It was holy week from a new vantage point. Just as the season of Lent opened for me with the bizarre but strangely wonderful experience of the Ash Wednesday worship service, the season closed with a fruitful and exciting series of services of which I was a part in a new and different way than before. And in the midst of a week in which I felt weighed down by the uncertainty of how to preach a funeral sermon, I found great joy and excitement in the planning of Easter services and the writing of my Easter sermon.
Our holy week worship schedule began with a seder meal on Thursday followed by a service of Holy Communion. Thursday was also April Fool’s so I may have been given a raw egg to peel amongst the boiled eggs for the meal. We may have also included a new reading, blessing, and the finding of hidden Easter egg cookies at the end of the seder. (An addition that perhaps would be seen as slightly heretical to the tradition of our Jewish ancestors? Perhaps. We did it most tastefully in the spirit of April 1.)
Friday evening was a Tenebrae service, highlighted with choir anthems, readings from John, and the seven last words of Christ. The service ended in darkness and in silence, the cross and alter having been veiled in black. I had never before been to a Tenebrae service; it was a meaningful first experience. I had little role in the leading of the service – most was done by song/choir and narrators. I read prayers, guided the acolytes in the extinguishing of the candles, and then also played flute with the choir on a piece.
Sunday. Easter. Three services – 7am, 8:30, and 10:30 – all wonderful. The “Sonrise” service was mine to plan and preach with the following two services being identical. Let me sing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” and “Thine is the Glory” with the organ and I’m a happy camper. Add special music, a beautifully decorated sanctuary and pews full of people and it was a perfect Sunday to find the tomb empty. (Though I realize and am glad that even without those things, the tomb is still empty!)
Might I also add to the list – a rocking children’s sermon. PK and I had a lot of fun with hundreds of slips of colored paper, the sounds of an earthquake, and making the whole congregation participate in sharing the message of the gospel — Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
there's no place like gnome. 
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