Slacker me. I missed the Maundy/Holy Thursday service/Mass for the first time in 42 years (if I missed as a younger person, I don't remember it). My absence resulted from a confluence of events: I was exhausted from staying up late the night before; our church wasn't starting its Mass until 7:30, which is far too late for my smallest children, in order to accommodate a new seder supper that last year caused Mass to start 20 minutes late; I wanted to avoid the whole foot-washing thing, which in my church currently consists of everyone washing everyone's feet (the "Foot Washing Carnival"--my words), instead of washing just twelve pairs of feet (incidentally, my church's way is better if it's all about service instead of a re-enactment of the washing of the twelve male apostles' feet; we can debate this ad nauseum, but if it's about service, why doesn't everyone get into the act?). With all that piled up, we decided it'd be better to stay home and do the Stations of the Cross by candlelight. I then took the four eldest for the last hour of the celebration (the Eucharist and Eucharistic Procession), then came home and watched the first half of The Passion.
Today's Good Friday service is usually pretty good. My church is the middle-of-the-road type: not conservative, not liberal, not pious, not unruly. It gets some things wrong but will correct them if authoritatively brought to their attention. It does some things very well, and Good Friday from 1:00 to 2:45 is one of them. I look forward to it.
That's it for now. Morning prayers and the rest of The Passion call. May your Good Friday be holy.
