Keeping Holy Week and Easter

Each day, we will post a short article by one of Darton, Longman and Todd’s amazing authors, offering a personal reflection on our current situation in life. Sometimes this will be written with reference to one of their books, and sometimes about how they are living in response to the coronavirus, COVID-19 and our current world situation. We hope it will give you a taste of the depth and diversity of DLT’s list – books for heart, mind and soul that aim to meet the needs and interests of all.

Today’s post is by Leigh Hatts, author of Keeping Lent and Easter: Discovering the Rhythms and Riches of the Christian Seasons. You can buy a copy of the book here.

Keeping Lent and Easter

Research for my two books, Keeping Advent and Christmas and Keeping Lent and Easter, was often very enjoyable as I visited far flung places. Twelfth Night in Cologne, where the Three Kings' relics are to be found, was followed by a dash to Whittlesey near Peterborough for Straw Bear dancing on Plough Monday. Once I flew to Naples for a few hours to experience Vespers and Mass on St Andrew's Day in Amalfi Cathedral.

Even before the sudden onslaught of the present virus, probably fanned by frequent and rapid international travel, I had begun to wonder if I was contributing to environmental damage. It may surprise many to learn that the Epiphany Mass in Cologne Cathedral can be seen at home on television via the computer and the Amalfi webcam allows you to watch the huge silver St Andrew statue being carried at speed up the cathedral steps. I should have stayed longer in Naples to see more and maybe drop in at the Cathedral associated with St Januarius or seek out the Caravaggio paintings in the galleries. Slow research and slow tourism is surely better for everyone and a better investment for the future.

Now we are deep in a slow Lent. We cannot go to church but the rhythm of the liturgical year continues. It's never cancelled. If prayer books are not to hand we have the opportunity to look at the readings and prayers using Magnificat's free download.

Before the lockdown some rural church congregations without a priest were used to gathering on most Sundays for just a liturgy of the word. Reports suggest that those having to do the liturgy themselves and understand the readings found it a surprising experience. I am wondering if trapped in our homes we can find new insights in the familiar passages and the Holy Week story by slow reading.

‘Holy Week ... is the peculiar privilege of Christians and should be their delight, their share in the sacred act of theatre, their most important week of all the year,’ wrote Observer journalist Patrick O’Donovan. This year the liturgical theatre will be reduced, even online, but we can keep the days in our hearts (even if with non-Christians) as Holy Week is a pilgrimage and not a re-enactment. We can enter Jerusalem with Christ, be present at the Last Supper and kneel in the garden of Gethsemane, watch at the foot of the Cross and rejoice on Easter Morning.

I am wondering how I shall feel on Maundy Thursday having to be at home. The Garden of Gethsemane watch, after the evening Mass, has often found me hardly able to keep awake like the disciples as it comes at the end of a day of pre-holiday weekend shopping and sometimes a long journey home. Will I be rested and more able to read slowly the account of that traumatic and at first disorientating night?

Researching and questioning can strengthen faith. The account of Jesus’ movements and actions during Holy Week is open to debate. For example the gospel writers disagree about which day Jesus overturned the tables in the Temple. Was it on his arrival on Palm Sunday when he had been given such a warm welcome or was it on Monday morning?

Our lockdown countdown calendar can be the days of Holy Week and Easter which might give us a better understanding of the landmarks. At this present time there will be no seasonal outdoor customs let alone Vatican spectaculars to be found live on the internet but we can join live worship. Pope Francis's Mass is live daily. Sunday morning Anglican Eucharist is streamed live from The Deanery next to Shakespeare's Globe on Bankside. Both are extraordinarily powerful in their intimacy and simplicity.

I revived my blog in March during the week we entered isolation and when the Annunciation reminded us that it was nine months to Christmas. There will be death and heartache but at the end of year, and months of thought and renewal, I pray that many of us will be refreshed and thankful. We might be able to enjoy the most thoughtful and restrained Christmas of our lives as we start a new Christian year back in church.