Celebrating “Holy Week” is a fairly new concept for me. Growing up, our church did not have Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services. I had always known that Holy Week was a time when we should mourn what happened to Jesus, but I was in seminary the first time I attended any services like these. At my first Good Friday service, I sang mournfully with the choir, and sadly partook of the bread and drank the wine as if I sat with Jesus on that fateful day. I thought about his arrest and trial as we draped the cross in black fabric and snuffed out all the candles in the sanctuary. We filed out of the sanctuary solemnly and no one spoke until everyone was outside.

            Sunday morning, I walked into the sanctuary and was surprised to see the candles unlit. In fact, I was filled with dread as I saw the cross still shrouded in black and the bread from Friday was still broken and dried out on the altar. I looked at everything and thought, “Is this a mistake? Surely this can’t be right.”

            Then without a word, our pianist began to play, and the choir joyfully sang, “Christ our Lord is risen today….” Church members burst into the sanctuary and bringing light for the candles and white fabric to drape on the cross. The congregation began to sing with the choir, and the whole room was filled with the joy and delight of the dead becoming new again.

            Even now, I remember that Easter morning each time I attend another Easter service. I can only hope that its impact will stay with me for the remaining Easter mornings I celebrate. I can imagine that Jesus’ disciples had a similar experience. No doubt they asked each other, “Is this a mistake?” They were gathered together to regroup, all in similar stages of disbelief and grief, until Mary bursts into the room to shatter their illusions, and in that instant, their lives were changed forever.

Karen Pennings is an editor of FaithSteps