Holy Week of 2020 was … different. It came at the end of a Lenten season that seemed about five years long, thanks to the chaotic and ever-changing coronavirus pandemic. By the time Holy Week rolled around, my family had been in quarantine for a month, and there was no end in sight. My husband, a pastor, had been working nonstop during that month, trying to keep the congregation connected to worship and learning opportunities. But Holy Week was going to be an entirely different kind of challenge.
How could he and the rest of the ministry team help congregation members learn and grow in faith if they weren’t going to be together during the holiest of weeks? Usually, we’d gather together for worship and other special events on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and then Easter Sunday’s festival celebration. This year, we were all sequestered at home, scattered and isolated.