Tenebrae: Preparing Our Hearts for Easter with Captain Renée McFadden

As Lent comes to a close, we look forward to celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus at Easter. There are many ways that we can approach this sacred time, and to that end, the corps mission department has put together a collection of resources for Holy Week and Easter.

One of those resources is for holding a Tenebrae service, a re-enactment of the night before the Crucifixion that usually takes place on the Thursday of Holy Week (Maundy Thursday).

Captain Renée McFadden, corps officer at The Willows in Langley, B.C., created the resource, and on this episode of the podcast, she walks us through this special service.

Download Captain McFadden's Tenebrae resource: https://salvationist.ca/files/salvationarmy/corps-ministries/resources/LENT_2023/Good_Enough_-_Maundy_Thursday_Tenebrae_Service.pdf

Find all the corps mission resources for Lent, Holy Week and Easter: https://salvationist.ca/corps-mission-resource/resource-toolkit/lent-resources/

Transcript

Kristin Ostensen  

This is the Salvationist podcast. I’m Kristin Ostensen. As the Lenten season comes to a close, it’s almost time to celebrate Easter. Traditionally, Easter services begin with Palm Sunday.

But between the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the victory of the Resurrection, we have Holy Week. Before the joy of Easter, we have the Crucifixion. And before the Crucifixion, we have the Garden of Gethsemane. 

There are many ways that we can approach this sacred time, and to that end, the corps mission department has put together a collection of resources for Holy Week and Easter.

One of those resources is for holding a Tenebrae service, which usually takes place on the Thursday of Holy Week. Captain Renée McFadden, corps officer at The Willows in Langley, B.C., created the resource, and on this episode of the podcast, she walks us through this re-enactment of the night before the Crucifixion.

Hi, Captain Renée, and welcome to the Salvationist podcast. Thanks so much for joining us.

Renée McFadden  

Thanks for having me.

Kristin Ostensen  

So, with Holy Week coming soon, of course, we're here to talk about Tenebrae. And I'm wondering if you can start off by just telling us, what does Tenebrae mean, and what is a Tenebrae service?

Renée McFadden  

Sure. So, Tenebrae is one of my favourite services of the year. We typically host it on Maundy Thursday, and the Tenebrae service is one of the oldest Holy Week traditions of the Christian church. And Tenebrae is the Latin word meaning “shadows.” So, Tenebrae worship is this experiential form of the service of shadows and the story of the Passion of Jesus.

Kristin Ostensen  

And can you describe, for those who may not have attended before, can you describe what happens at a Tenebrae service, just walk us through it?

Renée McFadden  

Sure. So, one of the key features for us is to host it in the evening. And so, after the sun has set, we start out with the room lit with candles, primarily either on the holiness table, or up at the front. We set up a series of candles, probably 10, or 11, 12, depending on the number of readings you're going to have. And then as the service goes on, we include some song and Scripture. But as the Scripture is being read, and the story of the final night of Jesus, that He celebrates with his disciples, we start extinguishing the candles as we go along, that correspond with each Scripture reading, until we're left with the one Christ candle at the end remaining. And the Christ candle is walked out at the end of the service, and the service ends in silence. And we have this sense of there's this incompleteness to the story. But there's also this finality that carries us into Good Friday and our Easter service.

Kristin Ostensen  

How does that atmosphere of silence and shadows help us enter into the Easter story? We don't always think of the Easter story as being dark, right? If anything, it's kind of the light. 

Renée McFadden  

I think there's an honest recognition that we are able to sit together in this quiet, still place, to feel the heaviness, to feel that sense of darkness, and to honour the grief and the lament and the sense of loss that the followers of Jesus would have had in this time. So, we don't rush to the end of the story; we actually give space and time to linger, to consider what it would have been like for Jesus to celebrate the Last Supper with his followers, and to wash their feet. And to just hear those rich passages of Scripture. And we’re given the atmosphere of quietness and stillness to reflect. And in our busy lives, we're not often given that. And so, it is this gift of grace, and a gift that we can carry with us to treasure the experience of those moments.

Kristin Ostensen  

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, we often think of the joy of the Resurrection Sunday. But maybe we're a little bit more reluctant to focus on the suffering and death part of that. But why do you think that's so important?

Renée McFadden  

I think it actually connects with our own stories of grief and disappointment and betrayal, and recognizing the betrayal of Jesus. It's easy for us to focus on embracing the great things, and trying to be successful and climb these ladders. But this is a release of that striving. And there's a sense of just going through the experience with Jesus. What was this actually like for him? The desperation of those moments and his continued compassionate response in the face of the impending violence.

Kristin Ostensen  

And you mentioned that the service ends in silence. What do you think is the significance of that?

Renée McFadden  

I think it's just the waiting. It is the “already and not yet” experience. So, we talk about this sometimes with the gospel, that we already are belonging in the kingdom of God. And yet it's not here in all its fullness. And so, this Tenebrae service allows that to be the way that it is. We don't have to rush to resolution. And so, we're able to sit together as a body of believers and just be in that space that the disciples were left in. They were left in that not-knowing—not knowing what's going to happen.

