Top 10 Links for Holy Week

Holy Week is the most significant week on the Christian calendar, beginning with Palm Sunday and concluding with Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. There are many sites providing information on the events and traditions of Holy Week. Here’s a “Top 10 list” of ones we have found useful.

• Holy Week: General background and history from Ken Collins’ web site.
• All About Holy Week: Comprehensive information from ChurchYear.net.
• Bible Verses for Holy Week: A walk through of the key Scriptures for the week’s events, from BeliefNet.
• The Cross: Quotations to stir the heart and mind during Holy Week
• Why ‘Good’ Friday?: Some background on the title of the day’s commemoration.
• Family Activities for Holy Week: Thoughts on ways your family can take time each day to appreciate the importance of the Easter story.
• The Events of Holy Week: A guide to helping your children understand the events of Holy Week,
• The Science of the Crucifixion: Cahleen Shrier Ph.D., a biology professor from a Christian university, examines the physiological details of crucifixion.
• A Physician Testifies About the Crucifixion: A scientific look at the details of what crucifixion was like and what Our Lord endured.
• Stations of the Cross: From Catholic Online.

Easter Drama: 12 Voices

Today we highlight The Twelve Voices of Easter, which examines the events of Good Friday through the eyes of 12 different witnesses. It’s presented in Real Audio by the Back To The Bible radio ministry of Dr. Woodrow Kroll. Here’s a summary:

In Christ’s hours of dark sorrow, from His arrest in the garden to His agonizing death on the cross, friends and followers abandoned Him and foes assailed Him. Yet voices of faith and adoration were still heard among the uncelebrated players in the Easter story – a common criminal, a Roman soldier and a weary traveler. … The Easter story demands a verdict. Ambivalence toward Jesus, as Pilate learned, is unbelief. Will you join the voices of Mary Magdalene, Cleopas, Thomas and others, and recognize that Jesus is the risen Lord, the Savior of sinful man? Like Peter, you will discover that Jesus longs to offer you forgiveness and a second chance.

Christian Answers

The Resurrection has always been central to Christ’s claims and identity, the verification that He was “more than a carpenter,” as Josh McDowell notes. McDowell is a leading voice in Christian Apologetics, the branch of theology devoted to the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity. During Lent, as more people ponder the historical accounts of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, apologetics resources can be helpful in equipping you to respond to the skepticism you may encounter in sharing your faith with spiritual seekers.

One of the best Internet resources on apologetics is Christian Answers, a ministry focused on “providing biblical answers to contemporary questions for all ages and nationalities.” Of special interest at this time of year is The Resurrection, featuring Easter-related questions and answers. That includes specific responses to the “six skeptical objections” most frequently leveled by critics of Christ’s resurrection.
I don’t know that you can argue anyone into the Kingdom. But I’m convinced that when non-believers ask skeptical questions, they do so because they’re looking for something to believe in. Having confident, Biblical answers to tough questions is a way to demonstrate that your faith is making a difference in your life – just as it can in theirs.

Why 40 Days?

From the earliest days of the church, the observance of Easter has always included a period of spiritual preparation beforehand. In the second century, Iraneus wrote of a period of two or three days of reflection. It is believed the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. first discussed a 40-day period, noting the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert preparing for ministry. Around the year 600, Pope Gregory the Great set the period of Lent as 46 days – 40 days not counting Sundays, which were already celebrations of the Resurrection – which meant the season would commence on a Wednesday.

Observations of Lent differ. The theme is always one of penance and prayer, with a focus on spiritual discipline that often includes fasting. This is a particular emphasis of the Roman Catholic church, which has guidelines for fasting during Lent. In the Eastern Orthodox church, Lent begins on Clean Monday, 55 days before eastern Easter. That’s That’s forty days, not counting the Saturdays or the Sundays.

In every tradition, the spiritual focus sharpens in Holy Week, the final week before Easter, in which Christians recall the events leading to Christ’s betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death and Resurrection. The “Easter season” follows and lasts 50 days, ending on Pentecost Sunday, which this year falls on May 31

The Date of Easter

What date is Easter? That’s easy, you might say – April 12!

Well, it’s April 12 this year. But Easter is one of those holidays that falls on a different date each year, based on a formula that dates back to 325 A.D., when the Council of Nicea laid down ground rules based on the Gregorian Calendar. The formula was adjusted slightly in 1582 to account for leap years. The variables include lunar cycles, and are explained in detail here and here, along with the dates for Easter for many years to come. You can also use the Easter Date Calculator from Holidays.net. Easter always falls between March 22 and April 25.

