The Collect for Palm Sunday invokes for us the guiding presence of God that we might “enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts” by which we are graced with life even as we walk the way of the cross. Our liturgies for Holy Week provide us with ample opportunity to enter into such contemplation evolving from the practically schizophrenic experience of Palm Sunday with its triumphal processions leading into the desolation of crucifixion. Maundy (a word akin to “mandate” or “command”) Thursday commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples wherein he washed their feet as a way of embodying the command that we are to love one another. Good Friday’s more contemplative liturgies focus, at noon, on the cross and death of Jesus; and, at 7 pm, we will have a service of Tenebrae. Tenebrae, Latin for “shadows” or “darkness”, is an ancient and deeply moving experience. Our adaptation will intersperse a reading of the last week of Jesus’ life with the songs and hymns of Holy Week as we immerse ourselves in shadows with the extinguishing of candles. On Easter Sunday, our observance of Lent will come to end with the Renewal of our Baptismal Vows in a Eucharistic Celebration of Resurrection.