As a kid, I remember going to Tenebrae service in the evening of Good Friday. We were supposed to leave in silence. At my home congregation, we didn't have the practice of leaving in silence on Thursday night, nor gathering in silence on Saturday evening (because there wasn't a vigil on Saturday night). I don't even remember anything particularly somber about gathering on Friday. But leaving? Yeah. Quiet. Serious. No hand-shaking and chatting. Just leave the building and go home.
I know that some people say that's just a tradition that's about feeling and mood, and it's not important. My brain can acknowledge that. But my tradition isn't exactly okay with it.
My parents had some friends; Roy worked with Dad; they were members of the same congregation; and we often went out for pizza with them on Friday nights. One year, Roy and Carolyn came to church on Good Friday. That wasn't normal for them. They were Sunday attendees, and rarely come for midweek services. After church, they approached my folks in the parking lot. They suggested we go out to a nearby restaurant for a milkshake.
We did. Bright lights. Treats. Cheery waitress.
That was weird.
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I don't remember this tradition in my home congregation. We might have left in silence, but I honestly don't remember that. I do know that now, as an adult it reminds me to think about why it is different. Not to mention how many times I answer the kids' questions about "why we do this." And with the different rhythm to Holy Week services, there are lots and lots of questions from the kids, every year, about why.
ReplyDeleteAnd I remember Moses telling the people, "And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' you shall say, "'It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'"