Kristin Ostensen  

That's right, that’s right. Because, of course, we know how the story ends, but they didn't. And that must have been—I mean, it's hard to even imagine how tense that silence would have been. Just sitting in it. Yeah, that’s so interesting.

Renée McFadden  

Yes! Emotional. And there's questions and wonderings. And why? Why is this happening in this way?

Kristin Ostensen  

Yeah, absolutely. Can you tell me a bit about your first experience of a Tenebrae service and the impact it had on you personally?

Renée McFadden  

I was in training college. And we were at Southlands Community Church in Winnipeg with the van Duinens. And yeah, this is my first experience. And then we were able to practise as cadets, we had an Easter assignment in Etobicoke Temple in Ontario. And we were able to work through a Tenebrae-style service for the Good Friday service, actually—we chose to kind of combine those things and experience that together. And then we've hosted two services in person here at The Willows and one online for sure, just as part of our Easter Holy Week celebrations. And so, the impact for me was this gift—it was a gift of looking at an old story that I knew very well, and looking at it again with fresh eyes, in a new way, and giving time and space for some of those overlooked portions of Scripture that we just kind of rush right through to the cross. And so instead, the focus is on the garden, the focus is on the upper room, and that time where Jesus is with his disciples. And there's really a spirit of love there that he is showing in the face of adversity.

Kristin Ostensen  

I'm wondering, when you think back to some of your past experiences, was there like a particular Scripture or part of the service that really hit you in a new way? Because you mentioned, of course, the Easter story is very familiar for a lot of us. And was there a time that this service kind of helped you see it through new eyes?

Renée McFadden  

I think, really, the service that we've put together, it also includes celebration of the Last Supper of Jesus. And so being raised in a Salvation Army home, the practice of communion and Eucharist is not there in the, it's not a prominent place in our everyday worship experience. And so, on Maundy Thursday, when we're able to give some time and attention to that, it's a very meaningful practice, to celebrate a love feast together with our church community, our church family, and to, again, not as a routine or by rote, but rather at the appropriate time and space in the story of the gospel, and we follow Jesus as he enacted that Last Supper with his disciples.

Kristin Ostensen  

And, of course, the Tenebrae resource that you've put together for the corps mission department is adapted from some material from the well-known author Kate Bowler. And the theme is “Good Enough: Embracing the Imperfections of Life and Faith.” Can you talk about why you chose that theme and what it means and how it plays out in the resource?

Renée McFadden  

Sure, I love to make use of creative worship experiences and resources. So, I look all over the place. And I knew Kate's book was coming out. And I actually found, there’s a resource online called Worship Design Studio by Marcia McFee. And she had used this Kate Bowler’s book to provide an entire series for Lent. So, it's much broader than this one service, but it included the Lent series, as well as Tenebrae, Good Friday, Easter Sunday. And so, there's just this collaboration of making use of the resources that others are putting forward as well. What we really loved about Kate Bowler, and coming out of the end of COVID and the pandemic—well, we were hoping for that last year, I think we're feeling a little more secure there now—was this recognition of embracing our good enough lives and our good enough selves that are worthy of love, no matter what. And so, instead of trying to constantly climb these ladders of success, and where we think we should be, and our expectations, it's embracing the lives that we have now—our real, holy, imperfect lives—and embracing that, our journey of faith. And the topic was, you are blessed regardless. So, regardless of the, you know, how successful your life looks, you and we are blessed by God, and he meets us where we are—not where we think we should be, or what we have achieved, or what we have failed. And so, I loved the theme around that and was so inspired. I love that Kate’s Canadian and has that connection with Winnipeg. Yeah, it's just a joy to be able to be inspired by fresh perspective and the writing of authors.

Kristin Ostensen  

Absolutely. And the Tenebrae service may be a new thing for some of our listeners. So, what encouragement would you give those who might be listening and thinking, Hey, I'd like to try this at my corps, but maybe they're a bit unsure about giving it a go?

Renée McFadden  

There's a couple of evening services throughout the year that I love to do. We also celebrate a Blue Christmas service, which is a time to acknowledge grief and healing before Christmas. And so, the Tenebrae service is an evening service, and meant to be the service of shadows. It is not for the whole congregation in that sense. Of course, they're invited, but it tends to not draw the young children, it tends to be a smaller, more intimate setting. And so, it doesn't have to be this extravagant thing. But there's something so authentic in just a group of Christians coming together and kind of participating in this dramatic re-enactment of the Last Supper. And it also, there's a great opportunity for participation. So, there's many Scripture readings that happen throughout the service. It's a great opportunity to hear different voices, and to be very participatory in our in our style of worship. That lends itself to that smaller, more intimate setting. It's not fancy and high-tech. Yeah, it feels very authentic and very community-focused and allows us to nurture kind of our inner spiritual space and our awareness.

Kristin Ostensen  

It sounds like a very beautiful lead-in to Easter. And I hope that those listening will go check out the resource. It's on the corps mission site, and we'll have the link in the show notes. But Captain Renée, I just want to thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing this beautiful tradition with us. And I wish you a blessed Holy Week and Happy Easter.

Renée McFadden  

Thank you so much.

Kristin Ostensen

Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Salvationist podcast. For more episodes, visit Salvationist.ca/podcast.