For many as Christians, this past week has been the end of the Lenten season as we celebrate Holy Week and retrace Christ's journey to Jerusalem,  with Palm Sunday, today Good Friday and wait in expectation for the Resurrection on Easter morn.

 Reading the story of the triumphal entry  (Matthew 21:1-11),   and then take our palm crosses and process into community and later the church. I was with my daughter Amelia for this procession in Eastside Vancouver, an inner city community, of which St. James Anglican Church is very much a part.

Later on, participation in a dramatic reading of Matthew's story of the Cross (Matthew 27:11-54)

The word Passion comes from the Latin word for suffering.

The Passion of Christ is the story of Jesus Christ's arrest, trial and suffering. It ends with his execution by crucifixion. The Passion is an episode in a longer story and cannot be properly understood without the story of the Resurrection.

The Passion is a story about injustice, doubt, fear, pain and, ultimately, degrading death. It tells how God experienced these things in the same way as ordinary human beings.

Often there was no reply to his accusers or "That is who you say"

One may also attend a Good Friday or Maunday Thursday service in Tenebrae format:

The service of Tenebrae meaning “darkness” or “shadows,” has been practiced by the church since medieval times. Once a service for the monastic community, Tenebrae later became an important part of the worship of the common folk during Holy Week. We join Christians of many generations throughout the world in using the liturgy of Tenebrae.

Tenebrae is a prolonged meditation on Christ’s suffering. Readings trace the story of Christ’s passion, music portrays his pathos, and the power of silence and darkness suggests the drama of this momentous day. As lights are extinguished, we ponder the depth of Christ’s suffering and death; we remember the cataclysmic nature of his sacrifice as we hear the overwhelming sound of the “strepitus”; and through the return of the small but persistent flame of the Christ candle at the conclusion of the service, we anticipate the joy of ultimate victory.

But the final theme is victory -  the victory of Christ over death - and this is why the Passion story is inseparable from the story of the Resurrection.