by Sis. Dei Nikoi
Passion Week. Holy Week. Easter. Resurrection Sunday. Regardless of how you address it, you know when it has arrived. It comes like a temporal mist every year. The grocery stores align their aisles in bright green and yellow grass, chocolate bunnies, colorful dyed eggs that will inevitably stink up your refrigerator and those awful PEEP marshmallow candies. Yep, it’s a gaudy mess of commercialism that will easily irritate your eyes. And yet we indulge it. Why? Not because we love Easter egg hunts and not because we need an excuse to spend questionable amounts of money on a new suit.
We indulge the commercialism because for one week the world, in all its depravity and lawlessness, remembers His name. For one week the world remembers that He did more than just turn water into wine and die. He also rose! And in doing so, Jesus did what we could never do for ourselves.
He filled the divide.
Passion Week services at Holiness Tabernacle Church Of God In Christ begin just as they end, with praise and exaltation for a savior that gave His life for us. This year Pastor Pruitte emphasized the significance of Passion Week through a timeline chronicling Jesus’ final moments. The timeline showed all the teachings He gave and activities He did before being crucified. In many ways it allowed each member to gain insight into what Jesus felt was important to say and do before death, like His personal farewell address.
It all began with Palm Sunday. Just as Jerusalem was filled with praise when Jesus entered, so was this service filled with praise. The Spirit of God descended mightily as the Praise & Worship Team ministered in song. Their rendition of “No One Else” by Smokie Norful was met with cries of praise from every corner of the room. God’s power was made all the more evident by the stark contrast in worship because as some praised, others stood broken before Him with humble words flowing from their lips. The Holy Spirit began to work outwardly and inwardly. And we could see the results. Saints were being delivered and set free. Breakthrough was on the horizon and revival was in the air! Pastor spoke on “The Ultimate Praise,” coming from Acts 16:19-40. He talked about how some people are able to praise even when life hurts and circumstances aren’t ideal. These people have tapped into their ultimate praise. The house was truly blessed.
On Tuesday night three speakers, Deacon Moses, Sis Dei Nikoi and Deacon Howard, came and shared different perspectives on Jesus’ parables. They focused on “The 10 Virgins,” “The Pearl of Great Price,” and Judas. One by one each speaker revealed practical insight into thinking about our Savior’s famous teachings. We were encouraged to be ready for our Bridegroom (Jesus) like the 5 wise virgins, take on the merchant mentality upon finding God’s grace like the merchant man, and to avoid betraying God for any earthly pleasure.
On Maundy (Holy) Thursday Sis. Danielle Benjamin spoke on the importance of service and explained how Jesus’ final moments with his disciples personified how true service ought to look. She said that through His actions Jesus showed us that true service requires that we be intentional, indiscriminate and inconvenienced. Since Jesus prepared himself to die for our sins (intentional), died for all of humanity (indiscriminate), and suffered greatly on the cross (inconvenience), it should be our endeavor to serve others in a like manner. In keeping with the message and church tradition, we observed two of the three ordinances of the Church Of God In Christ: communion and feet washing. We took communion in remembrance of Christ, just as He asked that we do. The sacraments symbolized His broken body and shed blood. Following communion, the church officials began to wash our feet. Humbly they kneeled before each of us, singing “Not Only My Feet” and praying that Christ wash us in His blood because our washed feet are just a symbol of an even greater cleansing.
We observed our final ordinance on Good Friday: full immersion water baptism. As we all sat anticipating this glorious moment, we were met with the “Seven Last Words of Jesus.” Seven speakers – from lay members to licensed officials – brought a special word. Each speaker touched on our Lord’s final moments and dug deeply into the last line’s of his farewell address. Hearing Christ both entreat the Father for our forgiveness and commend His spirit into the Father’s hand reminded us of a seemingly forgotten truth – everything begins and ends with God. Our Savior’s final words were not instructions or teachings directed toward us, but rather a seven line prayer toward the Father. Wow! Following this, it was baptism time. Four saints were baptized in water, symbolizing the death of the old man and the birth of the new man. For two of the saints, this marked a public testimony of their salvation. For the other two, this marked a public rededication and recommitment to their salvation.
The conclusion of the whole matter came on Resurrection Sunday! Holiness Tabernacle began Resurrection Sunday with Sunrise service at 7:00am. This year our First Lady, Mother Vivian Pruitte, took center stage at the sunrise service. Mother Pruitte spoke on the “Types of Christ” and the importance of being a type of Christ ourselves. The term “type of Christ” refers to those people in the Bible who emulated Christ’s character and mission before He was born (ie: Isaac and Boaz). It can also refer to objects that symbolize Him throughout the scriptures (ie: the Paschal lamb). She stressed the importance of adopting Christ’s humble character and letting our lives be evidence of our salvation! This was only the beginning of Resurrection Sunday.
Following our fellowship breakfast and Sunday school was the Youth Department play. Each age division came before the church and the kids explained the importance of Resurrection Sunday. From the babies to the High School students, there was no denying that they knew the importance of this day. What is the importance of this day you ask? As the Nursery class screamed with smiling faces, “It’s JESUS!”
As morning service began, the house was filled with both members and visitors from all over the country. Pastor preached a timely message, “Evidence of the Resurrection.” He pulled his text from Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20-21. After Jesus rose from the dead many people came to the tomb and found the stone removed. His body was no longer inside. However, the tomb was not empty!
“6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.” (John 20:6-8)
According to the scriptures they did find some things inside and around the tomb – His garments. What did the disciple do upon seeing these garments? Scripture records that he believed! He believed because these items were evidence of Christ’s resurrection. Later, Christ revealed Himself to His disciples before ascending back into Heaven. Throughout the Resurrection scriptures, Jesus showed evidence of His resurrection before He ascended back to the Father. And despite what others may say, we joy in knowing that someday He will return! We don’t have Jesus’ physical body to remind us that He is our Savior. We do, however, have the confidence that He died for our sins and our individual testimonies. As saints of the Most High, we should endeavor to be His evidence on Earth until He comes back. Christ said that we should:
“16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
This means to live and behave in a way that all men, both the believers and unbelievers, are able to see the Father’s work within us and then glorify His name in response. That means we become His evidence and men will believe on His great name. We become evidence through our living witness of the gospel!
Passion Week 2012 at Holiness Tabernacle was truly a glorious time in God. God’s Spirit moved throughout every service! The messages were encouraging and the fellowship bonding. While we at Holiness Tabernacle look forward to Passion Week each year, we were reminded throughout this year’s services that the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on that cross cannot be restricted to seven days on a calendar. Though the world is watching and remembering for one week, we are to remember and praise His name for a lifetime. Yes our Savior’s death was gruesome and yes, His ministry on Earth was short. However, His resurrection was magnificent! His blood’s saving power will last until the end of time! We thank God for His perfect will and His precious Son.
We hope that you and your family had as wonderful of a Passion Week as we have had. And if not, then come join us for Passion Week 2013. We’re guaranteed to have a high time then as well!