
Minister’s letter
‘Let my prayer rise before you as incense, the lifting up of my
hands as the evening sacrifice’ (Psalm 141:2)
Abigail Hardiman led us so gently and sensitively in the ancient
celebration of Tenebrae on the Wednesday evening Holy Week.
It was deeply humbling to be part of this service. The words we all said from Psalm 141 are still ringing in my ears.
Tenebrae the service of shadows resonates with me. Perhaps it’s my Welsh heritage that lends itself to philosophical melancholy, to an appreciation of light and shade and to a delight in the seasons, both in the church and in nature. A service of shadows holds a powerful image for me, as the shadows accentuate the light and I need to know each other’s place.
Holy Week is set in the shadow of Calvary. A week of betrayal, abrogation of responsibility, hatred and love, fear and courage, faith and fecklessness.Gethsemane, Calvary and the garden tomb; the shadows lengthen down the centuries and to us.
In our service of Tenebrae incense filled the air. The senses are awakened, for some it brought a heightened sense of awareness, of prayer made visible. For others it was uncomfortable, alien even. The taste and smell of the burning incense is inescapable, as prayer is between subject and the God who hears.
Candles flicker, casting shadows. In this guttering light there is a mirror into the life of faith, sometimes full and bright and at other times almost at the point of being extinguished. Charles Wesley captures it ‘kindle a flame of sacred love on the mean altar of my heart’. Shadows flickering and dancing in this space where hope is forged.
The psalmist sees us offering our prayer and praise before God. Our interpretation of this extends beyond liturgy and worship, into how we perceive the incense of our personal and collective sacrifice, being an offering to God and a commitment to wider service. In a sense, in Christ, we are a living prayer and in the Holy Spirit we are empowered to become a therapeutic community of faith; bringing hope and reconciliation, exhibiting lives filled with grace. The shadows only serve to emphasise the possibility which this spiritual light brings in order for us to flourish.