Friday Five: Time Out Edition

Sally in the UK, writing for RevGalBlogPals, reminds us:

Holy Week is almost upon us, I suspect that ordained or not, other revgal/pals calendars look a bit like mine, FULL, FULL, FULL.....

Jesus was great at teaching us to take time out, even in that last week, right up to Maundy Thursday he withdrew; John's gospel tells us he hid! He hid not because he was afraid, but because he knew that he needed physical, mental and spiritual strength to get through...

So faced with a busy week:

1. What restores you physically?
Sleep. I have to remind myself to get enough, which really means going to bed at a reasonable hour. Sleeping in just doesn't work for me. Naps can be useful, but in a busy week, they normally can't happen.
2. What strengthens you emotionally/ mentally?
Reading breaks! My busy week will be coming after Easter, when Onkel Hankie Pants and I will be training for census work. It will be my first 40-hour work week in several years. I also expect it will be fun and interesting, but you know I will have a paperback in my purse to read at lunchtime!
3. What encourages you spiritually?
Thinking about the RevGalBlogPals who are actually "RevGals" and all they do.
4. Share a favourite poem or piece of music from the coming week.

Well, this is the one that has to be sung on Maundy Thursday. Another time I posted the Johnny Cash and the Carter Family version; here's another quite different, an 8,000 voice Welsh male choir. I sure do love those Welsh choirs!

But I couldn't resist adding another one; this is an instrumental version of a song I sang in my only choir experience, at the Sunday school in the fire station back in 1958.

5.There may be many services for you to attend/ lead over the next week; which one are you most looking forward to and why? If there aren't do you have a favourite day in Holy week? If so which one is it?

Actually there are just three, and I only have to attend them, no other responsibilities. Of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter, each has its special moments, but over the past many years my favorite has been Maundy Thursday. Last year I attended that service for the first time since I moved and joined a new church. It was different from what I was used to; a fairly small attendance, and a more meditative feel, less traditional. But I liked it. My problem with Easter at this new-to-me, much larger church, is that even with two services instead of the usual one, it's very, very crowded with C&E attenders, and I can expect all seven (!!!) musical groups to perform; it's one of the days when I feel more like a spectator than a worshiper. The Maundy Thursday service is just the opposite.

Tuneful Tuesday: Holy Week

Just when you thought it was safe, here is another Tuneful Tuesday. Other RevGalBlogPals have been posting about favorite Holy Week music. Most of it has been classical in nature, and that's fine. But I like a lot of kinds of music, and I've found a few songs for the rest of Holy Week, some of which you may not necessarily hear in church. I was able to find good versions of some of them on YouTube, but for others I'm just linking to the CyberHymnal for anyone who doesn't already know them.

Tuesday (today): Although the story about Jesus weeping for Jerusalem precedes Palm Sunday, I'm putting When Jesus Wept, by the early American composer William Billings, on this day. I wish I could link to a performance of it by the Women's Quartet from my old church -- they had a beautiful a cappella arrangement. Failing that, the best I could come up with was this one which is the accompaniment to a dance. I lack the dance gene, both in performing it and watching it, but maybe some of you will be able to appreciate it. This version mixes "When Jesus Wept" with Lewis Allen's "Strange Fruit" ( the Billie Holiday song about lynching). It's very powerful. The words for "When Jesus Wept" are:

When Jesus wept, the falling tear in mercy flowed beyond all bound.
When Jesus groaned, a trembling fear seized all the guilty world around.

Wednesday: Did you know that Wednesday in Holy Week is sometimes called "Spy Wednesday" because it is thought that that was the day Judas Iscariot conspired to betray Jesus? Now, I'm a Trinitarian Universalist. (I don't think that's an official denomination at this point, but I could be wrong). So, I think that somehow, Judas found redemption too. Thus for today I choose the old altar call hymn, Just As I Am, which reminds us that we don't have to perfect ourselves -- "Just as I am, thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve."

Maundy Thursday: When I was in college I used to go to Hillel dinners on occasion. I was interested in Judaism and also, the food was great! During and after dinner, zemirot were sung: special hymns that are typically sung at table. Matthew's Gospel makes reference to Jesus and the disciples singing a hymn before they went out to the Mount of Olives. Kate Campbell has written and performed The Last Song, which imagines Jesus leading a song in which the disciples join. Listen and imagine.

