REAL Holy Week…As Told Honestly by Your Pastor & DCE.

Get enough complaints about not blogging, and guess what?

You get back into it pretty quick.

Suffice it to say it’s been an extremely busy couple of months for me. I’d bore even myself trying to recount everything that’s been going on, so I’ll stick to one humorous reality I faced for the first time this year: Holy Week with as a church work duo.

We’re both church workers at the same church this year, for the first time–my husband as a pastor, and me as a Director of Christian Education.

What does this mean during the average week? We’re co-workers, and live and breathe church at work and at home. In fact, if we didn’t have two dogs to care for, we might occasionally forget we have a home away from church.

It also means we’re pretty well-prepared in jumping in to do mostly anything at church. Watering flowers? Rearranging furniture? Running registration tables? Creating dessert trays? Dusting shelves? Running screens? Organizing files? Trimming poinsettias? Making coffee? Guiding campus tours? Cleaning bathrooms? Serving meals? Leading chapel? Making hospital visits? Writing or leading devotions, lessons, or Bible studies at a moment’s notice? We got it covered, no sweat.

Holy Week, however, is a different beast entirely.

What might seem like a cheerful holiday for most–yellow bunnies! pink marshmallows! foil-wrapped chocolate!–is nothing short of laborious torture for those of us in church work.

Picture this: seven church services in eight days.

That means bulletins, flowers, communion set up, musicians, announcement slides, song lyrics, lights, candles, service order, sermons, readings, ushers, banners and paraments, food and coffee–times SEVEN.

This year, my husband and I started a new tradition to commemorate our first year in church work–our Real Holy Week picture diary, capturing how we felt at the end of each day. And rest assured, friends, those were some long days we worked–along with our dedicated staff–to prepare for Holy Week 2013.

So here’s a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes in the lives of two brave church workers during Holy Week:

Day 1 (Palm Sunday)

Cassie: Optimistic

Tyler: God save us…(We’re Gonna Need It)

Day 2 (Monday)

Cassie: Seriously? It’s only Monday?!

Tyler: The calm before the storm…

Day 3 (Tuesday)

Cassie: And we thought tax season was stressful…

Tyler: Kickin’ it into high gear!

Day 4 (Wednesday)

Cassie: I just got home…it’s MIDNIGHT…but holy cow, I love my church!

Tyler: Zzzzz……

Day 5 (Maundy Thursday)

Cassie: Holy  Guacamole!

Tyler: Bringin’ it, Maundy style!

Day 6 (Good Friday)

Cassie: I love the most depressing service of the year!

Tyler: And He saw that it was GOOD.

Day 7 (Saturday)

Cassie: I. am. so. tired.

Tyler: This. Is. It.

Day 8 (Easter Sunday)

Cassie: Hallelujah! We survived Holy Week 2013!

Tyler: Thank you God!

And now….you know the real story behind Holy Week.

Next time you ask us why we look tired after Easter, you’ll know exactly why.

What A Weekend…

Sometimes I’m just in complete awe of how much God has blessed us.

We just wrapped up our “marathon weekend” of church services: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and a total of 6 services between 3 sites on Easter Sunday. It was an amazing weekend, and hands-down some of the most meaningful, Holy Spirit-filled services I’ve ever been a part of in my life.

The Good Friday service, in particular, was incredibly moving. Between the heartwrenching drama, the beautiful dancers, the live sand art, the band and the awesome songs, and the men’s ensemble singing the Lord’s Prayer at the very back of the church in complete darkness, I think most of the congregation (including me!) were in tears most of the time.

Equally moving, though, was the way I saw God working through so many people this weekend. It was like getting a little glimpse of heaven on earth…like He allowed us to step back from our busy weaving of the tapestry of life, and see a tiny sliver of the Big Picture that we’re all contributing to.

We had over 40 youth and several leaders come to a Saturday morning prep event for the Flowering of the Cross, a Faith tradition where rough wooden crosses are transformed into head-to-toe flower bouquets before the eyes of the congregation at every Easter service. These kids and leaders gladly gave up their one “free day” of the week to cut and arrange thousands of flowers for the services the next day.

At the same time, there were musicians practicing in the Worship Center, decorators prepping the stage with flowers, lighting and sound techs running through their configurations for the services, maintenance guys cleaning every inch of the church, and plenty of staff running to and fro with their last-minute preparations.

We have so many wonderful servants here at Faith, and this weekend they were all at work. It was amazing.

We have been so blessed by these faithful people.

It’s hard for me to even comprehend how someone could’ve gone to church this weekend and not seen God’s hand in everything there. To me, even the fact that the greeters were not only willing to show up at 7:30 am (and be on their feet all morning), but also excited and friendly is a testament to the fact that the Holy Spirit is at work in people.

The flowered crosses are placed outside after the services

What a privilege it is to me to call this church my home.