This evening starts the big push in terms of Holy Week services. In the world of Lutheranism, Catholicism and Episcopalianism (say that three times fast) today is Maundy Thursday. This is the evening that we commemorate the institution of the Lord's Supper by Jesus, and his anguished prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Tomorrow, of course, is Good Friday in which we remember our Lord's sufferings and death on the cross of Calvary. Saturday is the Sabbath rest, we take the day off from services although the tradition was up until about 50 years ago that there was an Easter Vigil service on Saturday Evening. Finally Sunday morning we celebrate Easter, and the resurrection of Christ, which assures us of our own resurrection to eternal life. The services tonight and Friday evening are at 7:0pm, and Sunday we have a Sunrise Service at 7:00am, and a Festival Service at 10:00am. In between will be a breakfast and then an Easter Egg hunt for the little kiddies. My mentor, Pastor Young, was going to lead the service and preach the Good News this evening, but he got sick so I will be driving the bus in his place. That means 4 services in 4 days. Fortunately for me the Good Friday service is a traditional "Tennebrae", or service of darkness. It involves the progressive darkening of the church in seven steps to match the seven statements of Jesus made on the cross. With each statement comes a musical selection and a reading, so there is no message involved. I have pretty much got everything prepared for tonight and Easter Sunday, I just hope that I can keep all of the different services apart in my mind! If you're interested, why not stop in for a service or two...or three?
Our weather continues to be cool and unsettled. each afternoon we see rainshowers dotting the landscape, slowly ending in the evening. Last night there were a few snowflakes at about 9:00pm, and people were freaking out. Everyone seems to forget that it is only the first of April, and we usually see some snowflakes even into May...no big deal! Well, it probably will be a big deal for those who live in the hills and mountains of Washington and Idaho tomorrow into tomorrow night as a good sized, and quite cold, storm system drops in from the northwest. Snow will be stacking up at elevations above about 3,000 feet (the average elevation of Spokane is about 2,000), and in the mountains there will likely be a foot or more by Saturday morning. That's not good news for those traveling mountain passes, but it is good news in terms of water supply, as the mountain snowpack is WAY below normal. In Spokane we will probably see a little snow, but mainly rain tomorrow into tomorrow evening...again, no big deal. The weather will remain cool and at times showery (rain and snow pellets) through the weekend, with high temperatures only in the mid to upper 40s. That is below normal, but very typical for early April.
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