A Pastoral Letter for Holy Week 2023

Dear Friends in Valhalla Parish—

It is hard to believe that Holy Week is upon us. Only forty days ago we started our disorienting/reorienting journey through Lent with the reminder that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. 

It's all been leading to this week. To this moment. It has all been leading to the climax of the Christian story, to Jesus' last week and his invitation that we remain faithful—come what may. And so, this week, I'm inviting you to immerse yourself in this journey. Come to church as often as you can. As often as you are able. Come and journey with us. Come and journey with our saviour as we walk through this most powerful journey through death to new life. 

If there is any week I would go out of my way to say "you should come to church," it's this one. 

Click here for all the opportunities to journey together this Holy Week, starting with the Stations of the Cross in Trail on Saturday afternoon, and culminating in our celebration of Easter on Sunday April 9th. 

This year, as a reminder that we are on a journey, we have created passports for Holy Week. You can get one at any service this week, and collect stamps for each service you attend.

Come to church to immerse yourself in the journey. Come to church as a way of orienting your life around Jesus' life, death, and glorious resurrection. Come to church to walk the road with Jesus, and with others. Come to church to be reminded of who you are.

Come to church to be reminded who God is, and what business God is in:

Be reminded that God is in the business of showing us that we are now, have always been, and will always be beloved. 

Be reminded that God is in the business of bringing healing to the sick, food to the hungry, companionship to the lonely

Be reminded that God is in the business of restoring relationships—our relationships with ourselves, with each other, with God, and with all of God's good Creation

Be reminded that God is in the business of liberating you from whatever is holding you back from fully embracing God's love, whatever is holding you back from being fully human, fully alive

Be reminded that God is in the business of inviting all people into the family business—declaring and embodying self-giving love, the kind of love that leads to the fullness of life we find in Jesus

Be reminded that because of Jesus, the powers of sin and death—all of the things that keep us from loving God with our whole hearts and our neighbours as ourselves—have no hold on us any longer

Be reminded that God still speaks to us today—in whispers and in shouts, in prayer and in creation, in scripture and in prolcamation, in justice and in compassion. 

Be reminded that if there is good news for us (as beautiful and broken as we sometimes are), there is good news for one and all. Be reminded that we are the message bearers, called to love and serve all whom we meet, in the name of the risen Christ.

Come to church to be reminded. Come to church and immerse yourself in the whole journey, for each part is important.

From the jubilant shouts of Hosanna to the sombre command to Love One Another as I Have Loved You. From the embittered mob screaming Crucify, to the gasping It is Finished, to the racing heart and confounded recognition, Rabboni! outside an empty tomb, we will make this road by walking. 

So come. Let us remember the greatest story of the greatest week. Even as the pieces fall apart, let us remember. And in re-membering, may God put all the pieces back together. We are God's, and God is ours, and God is for the whole world. 

This year, we share in this journey with our friends from St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Trail. Throughout the week we will enter into pilgrimage with them, both extending and receiving hospitality as we travel from community to community. As we enter into this week in ways shaped by each of our communities. As we listen for the still small voice of the God who is faithful—even in the midst of this uncertain time. 

This is a week in which very bad news turns into very good news indeed. Good news for us. Good news for all people. Good news for all Creation. 

This week, we are reminded that God is faithful. And so, whatever you are carrying, wherever you find yourself on this journey, my hope and prayer is that we might enter into this pilgrimage together. 

Come, let us worship. 

Every Blessing, 

Andrew Stephens-Rennie
Valhalla Parish Misisoner

For our full Holy Week Schedule, starting with the Stations of the Cross on Saturday April 1, 2023, click this link.