Good Friday: Well, given that I've purposely eliminated classical music, there are still two pretty obvious choices for this day. One is called "Crucifixion" on the Marian Anderson recording I have, although it's more often referred to as "He Never Said a Mumbalin' Word." However, I couldn't find a rendition to link to. Seek out that CD, Marian Anderson Spirituals -- it is beautiful.
So, then there is the spiritual without which many people I know cannot imagine Holy Week. Whether it's sung on Thursday by churches with no Good Friday service, on Friday, or, as at Up the Hill UMC, by women climbing Tower Hill for the Easter Sunrise Service, we need to hear or sing "Were You There?" In this video, a young and tortured-seeming Johnny Cash sings it with the Carter Family.


Holy Saturday: I don't really associate any particular song with this day, but as I imagine the disciples and how they were feeling, I think they needed balm for their souls. So here is one of my favorites, "There Is a Balm in Gilead," sung by the immortal Paul Robeson.


Easter Vigil: I have never done this. It's not really in the Congregational tradition! But I found this while looking for hymns -- part of the Easter Vigil at St. Gregory of Nyssa, a unique (as far as I know) Episcopal church in San Francisco. Cordeliaknits is taking a confirmation class there as part of their exploration of other faiths and denominations. This is very different from anything I'm used to, and I'm not sure if I could do it regularly, but it is plainly worship.

Easter Sunrise: Supposedly, when The New Century Hymnal was being prepared, this gospel song (not a hymn, as it is not addressed to God) received the most votes both for and against its inclusion. Wisely, the committee included it and added the story behind it; it is meant to convey the feelings of Mary Magdalene on the morning of the Resurrection. Yes, by now you may have guessed, it's "In the Garden." The version I most often sing along to is by Tennessee Ernie Ford, bless his little pea-pickin' heart, but that one has a rather annoying chorus singing backup. Mahalia Jackson needed no backup singers.

The Big Easter Service: Well, there are three hymns that I would always want to sing at this service. Now and again I get my wish, and I can usually depend on at least one. Also, since Easter lasts till Pentecost, there are several more opportunities to sing The Day of Resurrection and Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain. And, if you attend a mainline Protestant church that doesn't sing Christ the Lord Is Risen Today on Easter Sunday, I'd like to know about it, and I'd be very surprised!

I would like to hear your thoughts on my selections, and to wish all those who observe it a blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter.

Friday Five: Time for Palms

Over at RevGalBlogPals, Mother Laura asks:

Can you believe Daylight Savings Time is here already? It's hard to get used to the new, earlier onset. My family has been getting up and out a little late and a little sleepy in the mornings.

And can you believe that in two days it will be Palm Sunday for Western Christians? Our Lent is almost over, while our Orthodox sisters and brothers, whose liturgical year follows the older Julian calendar, are just starting theirs. Nicholas did a recent book report on George Washington, and we were surprised to find out that our first President's birthday was originally Feb. 11, since he was born just before the change to the Gregorian calendar. Apparently the change almost caused rioting, as some indignant people were sure that they were being cheated out of eleven days of their lives!

(Mother Laura featured a music video of "Ride On, Ride On in Majesty" which is lovely, but this is still the song that I think of each Palm Sunday. In my one choir experience at the firehouse Sunday school, we sang this -- pretty ambitious for a bunch of fifth-graders!)

To help you adjust--and enjoy the process--here's a Friday Five about time and transitions....

1. If you could travel to any historical time period, which would it be, and why?
This is a hard one -- so many choices. And a lot would depend on where as well as when. But I think for my first time travel experience I'd want to go to New York City in the 1920s, in some capacity where I could hobnob with the early staff of The New Yorker.

2. What futuristic/science fiction development would you most like to see?
That's easy! Time travel!

3. Which do you enjoy more: remembering the past, or dreaming for the future?
Well, I certainly have more past than future at this point! And I do enjoy remembering, researching, reading and talking about the past. Yet, I still enjoy dreaming about the future. And of course, the future is as yet untainted by regrets and might-have-beens. So I'd have to say the latter.

4. What do you find most memorable about this year's Lent?
Once again, as three years ago, my church is undergoing transition and self-examination. (A different church this time.) With my former church, three years later all concerned are in a very good place. I hope and pray that will be the case here in three years, or even sooner.

5. How will you spend your time during this upcoming Holy Week? What part do you look forward to most?
We will have a Taize worship service on Thursday, and a Tenebrae service with special choir music on Friday. And of course Easter Sunday will be a big celebration. Of the three I think I most look forward to Thursday, at least I hope that it will be the deep experience of Maundy Thursdays past. I will miss, still, our old custom in City of Lakes of having a Holy Saturday breakfast and Bible study -- and not just because of the hot cross buns!

Even if you don't blog yourself, you can answer some or all of the above questions in a comment!