the Place of the Skull. The most sordid of deaths, Roman crucifixions, took place there. Criminals hung on crosses and gasped out the last hours of their lives, and finally, agonizingly, suffocated and died.
Now, Mary is watching her own son hang on the cross. This is the man that she had carried in her body for nine months, and given birth to, loved and cared for as a child. She loved him as he grew up into the man in whom she had complete confidence. She is watching him die an ignominious death on a Roman cross.
Unlike the other Easter services, Tenebrae doesn’t relate to a specific Holy Week event as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.
“Tenebrae” is Latin for shadows. The purpose of the service is to recreate the emotional aspects of the passion story. This is an unusual service with its own Liturgy. There is no music – the readings carry the service. And it’s not from the traditional Gospel readings.
It sets a mood and brings you through the Holy Week story through a set of “shadows”. The shadows move through the agony of last week- Betrayal, Agony of the Spirit, Denial, Accusation, Crucifixion, Death and Burial – symbolized by the lighted candles.
Each shadow generally has a reading from Luke, a Psalm and a hymn. The readings range from Lamentations in the Old Testament to commentary from St Augustine, and at last a reading from Hebrews, in which the theology of God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ is presented for our consideration. The Psalms dominate the service.
This service makes use of the power of light and sound to emphasize the darkness of death. 15 candles are lit and extinguished gradually throughout the service until one is left. The candles are snuffed out as Jesus life was. The candle in the end, the Christ candle, is taken away seemingly saying that evil won. However, dramatically a noise is heard at the end denoting the events of Good Friday and the Christ candle is brought back, a solitary light in the darkness for resurrection into which we depart, indicating that Christ has triumphed.
Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of the Triduum, the last three days of Holy Week, in which our worship flows in one continuous liturgy, beginning with the Maundy Thursday service. “Time is suspended as we ponder and celebrate the great mysteries of our redemption.” The word “Maundy” is derived from Middle English, Old French and from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “commandment,” the first word of the phrase “Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos” (“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you”), the statement we hear from Jesus to his disciples in tonight’s gospel reading.
3. Description of Holy Thursday with the Bible readings and commentaries here.
4. A photo gallery of the service from 2019 can be found here.
I. Theme – Easter celebrates the reality of Jesus’ resurrection in all its many aspects. Hope, Transformation, Evangelism and a new life.
John’s Gospel shows the ability of the risen Christ to bring transformation and hope into the most difficult situations of human pain and grief is powerfully and movingly highlighted. With this encounter, John ‘leads the reader from the empty tomb to that which is the real meaning of the resurrection – the creation of a new relationship between Jesus and those who believe in him.’
The Acts reading emphasizes the broader nature of the resurrection spreads the message of Christ to all and in particular the Gentiles.
The Psalms and Colossians speak to the type of life we receive in Christ.
1. In death to sin, self, and the world (v.3a; cf. 2:20; Rom. 6:6-11)
2. In spiritual resurrection to newness of life (v.1a; cf. 2:12-13; Rom. 6:6, 11)
3. In new, spiritual life, aliveness to God (vv. 3b, 4a; cf. Rom. 6:11, 13)
4. In resurrection glory (v.4b; cf. Rom. 8:17-18; 2 Thess. 1:10)
“Noli Me Tangere” (Touch Me Not) – Correggio (1534)
The week that changed the world continues to change our lives
The Psalms study Mon., April 3, 7:00pmZoom link Meeting ID: 873 0418 9375 Passcode: 092098. We will cover Psalms 15-23 and concentrate on 22 since it is heard on Good Friday, coming up.
Ecumenical Bible Study, Wed., April 4, 10am-12pm in the Parish House.
Meditate on the last hours of Jesus’ life by walking the Stations of the Cross. Mary Peterman’s moving watercolors and the text for each station are on a series of fourteen banners which you will find placed outside the church for quiet meditation either in solitude or in small groups.
