Holy Week and easter

When I was two months old, I was Christened in a nearby Anglican church in the long family Christening dress. As it was during World War Two, my father was away on active service, and the minister of a nearby Union Church visited my Mother. Its Constitution specified that congregants must be Methodists, Presbyterians or Congregationalists and the Minister must be a Baptist. The minister of the Union Church in which I was baptized was a very fine preacher. One Sunday when I was in the Choir Vestry putting out the music books for choir members, I was surprised to find a young theological student siting reading his notes. “You’re in the wrong vestry,” I said to him. “The Minister’s Vestry is on the opposite side of the church.” But I heard the organist playing voluntaries and the choir members entered. While he preached the student turned to look at the choir and glanced at me. Choir members were seated in two stalls beneath the huge stained glass window depicting Christ’s head in a medallion with al large stripe leading up to it in yellow with a blue background. After church I said to my mother, “I am going to marry him!” And that is how I became a Baptist and the President of the Baptist Woman’s Association in two churches before my husband became a Dean of the Faculty of Theology at a well-known university. When he died, I joined a nearby Anglican church. As Holy Week was approaching and I knew nothing of the Church Calendar, I started Googling. This is what I found. 
 
Holy Week is the last week of Lent. It begins with Palm Sunday with Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey which had never been ridden and followed by a huge crowd waving palm branches and praising God. Holy Wednesday marks the betrayal of Jesus Christ, Holy Thursday marks his passion, and Holy Friday his death and descent into Hell. Holy Saturday marks the Harrowing of Hell when Jesus Christ’s body lay in the tomb. 
 
Easter Sunday is a joyful occasion with church bells ringing and congregations singing, “Jesus Christ is risen today! Hallelujah!”  It’s a day of Easter egg hunts, of giving and receiving chocolate bunnies, large, boxed Easter eggs and boxes of chocolates tied with decorative ribbons. 
 
How is the country or city in which you live celebrating Easter? 

​In America as reported by Fox News in 2025, The White House plans extraordinary week as President Trump honours Easter “with the observance it deserves.
 
God bless your Holy Week and Easter,  
Merle