During this time of uncertainty and anxiety, Bishop Hughes emphasizes the benefit of worshiping in-person – in community – this Holy Week and Easter, engaging with scripture, and praying with one another. (Time: 5:15.)
Video Transcript
This is Bishop Hughes in the Diocese of Newark, and it is Holy Week. And it is an unusual Holy Week – in some ways it reminds me of Holy Week back in pandemic where there was so much worry and anxiety and fear that that seemed to impact everything that we did. But there’s a big difference. Back then, our worship had to happen online, and now our worship happens in person. And I want to encourage you this week to make an effort to go to as many Holy Week services as you can. I know it sounds like I say that every single year, and I do say it every single year, but this year is different, and different in that way that it was during pandemic.
This year, there’s a level of worry and a level of anxiety that is not going to go away. There’s a sense of danger that some are feeling – not everybody. There’s the danger that people feel personally and that they also feel about family members. The way people order their lives has been changing dramatically, deciding whether they can fly out of the country or fly into the country, and as families had plans, this is a time where families are often together, some are discovering that it just doesn’t make sense to do that right now. There’s too much uncertainty about how they would make it safely home, whether that is coming or going into the United States. This is real worry, and when we’re worried about our work and we’re worried about our family members, when we’re worried about the state of the nation and how its governance is going to work with us or against us, that is deeply concerning. As someone said to me, “These are the things that keep me up at night. I get so worried I can’t sleep.”
So again, I say during this week, especially when so many of our churches and our congregations are gathered to worship, get yourself to as many as you possibly can, and in part, it is to put yourself in the presence of God with other people. There is something about sitting in a quiet space with other people who are praying that connects us, not only to the other people, but connects us deeply to the divine, and the loving presence, the powerful presence that God has for and with us. So being in a service with other people gives us that kind of connection. It’s different than doing it on your own. And can you do it on your own? Sure, but it’s different when you are doing that within a group of people.
Also, pay attention to the readings. Pay attention to the lyrics of the music. Pay attention to the words and see in what ways they speak to you. And I tell people in services all the time, tear that piece out, or take a picture of it so it’s on your device. Or tear that little piece out and let it be a bookmark or put it on your mirror. Put it where you’re going to look at it every single day and keep going back to those words. If something catches your attention in a service, if they’re words or a phrase or a verse or the turn of a phrase in a hymn, let that minister to you through the week.
I would also say this: now is the time to be bold and ask for what you need. If you are sitting in a pew in an Episcopal Church and you need somebody to pray for you, I tell you, either speak to the person who is sitting next to you and ask, “Would you pray for me or with me?” Ask them to do that. Most Episcopalians will. If you feel too shy to do that, you go directly up to that priest after the service and ask them to lay hands on you and pray for you. There’s no reason for us to sit isolated, alone, and worried, and afraid, and when we reach out to each other and when we allow God into the situation with us, not only do we feel God’s presence and blessing, and not only do we put our worry in front of God and we can let it go, but also we can start to hear the way God is trying to guide us. God does not plan for us to sit hopeless and helpless and afraid. God has plans for every single one of us to live a life that is full of joy, that is making meaning and has a purpose, and that purpose usually involves taking care of other people that belong to God too in some way, and God does not mean for us to be alone.
So it is Holy Week. Wherever you are, I ask you, I offer it to you. I urge you to embrace it, go and receive what you need from other people who faithful, from the sacraments, and from sitting in the presence of God with the community. God bless you, and God bless you in this Holy Week.
