Remembering...

In the Christian calendar, Lent officially ends at sundown today. It ends, in many cases, with readings from John 13 - Jesus washing the disciples feet and the eating of the Passover meal that Jesus ate with His disciples. In many gatherings around the world, those assembled will wash one another's feet to re-enact what Jesus did and then they will partake of the bread and the cup together.

Then, as Phyllis Tickle writes, "in stark silence, those serving at the altar will clear away the vessels that have held the wine and bread. They will take such bits and pieces of consecrated bread and wine as may be left and lock them out of both sight and reach in a niche or sanctuary in the chancel wall.

They will clear away next all the cloths and fair linen that have draped the altar, bringing basins of water to wash the altar down, as people watch, many of them crying. No part of the sacred meal may be left. All trace of it must be obliterated. The altar of God's presence is closed while all of Heaven and earth together mourn what is being recalled. Last, the priest or pastor extinguishes the sanctuary light or lamp. It will not burn again until the Easter Vigil when, just after midnight, the cry will go up: He is risen! He is risen indeed!"

I don't know how you will spend the next 3 days. You may attend a gathering or you may not, but I hope that you participate in some sort of remembering. Remembering the story, remembering His life, remembering His death, remembering the groaning of all creation as God is laid to rest in a tomb, then remembering Sunday morning, and remembering to cry out, "He is risen!! He is risen indeed!!"