Maundy Thursday & Good Friday

The rubber meets the road at Maundy Thursday, and doesn't stop till Easter Sunday afternoon.

I was pleased with the service on Thursday. The altar guild ladies really came through, so the prep and divesting went smoothly. The gentleman who did the dramatic reading (from the perspective of Judas) did a nice job, spoke clearly and good pacing. It was a reading that could have been much more dramatic and have lots of umph, but I am just grateful I had someone willing to do it and practiced it. 16 people showed up for the service, which is 6 more than the average Sunday attendance at this small church. The extra 6 were made up by people from the largest church in the parish who came over for the service. We would have had a good number from the little church in the country too, but the roads got icy in that direction, so they all stayed put.

Tonights Good Friday service was very good. It really emphasized the cross, and kept everyone's attention on the theme through readings, music and extinguishing candles. The pacing was good, and the reaction to my sermon was very positive. It was a satisfying night as a pastor. Since this service was supposed to be at the church in the country, but got moved to the biggest church because of bad roads, I arranged for the ushers to be from the little church. It felt right to keep that connection. There was a decent turn out, and I was relieved that the weather and road conditions cooperated overall.

RevDad and I are pretty exhausted right now, but not ready to sleep. We both need to finish our Easter Sunday sermons. But it will be nice to have tomorrow free of services. There is an Easter egg hunt tomorrow morning in the town RevDad works in. When we get back from that, we'll color and decorate our eggs. It'll be a nice day!