District superintendent shares his experiences during Holy Week
services.
By Ken Williams
I started Holy Week this year by attending services in Queens, New York, on Palm Sunday, April 16.
We sang a newly composed hymn "Hosanna," written for Palm Sunday by member Serge Volpe. We waved palms and thatched crosses as we remembered the multitudes and children crying out to Jesus "Hosanna to the Son of David." I thanked God that our children know the Lord, seemingly better than we adults do at times.
Pastor Craig Bacheller reminded us in his sermon that the people who praised Jesus turned on him a few days later and cried out for his crucifixion. He concluded that we cannot rely on the praise of people. We must place our trust and lives in God's hands as Jesus did.
The services concluded with baptisms. Two were teenagers.
The Palm Sunday service, the children and the baptisms were still fresh on my mind as my wife, Nancy, Michael, our 17-year-old son, and Tyler, our 21/2-year-old grandson, attended the Lord's Supper service in Rochester.
Tyler heard the instructions for those of us who participated in the footwashing. Tyler said to Nancy, "Ty-ty wants feet washed too!" Tyler heard that Jesus washed his disciples' feet and he was going to have his feet washed too.
Tyler sat in my lap as Dick Orrvick washed his feet. Ty-ty got down, sat on the floor, put his socks back on, and watched intently as Dick and I took turns washing each other's feet. I envied his innocence and enthusiasm.
I experience the truth of Jesus' words when I watch Tyler, "Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself."
Nancy, Tyler and I attended a combined WCG and United Methodist Good Friday service. The sanctuary was darkened in memory of Jesus' death and burial. The cross at the front of the sanctuary was draped with a black shroud.
Leonard Banks, pastor of our church, and Gwen Wilson, pastor of the Genesee Valley United Methodist congregation, conducted the services.
As we listened to them read scriptures recalling Jesus' betrayal, suffering, death and burial, Tyler became agitated. I too was feeling some deep emotions but had put them out of my mind. Church is no place for deep, dark emotions--right?
Wrong! Tyler was teaching me a lesson. The more agitated he became the more nervous I became, and I vainly tried to calm him down. He finally said, "Ty-ty no like church!"
He normally looks forward to church, but that night he didn't like it. The pastors continued reading scriptures describing Jesus' brutal crucifixion. One by one the candles were blown out. The room was growing darker by the moment.
Tyler said out loud, "Ty-ty want the lights on!"
I held him close and whispered: "Tyler, you need to whisper. This is picturing Jesus' death. It's dark because we are remembering Jesus' death."
I didn't expect a two and a half year old to understand, but I was a little desperate. Tyler said with a great deal of emphasis, "Ty-ty no like death!"
I finally realized what was bothering him. He was getting the message of Good Friday loud and clear. He was feeling precisely what I was feeling only he was able to express it. I don't like darkness either. I especially don't like death.
I suddenly realized how effective this service was. Both our grandson and I were agitated by the awareness of death. We love Jesus and he actually suffered an awful death and entered a dark tomb. Neither of us liked it at all. So, I joined him and said, "Papa no like death either, Ty-ty!" He calmed down, and the service ended.
Nancy had told Tyler that it would be better on Easter Sunday. She told him the lights would be on and there would be a white draping on the cross. She explained that God raised Jesus from the dead on Easter Sunday.
The first thing Tyler looked for when he entered the sanctuary was the white cloth on the cross. He pointed it out to his grandmother. We made sure that every light was on at church. Tyler and I made a special trip up to the cross at the front of the sanctuary and enjoyed the beautiful light shining off the white draping. We both agreed that light and life are good.
I enjoyed watching him sing with his usual enthusiasm while his mother and our daughter, Heather, and grandmother, alternately held him during services.
I thanked God for Holy Week, for the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the transformation this gospel has made in our family, and for being alive in Christ.
Ken and Nancy Williams
Craig Bacheller
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2000