Although the readings for this week are not directly connected to our observance of Holy Week, I hope nonetheless that they will deepen your experience of this holy time and contribute to your preparation for celebrating the great Paschal Feast on the day of the resurrection.

The readings from the Old Testament will take you through the conclusion of the book of Exodus, which establishes God's presence in the tabernacle, "dwelling with" the Israelites and moving with them in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night as they move onward to the Promised Land. You will also read the first fifteen chapters of the book of Leviticus, which contain detailed instructions given by God to Moses establishing the procedure for offerings as well as detailing the consecration of the sanctuary and of priests. Instructions of purification are also given, covering disease, childbirth, and other human function. The temptation to skip ahead or to skim rapidly will be great. You don't want to "bog down" or give up, but you do want to keep moving (like the children of Israel) while paying attention to why God demands so much of his people. God wanted them, as God wants us, to honor his holiness and their (our) chosen-ness by offering the first, best, and most precious of all we have been given to him. 

The psalms this week are songs of thanksgiving for recovery and forgiveness, praising God, the creator and deliverer.

The readings from Mark's gospel recount Jesus' ministry of healing and teaching, often in parables about the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus will prophesy and exorcise demons. He will feed five thousand people in the wilderness-and then turn around and feed four thousand more! Chapter eight concludes with Jesus' first announcement of what will happen to him, followed by Peter's incredulity and Jesus' rebuke of him. 

Jesus' words in Mark 8:34-36 speak directly to us this week: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it."     

The Very Reverend Beverly F. Gibson

Dean

Christ Church Cathedral

Find Dean Gibson's Bible Challenge study guides on the Cathedral website:  

http://www.christchurchcathedralmobile.org/lenten-discipline-the-bible-challenge  

Reading Schedule 

THE BIBLE CHALLENGE: READ THE BIBLE IN A YEAR 
An accompanying devotional, The Bible Challenge: Read the Bible in a Year, by Episcopal priest, The Rev. Marek P. Zabriskie, is available in the Cathedral office for $15. Devotional materials are also available free of charge at:  www.thecenterforbiblicalstudies.org. If you are interest in participating as a part of a group here at Christ Church Cathedral, please contact Dean Gibson.  

MUSIC NOTES FOR THIS SUNDAY

Palm Sunday    March 29, 2015

This week, we celebrate the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday. Beginning in triumph and transitioning into shades of Good Friday, we spiritually and musically run the gamut of our human experience of God. The music for Sunday expresses joy during the processional hymn, All glory, laud, and honor. Our sequence hymn, My song is love unknown, sung before the reading of the Passion Gospel, proclaims, "Here might I stay and sing, no story so divine: never was love, dear King, never was grief like thine." When we come to the offertory, our guest violinist, Enen Yu, will play the theme from Schindler's List by John Williams (b. 1932). Even though it isn't a specifically sacred piece, this music expresses the bittersweet nature of Sunday's liturgy in a way relatively few pieces can. As the composer of film scores for Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones, to name only a few, Williams created an inherently Jewish and heartfelt theme for the movie Schindler's List. After the Passion Gospel, as our liturgy turns toward Good Friday, this music can serve as a vessel for our prayers. Finally, we sing two communion hymns that speak of Christ's Passion and the Eucharist.

During the stripping of the altar, the choir will sing my own setting of Psalm 22. Interestingly, in this setting, the seven last words of Christ are interjected between verses of the psalm. Tying in the words of the Torah (Hebrew Scripture) with Christ's last words will hopefully leave us with a sense of fulfillment and consummation as the last psalm verse is sung by the choir, "My soul shall live for him [ . . . ]" Musically, the piece is constructed as a nod to J. S. Bach's passion settings and his B Minor Mass. Listen for the Bachian violin passages and the closing chorus beginning in b minor and ending in a surprising B Major, symbolizing our hope.

Finally, please accept this invitation to attend one of our Holy Week services. While there is not enough space to write about each liturgy here, know that the choir has been working very hard to prepare music that really communicates the meaning of these services. On Maundy Thursday, we will have a small Chamber Choir to offer beautiful and solemn music in the chapel. Good Friday features the full choir singing Miserere Mei, Deus by Gregorio Allegri, widely considered one of the most beautiful Renaissance pieces ever written. Come experience the powerful music and liturgy in store for us to help make this year's Holy Week a moving and spiritually fulfilling experience!

"Music Notes for this Sunday" are posted and archived 

each week on our new website here: