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Home , Date of Easter, Eastertide, Ecclesiastical new moon, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday

CHRIST , EPISCOPAL COOPERSTOWN, NE W YORK

April 1, 2020

Dearly beloved,

When was the last you gave a thought to the lunar ? Not lately, I suspect! And yet the moon’s phases are exactly what fix the dates of our coming Holy Days.

All four of our make clear that was crucified at , the great Jewish feast celebrating God’s deliverance of the people of Israel from slavery in the land of Egypt. It was at the first Passover that lambs were sacrificed so that their blood might mark the doorposts and lintels of the homes of God’s people, and the final, terrible plague of Death might “pass over” the children of Abraham. Every subsequent Passover remembered and reenacted that salvation, and retold the story of how God led his people through the Red Sea to freedom “with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm.”

It was no accident that Christ offered himself for the sins of the whole world at the very time that God’s ancient redemption of his chosen nation was being celebrated in . Jesus on the Cross of became, himself, the true Paschal Lamb. His blood—marking not our doors but our hearts—saves us from Death. By the waters of Baptism we pass through the Red Sea from the bondage of Sin and Death into God’s true freedom in Christ.

So the celebration of the is inextricably linked to Passover. And the date of Passover is very plainly fixed in Scripture: “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover.” The is a , based primarily on the phases of the moon. In ancient Israel, certain agricultural indicators helped to ensure that it stayed close to the solar calendar. For example, Passover would never be celebrated before the barley had begun to ripen. This meant that, even though the phases of the moon came at different each year, Passover (and the other festivals determined by its date, such as ) would still come at the season.

But because Scripture is also quite clear that Jesus rose on a Sunday—“early on the first day of the ”—it has also been necessary for the Church to ensure that is celebrated on a Sunday. The effort to reconcile those dual requirements caused significant controversy over the years. The debate was even a cause for schism! To this day, the Eastern Church uses a different method for calculating the than the Western Church. But all Christians agree that Easter is to be celebrated on a Sunday in the spring, near to the time of the Passover.

CHRIST CHURCH, EPISCOPAL 46 River Street: Church and Chapel 69 Fair Street: Parish House Cooperstown, New York 13326 607-547-9555 www.christchurchcooperstown.org The (in common with the rest of Western ) fixes the date of Easter as “the Sunday after the that occurs on or after the spring equinox on March 21, a date that is fixed in accordance with an ancient ecclesiastical computation, and which does not always correspond to the astronomical equinox.” This means that we cannot change or postpone Easter Sunday any more than we can tweak the phases of the moon.

That can be a challenge any year. (I remember my first rector telling of an irate parishioner who once excoriated him for his poor planning, demanding to know “Why on earth did you schedule Easter during school break?!”) It is a special challenge this year, when public health concerns mean we cannot be together in person for the celebration of “those mighty acts, whereby God has given us life and immortality.”

And yet our socially distanced observance of and the celebration of Easter will proceed all the same. On our website and YouTube channel, Christ Church will offer daily (and sometimes multiple daily) services in Holy Week and on Easter. I will carry out and broadcast the Proper Liturgies for Special Days to the extent that the Prayer Book directs and the rubrics permit. For example, I will bless the palms on , but will wait until we can be together again to distribute them. I will celebrate the Holy Eucharist on (which commemorates the institution of the Eucharist) and at the Great Vigil of Easter, with just one representative worshipper to receive , but even then we will maintain our social distancing and receive in one kind only. Easter will happen at its proper time, in its proper form, and in our accustomed space—even if it is not with its proper and customary grandeur, and we are not physically together for it.

And as every single Sunday is for us a Feast of the Resurrection, we will look forward to the day when we will gather again as one body in God’s house at 46 River Street and proclaim that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

In that true confession and faith, may we offer up the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving in our homes this Holy Week and , and always!

Faithfully,

The Rev’d Dane E. Boston, Rector Christ Church, Cooperstown

HOLY WEEK AND EASTERTIDE 2020

ALL SERVICES ONLINE ONLY—DVD RECORDINGS AVAILABLE

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday—April 5, 2020

- The Blessing of the Palms and the Reading of the Passion , with Sermon.

Holy Monday—April 6, 2020

- Morning Prayer with Sermon, using the Propers for .

Holy Tuesday—April 7, 2020

- Morning Prayer with Sermon, using the Propers for .

Spy —April 8, 2020

- Morning Prayer with Sermon, using the Propers for , concluding with the Great Litany and the Supplication.

- , a service of psalms, readings, and prayers, with the steady extinguishing of candles until we are left in darkness (tenebrae is for “darkness” or “shadows”).

Maundy Thursday—April 9, 2020

- Morning Prayer with Sermon, using the readings for Maundy Thursday.

- Holy Eucharist with Sermon and the Stripping of the , using the Propers of the Day.

Good Friday—April 10, 2020

- Morning Prayer, using the Daily Office readings for .

- The Proper Liturgy for Good Friday, with Solemn , Sermon, and Veneration.

Holy Saturday—April 11, 2020

- The Proper Liturgy for

- The Great Vigil of Easter, with the Lighting of the , the Chanting of the Exultet, the Vigil Lessons, the Renewal of Baptismal Vows, and the First Eucharist of the Feast of the Resurrection.

The Feast of the Resurrection—April 12, 2020

- Festal Mattins with Sermon and Solemn Blessing, using the Propers for Easter Day.