• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board of Directors
          • Board Minutes
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • What We Do
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • 3 Great Loves
        • Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faith Forming Publications & The Pilgrim Press
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • Washington DC Office
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote 2020
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • Faith INFO
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search & Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Engagement
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Strengthen the Church
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
        • Disaster Relief
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • Column
  • Into the Mystic
  • Holy Week

Holy Week

by Dorhauer, John | published on Mar 29, 2021

Listen to the podcast

Read the transcript

From the triumphant entry into Jerusalem that opens Holy Week on Palm Sunday to the last rousing hymn of resurrection hope that we sing to close worsip on Easter Sunday, I love everything about Holy Week.

Sure, most of us are going to have another virtual experience with it, but we have come to see that even in a virtual world the elements of good worship are present.

How about let’s all close our eyes and rehearse the snapshots that set this week apart. With each image we can conjure, let’s pause for a moment and see where the sacred wants to speak to us this week.

I see the children marching down the aisle waving their palms while the congregation sings “All Glory, Laud, and Honor.”

I hear the story unfold of how Jesus sent the disciples into the nearby town to purchase a donkey.

I thrill as we hear of a first cheer from a crowd this week: “Hosanna in the Highest!”

I pause for a moment in a foreshadowing of the crowd that will chant something very different later in the week.

My pulse quickens a bit as we hear about the turning over the tables in the temple.

I wander forward to a table set for a last meal. It will be here that the betrayer and the denier share bread and cup with each other and their companions.

I see the towel and the bowl.

I hear the quiet, contemplative, plaintive rendition of “Were You There.”

I feel again the confusion of the disciples listening to Jesus talk about his crucifixion, wonder at their indifference as they fall asleep as he prays with them in Garden, and try to imagine their shock and fear as the soldiers arrive to take him away.

Anger rises as I hear the equivocations of the magistrate who washes his hands of the matter. It peaks as a second crowd assembles. How did we get from our Hosannas to ‘crucify him’ so quickly?

I weep as we speak again of the crown of thorns, the sword in the side, the nails in the hand.

Father forgive them.

You will be with me in paradise.

Lama sabachtoni. My God, why have you forsaken me.

And then the darkness.

The silence.

The death.

The burial.

The disbelief.

The disappointment.

The grief.

The women at the tomb.

The empty tomb.

The Angel.

The apparition.

The dawning awareness of a hope against hope; a resurrection; a triumph over the grave.

He lives.

He lives and so shall we.

A Hallelujah.

A Gloria in Exelcsis Deo.

An Easter.

Yes, our grief is turned to joy once again on this, our journey Into the Mystic.

Categories: Column Into the Mystic

Related News

Witness for Justice
Witness for Justice

History Is Made

Minister for Economic Justice History is made, and the United Church of Christ was part of...

Read More
Into the Mystic

An Existential Wound

Listen to the podcast https://soundcloud.com/theucc/an-existential-wound Read...

Read More
Witness for Justice
Witness for Justice

Waiting to Exhale

Minister for Youth and Young Adult Engagement For nearly two weeks, attention has been fixed on...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2021. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative