Good Friday

These days Holy Week passes me by much the same as any other week. This is because I am not involved in 'the church' or Christianity for a multitude of reasons. In my youth Holy Week (culminating in Easter, obviously) was a busy time and, when I became a regular organist, there were several services to play for.

One feature of times past was the Three Hours Devotion. One cathedral website says -

This is the traditional preaching service for Good Friday...Very often, the three hours is interspersed with hymns, prayers and silence so that our reflection can take many forms. This service aims to finish at 15:00, the time that Jesus died on the cross.

So it still goes on but I have not attended one since about 1975. It was a real marathon and my only duty was to play 3 or 4 hymns during the time. People were permitted to come in for a part of the service but I had to stay the whole time. I found ways of filling the time; these days I guess I would take my mobile phone!

I have attended Easter Vigils on Holy Saturday too. A small bonfires is lit just outside the church and there is a slow procession into the church, stopping three times when the priest sings "The Light of Christ", gradually rising in pitch each time.

The Holy week services make me feel uncomfortable and I suppose that is the point. We are meant to share in the passion of Jesus and his suffering. It is also the case that people like me want their religion to be nice and easy and slotted in to a convenient 'window' of the week.

To attend a 3 hour devotion service requires discipline which even the disciples of Jesus lacked: it is significant that the words are similar - discipline and disciple. Being religious requires staying power and I think I used mine up years ago.

One ex-chorister friend of mine used to say that he doesn't go to church any more because he feels he is 'in credit' after all the services he had to attend as a boy.