We’re a week deep into Lent, and we can hear, see, and feel it in our worship together. Our service was book-ended by changes this past Sunday. We started with the Great Litany – the choir, cross, acolytes and ministers weaving up and down and around the sanctuary while Rev Nick cantored and we responded. And we ended worship with “Thanks be to God.” Full stop. No alleluia, alleluia, to be heard.
Over in the Chapel the children thought about these strange, somber alterations. Why the new ritual? What’s wrong with “alleluia”? What do we make of it all?
We got literal, and got our hands dirty by “burying the alleluias.” Bury, like a grave? Bury, like a hidden treasure? Bury, like a seed?
The season of Lent can be waiting, frozen, for a miracle resurrection; or searching diligently for something amazing; or watering and encouraging slow workings of growth. I look forward to walking beside you all this Lent, and learning what preparing for the great mystery of Easter means to you.
Bryn Hollenbeck
