Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week for United Methodists around the world. Some elements of Holy Week observation are common across The United Methodist Church: Palm Sunday processions, Maundy Thursday communion services, Good Friday commemorations, and Easter Sunday celebrations, perhaps with rousing singing of Charles Wesley's great Easter hymn, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." Some elements vary, however: the other hymns or praise songs that will be sung, whether animals are involved in the Palm Sunday procession, whether to do a foot washing on Maundy Thursday, how to commemorate Good Friday - a noontime service? the seven last words?
This leads to discussion then: What commonalities and diversities do we as United Methodists have in our Holy Week observation? What does it mean to observe Holy Week as a United Methodist in many nations around the world?
GBGM has offered a few suggestions for how to sing Easter as a global denomination: http://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/Sing-World-Round-at-Easter
Share your thoughts in the comment box!
Dedicated to fostering conversations about the global nature of The United Methodist Church
When I pastored a culturally diverse church in Vienna, Austria we faced some serious challenges The church had no parking, and even by public transport (which most members used) we were as much as an hour's travel for members. We focused on Good Friday. Which in Austrian law was a day off for Protestants. And we used lots of media and music and scripture because long complex readings were hard for folks with English as a second language. Last - We made our big Sunday Palm Sunday. Easter was a five day weekend, and the only long holiday for a lot of our folks. Low Sunday for us!
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