In the Western church, that is. Orthodox Christians follow a slightly different formula for setting the date of Easter, explained at this web page and in some detail here. The difference dates back to the changes in 1582, at which point the Eastern church had already separated from Rome. In most years, Orthodox Christians observe Easter a week or more later than the “Western” church. This year Orthodox churches will observe Easter on April 19.

Resources for Reflection

It’s a good time to reflect upon our spiritual goals for the season, and prepare our hearts and minds for Lent. A good resource is Praying Through Lent and Easter, a collection of prayers and devotions from Fr. Victor Hoagland of Bread on the Waters. He belongs to the Passionists, an order of Catholic priests committed to “make a special promise to promote the memory of the passion of Jesus by word and deed. ”

Another fine resource comes from Richard Fairdchild, who maintains an extensive collection of Easter-related links as part of his Kir Shalom web ministry, where Richard has shared an Ash Wednesday worship service, which may prove a source for reflection or ideas for tomorrow. Richard has also put together a great Sermon and Lectionary Resource Site.

The Reason for Ashes

With the coming of  Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, it’s a good time to examine and reflect upon the purpose of the ashes. The following overview comes from the Catholic Online Ash Wednesday explainer:

Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. The distribution of ashes comes from a ceremony of ages past. Christians who had committed grave faults performed public penance. On Ash Wednesday, the Bishop blessed the hair shirts which they were to wear during the forty days of penance, and sprinkled over them ashes made from the palms from the previous year. Then, while the faithful recited the Seven Penitential Psalms, the penitents were turned out of the church because of their sins– just as Adam, the first man, was turned out of Paradise because of his disobedience. The penitents did not enter the church again until Maundy Thursday after having won reconciliation by the toil of forty days’ penance and sacramental absolution.

The Upper Room magazine adds to our understanding of the tradition:

Ashes are placed on the forehead, usually in the sign of a cross, in a ritual known as the Imposition of Ashes. As the ashes are placed on the forehead, words such as these are spoken: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return,” recalling God’s words to Adam in Genesis 3:19.

Welcome to Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Our morning link today is the Ash Wednesday page at Annie’s Homepage, which offers a dazzling array of links on nearly every subject of interest to Christians. Annie’s Ash Wednesday page provides background on the use of ashes in penitential practices, and reviews Scripture references.

Ash Wednesday

Welcome to Easter in Cyberspace for 2009 on this Ash Wednesday. These sites provide an in-depth look at the traditions associated with Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten season.

• Ash Wednesday: From Catholic Online.
• Ash Wednesday, Lent and Easter: History of the church calendar during Lent, from Answers in Action.
• Ash Wednesday Primer: From BeliefNet.
• The Significance of Ashes: An explanation from the Upper Room magazine.
• Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday: Informative links from the Family Sourcebook for Lent and Easter.
• Ash Wednesday Liturgy: A worship service developed by Richard Fairchild.
• Sermons for Ash Wednesday: Specific messages for Ash Wednesday worshio services, ncluding “The Gospel According to Angelica Pickles” (for Rugrats fans).
• What’s the Reason for Ashes on Ash Wednesday?: An explanation and history from Ken Collins’ excellent Christian holiday site.
• Ash Wednesday: Our shifting understanding of Lent: People who seldom come to Church the rest of the year will come for ashes. How did this practice become such an important part of the lives of so many believers?
• Ash Wednesday Prayers: Several simple prayers from Victor Hoagland.
• Ash Wednesday: Summary of observances from ReligionFacts.com.
• Ash Wednesday: Some nice links from the “Ashes to Easter” web site.

Easter Preaching and Sermons

The Easter season can be a challenging time for preachers, requiring messages that resonate with both members and newcomers drawn to the church for Lent and Easter. These resources may prove useful to pastors preparing messages for Lent, Holy Week and Easter.

• Sermon & Lectionary Resources: Excellent links here for sermon preparation.
• Easter Sermons: Topical messages from Martin Luther, John Chrysostom and present-day leaders.
• Easter & Resurrection Articles Archive: Sermons and essays about Easter from the Rev. R.F. Wilson of WilsonWeb.
• Sermons from Seattle: Holiday thoughts from Pastor Edward F. Markquart, the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church.
• Eighteen Easter Sermons: From Dr. Ray Pritchard of Keep Believing Ministries.
• Easter Sermons: A collection of holiday messages from SermonLinks.
• Easter: This message from Kenneth Baily of the Newton Highlands Congregational Church kicks off with an oft-used Easter joke.

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