Easter Reflections

Last week, just in case you aren't aware, was Easter! From the moment I got to England my supervisor has been reminding me that Easter is the busiest time of the year in the Anglican Church. After surviving last week, I support that statement 100%. Not only was there a massive amount of preparation that went into each service, but there were added church services and cleaning responsibilities, and food preparation throughout the week. But through all these activities, Easter took on a whole new meaning for me.

Maunday Thursday began with a Blessing of the Oils service at York Minster, in which we gathered oils for baptisms, healings, and confirmations. That service in itself was a lengthy ordeal, where people congregated from all over Yorkshire to pick up the blessed oils for those in their church whom requested them, listen to the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Whitby speak, receive Holy Communion to commence the beginning of Easter weekend, and of course, to enjoy a nice hot cross bun after the service had finished (which fyi was the first time I've ever had a hot cross bun, and it was delicious!).

While at this service I got to talking with the Archbishop of York, who is one of the most jovial people I've ever met. A constant smile on his face, I learned that he had endured many hardships while he lived in Uganda, and that he had to eventually flea the country because his life was in danger. Yet in spite of the difficulties he has encountered, he's incredibly positive and willing to do anything to serve God, even give up his own life. As I was talking with him he mentioned that he was the one who came up with the idea of serving teas, coffees, and hot cross buns after the service, which has now become a yearly tradition. After all, Easter, although a time for reflection on the greatest sacrifice ever given, should be a celebration complete with a party more than a time of somber remembrance, because of the incredible thing that Jesus did for us.

And what a celebration Easter turned out to be. Beginning my day at 4:30am (which is ridiculously early even if you are a morning person!), I helped my supervisor and his family prepare for the breakfast we were serving after the sunrise service on the Westwood pastures, one of my favorite places in Beverley where cows roam freely to graze, people play golf or take their dogs for walks, and families bring their children to play in the wide open fields. I've never been to a sunrise service before for Easter, and this one was incredible. People from multiple congregations came together, singing praises to God as the sun began to peak over the hills waking up the new day, celebrating the fact that Christ conquered sin and death, and we are now free. At the conclusion of the service we had tea, coffee, and an amazing breakfast for everyone to partake in. I honestly haven't seen that many happy people so early in the morning! And what a better way to start Easter, than to begin it with fellowship, breakfast, singing, the glorious sunrise, and excitement over what Jesus has done?

The rest of Easter consisted of more celebrating by helping out at 3 more church services, having a meal with some friends, and then reflecting on the incredible life that Jesus led, as well as all the work related events that I had been involved with throughout Holy Week. A few of these events during the week included a Friday morning service, 24-hour prayer at a fellow church in Beverley, a silent walk throughout the town to reflect on the events of Good Friday, Saturday morning prayer meetings, and various other happenings, but the thing that stood out to me the most wasn't the celebrating or the other ceremonies like the Archbishop talked about. It was our service on Maunday Thursday.

We had a "sample" of a Seder Meal, which is the traditional feast that Jews have to mark the beginning of the Passover. I'd never been to a meal like this before, where each item represents something meaningful and different. To name a few, there was maror (bitter herbs) which represent the bitterness and hardships of slavery, charoset (fruit and nut paste) which represent the material used by the Jews to build storehouses during their time of slavery in Egypt, and 4 cups of wine to symbolize various promises. What an incredible tradition and celebration to have. I was thrilled to be a part of it and to learn a little bit more about the Jewish culture and rituals.

However, the meal wasn't what had the most impact on me. My supervisor was in charge of planning and organizing this service, and he had the brilliant idea to incorporate a foot washing ceremony during the service for the entire congregation, which I certainly thought sounded like a great idea since it could be a very powerful and meaningful event...that is until I learned that I, along with one other woman, were going to be the people washing every one's feet. Now that was something that certainly hadn't made my "must do/experience while in England" list. Yet as I was kneeling at people's tired and worn feet, doing my best to wash them carefully, I couldn't help but think that honestly, I wouldn't just randomly up and decide to wash some one's feet. It's fairly gross, especially when you know that you're going to eat food immediately afterwards and might not have time to wash your hands, and you get an up close and very personal experience with different ideas and levels of the importance of hygiene. But Jesus didn't think like that. He washed people's dirty, disgusting, smelly, and probably pretty messed up feet because they wore sandals all the time, and he did it on his own accord. During a meal. Willingly. Humbly. Full of unconditional love for those he was with, and this was one way he revealed part of how great his love is. He loves us enough to do the ultimate acts of service for us that most people would cringe at doing. Many people in the congregation probably weren't deeply affected by having their feet washed. But what about if Jesus had been there? What would it be like to have your feet washed by Jesus?