Holy Week at Whirlow 2010
Our Holy Week journey this year offers an opportunity to meditate and pray with the Gospel set for this year as St Luke leads us through the Passion of Jesus in his distinctive way. He draws attention to Jesus’ enormous desire, compassion, and capacity to forgive and trust, that are at the heart of his Gospel.
Only Luke tells us of Jesus’ eager desire to share the Passover with his apostles, of angelic help and his sweating drops of blood in his agony of prayer on the Mount of Olives, of Simon of Cyrene being made to carry Jesus’ cross, and three of the most gracious and trusting words of Jesus during his crucifixion….
… for those crucifying him: ‘Father, forgive them,
for they do not know what there are doing’
… to the penitent thief who asked to be remembered:
‘Today you will be with me in paradise.’
… to his heavenly Father:
‘Into your hands I commend my spirit.’
In each service there will be a reading of the key text with a short introductory reflection to help personal meditation and praying the Scripture stories in the following silence.
A simple preparatory prayer throughout the week can be:
Father, place me with you Son.
The well tried ways of praying the Scriptures are:
Lectio divina: reading the text slowly, ruminating on the phrases that attract personal reflection, responding in personal prayer to Jesus and/or the Father, and resting quietly where the prayerful meditation eventually leads.
Imaginative contemplation: after reading the text and settling into the quiet, entering the passage imaginatively, using one’s senses, to become present to, or in the event, watching it unfold and so being affected by it, even talking with the characters, and then with Jesus and his Father, letting intuition and the Spirit lead you.
Of course, there is no ‘right way’ of praying the Scriptures; just the prayer that happens as we seek to be with Jesus in his passion. Praying with such significant Scriptures can lead to deeply empathic prayer with no images, just deep feelings, or even a kind of struggle, or blankness as we are touched within by what Jesus went through.
After any period of prayer it can be helpful to review and notice, without analysing, what happened while praying, such as: where your focus was, how you were and are affected, where you are as you end and prepare to leave, recalling what did you ask for initially and recognising what has happened. Asking to be ‘placed with God’s Son’ is to ask to be within Jesus in his passion. Noticing the effects are clues about that prayerful engagement.
Special features during the week:
On Maundy Thursday we will be gathering for a simple shared meal at 7pm which will be a taste of Passover before meditation and sharing the eucharist. You will need to book for this on the enclosed form.
Mount of Olives (Gethsemane) Vigil: after a short ‘comfort’ break, after the eucharist, the vigil will begin at 9pm. You may wish to stay on, or come then, and leave when you wish. It will end by 10.30pm
The Three Hour service on Good Friday (12noon–3pm) is structured so that people can come and go to honour other commitments. Details of the main sections are in the fuller timetable overleaf.
On Good Friday evening at 7pm there will be a meditation on the burial of Jesus and the great silence of Holy Saturday begins.
Holy Saturday evening this year will be an opportunity for personal meditation and vigil with freedom to arrive and leave when one wishes between 7pm – 8.30pm. Material will be available suggesting ways of using this holy silence.
Easter Day begins at 6.30am as we prepare to greet the Risen Christ, renew our faith, share the Eucharist before going down to the house for a wonderful Whirlow breakfast! You will need to book for breakfast on the enclosed form.
Using the timetable overleaf you can plan your way through Holy Week, engaging when you can, and also keeping periods of quiet at home, to prayerfully be with the Passion of Jesus according to St Luke.
Costs: With your booking form, please enclose a gift for the services, adding £8.50 for Maundy supper & £10 for Easter breakfast if desired.
Timetable for Holy Week 2010 at Whirlow Chapel
with themes for meditation.
Please the variation in times
Palm Sunday 7pm - 8pm Towards Jerusalem
Monday 7.30 - 8.30pm Temple and conflict
Tuesday 7.30 - 8.30pm Teaching and rejection
Wednesday 7.30 - 8.30pm Testings and Temptations
Maundy 7pm - 8.50pm The Last Supper
Thursday Agape Meal & Eucharist
9pm -10.30pm Mount of Olives: Vigil
Good Friday 12noon – 3pm in half hours
12noon Condemned
12.30pm Carrying the Cross
1pm Father, forgive them
1.30pm King of the Jews
2pm Jesus, remember me
2.30pm Into your hands
Good Friday Eve 7pm – 8pm Burial of Jesus and
the silence of God
Holy Saturday 7-8.30pm Sabbath rest in God
Easter Sunday 6.30am -9am The Empty Tomb
Eucharist and breakfast
Holy Week at Whirlow 2010
Praying the Passion of Jesus
with St Luke
Opportunities for daily meditation and quiet
led by Revd Graham Pigott with Revd Philip Roderick
Palm Sunday 28th March
to Easter Day 4th April
Whirlow Grange Christian Spirituality Centre
Ecclesall Road South, Sheffield S11 9PZ
www.whirlowgrange.co.uk
What's on at Whirlow
Holy Week at Whirlow 2010
28/03/2010Praying the Passion of Jesus with St Luke Opportunities for daily meditation and quiet led by Revd Graham Pigott with Revd Philip Roderick.