Holy Week at Home Saint John’s Lutheran Church 587 Springfield Ave. Summit, NJ 07901 908.273.3846 | www.stjohnssummit.org Palm Sunday at Home Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week. This is Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As he enters the city, people cut branches from the trees and laid them on the path before Jesus. They also took off their coats and laid them along the road too. Jesus rode not a big white horse but on a lowly donkey. He came to Jerusalem as the Messiah and our king, but as a humble king. As he rode into the city, all the people—even children—shouted “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” Hosanna means “Lord, save us” but it also has a second meaning of praise. We are like the crowd—we praise Jesus, our King, and we ask Jesus, our Lord, to save us. Normally on Palm Sunday we all get palm branches and join in parading around the church. This year is different. We cannot join as a crowd in church, we cannot hand out palm branches, and we cannot form a procession. But we can still observe Palm Sunday! Here are a few ideas to observe Palm Sunday at home: • Collect Branches: In scripture it says the people cut branches, it doesn’t actually say palm branches. There is a long tradition of Christians cutting branches from trees and bushes near their own homes for Palm Sunday. In fact, until fairly recent times, many Christians around the world had no way to have palm branches shipped to them. So here is what you can do. Go outside and collect some branches, reeds, pussy willow, etc. Bring them into your home as a visual reminder of Palm Sunday. • Color a Palm Branch: Included is a coloring page you can color and cut out of a palm branch. Make as many palm branches as you wish. Wave them and spread them on the ground. Keep them as a reminder of Palm Sunday throughout Holy Week. • Have a Parade: With your branches or colored palms form a parade around the house or around your yard/neighborhood. As you go, shout “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” Maybe sing “Sing Hosanna” or “All Glory, Laud, and Honor.” Maundy Thursday at Home Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday, is the fifth day of Holy Week and the first day of the Triduum—or The Great Three Days. This is the night that Jesus gathers with his disciples for one last meal—the Last Supper. It took place on the important Jewish holiday of Passover when Jews share a meal and remember how God brought them out of slavery in Egypt and saved them. Jesus did several usual things at this meal. He began by washing the disciples’ feet. Washing feet was common in Jesus’ day because people wore sandals and the roads were muddy. Normally you washed your own feet or this was a job for a servant, but washing feet was not something a teacher, leader, and certainly not your Messiah would do. Jesus said he was washing their feet as a servant and that we ought to wash one another’s feet. Jesus wants his followers to be servants of all people. Jesus said he was giving us a new commandment “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” In Latin the word for commandment is mandatum, which is where we get the tradition of calling this day Maundy Thursday. During the meal Jesus did some unusual things too. In Jewish tradition there are many blessings over bread and wine and food. However, Jesus at the Last Supper not only blessed bread and wine but he also said “This is body given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me” and “This is my cup of the new covenant. Shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sins. Do this for the remembrance of me.” Jesus promised to be with us in the eating of the bread and drinking of the wine. We are to remember him each time we eat it. This special meal became for Christians what we call Holy Communion. This year our Maundy Thursday is going to be different. We will not be able to gather together in church for the washing of feet and the celebration of Holy Communion. You might consider having a special meal this night and including the elements below. Maundy Thursday Meal Prayer at the Start of the Meal Holy God, source of all love, on the night of his betrayal, Jesus gave us a new commandment, to love one another as he loves us. Write this commandment in our hearts, and give us the will to serve others as he was the servant of all, your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Blessing Over Wine Blessed are you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe. You create the fruit of the vine; and you refresh us with the cup of salvation in the Blood of your Son Jesus Christ. May the time come quickly when we can share that cup again, even as you are with us now in our very thirst for you. Glory to you for ever and ever. Amen. Blessing Over Bread Blessed are you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe. You bring forth bread from the earth; and you feed us on our way with the bread of life in the Body of your Son Jesus Christ. Let us be fed again soon with that bread of life. And as grain scattered upon the earth is gathered into one loaf, so gather your Church in every place into the kingdom of your Son. To you be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. Reading During Dinner: Exodus 12:1-4; 11-14 Translation: Common English Bible 1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month will be the first month; it will be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole Israelite community: On the tenth day of this month they must take a lamb for each household, a lamb per house. 4 If a household is too small for a lamb, it should share one with a neighbor nearby. You should divide the lamb in proportion to the number of people who will be eating it. 11 This is how you should eat it. You should be dressed, with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. You should eat the meal in a hurry. It is the Passover of the Lord. 12 I’ll pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I’ll strike down every oldest child in the land of Egypt, both humans and animals. I’ll impose judgments on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be your sign on the houses where you live. Whenever I see the blood, I’ll pass over you. No plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 “This day will be a day of remembering for you. You will observe it as a festival to the Lord. You will observe it in every generation as a regulation for all time. Discussion Questions • This is part of the story of the Israelites exodus from Egypt and the Passover. Why do you think it is called Passover? • What are the people supposed to do? What is God going to do? • Did this meal and event happen once in history and then it was over? What are we supposed to all these generations later? Reading During Dinner: John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Translation: The Message 1-2 Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal. 3-6 Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.” 8 Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet— ever!” Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.” 9 “Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!” 10-12 Jesus said, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you’re clean. But not every one of you.” (He knew who was betraying him.