LTRP Note: We are re-posting this 2011 article because this is even more of an issue than it was in 2011. Posted for informational and research purposes.
By KATE SHELLNUTT
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Certain Holy Week observances long affiliated with more liturgical traditions are being re-purposed and incorporated into evangelical congregations, home to increasing numbers of former Catholics and mainline Protestants.
Leading up to the children’s egg hunts and contemporary worship services this Easter, it was not unlikely to see Lenten reflections, Maundy Thursday meals or even Stations of the Cross at a Baptist church.
Carlos Ichter never observed Lent or Holy Week in the Baptist congregation where he grew up, but Tallowood Baptist Church — where Ichter serves as a worship minister — has commemorated the Last Supper and the crucifixion in the days leading up to Easter for more than a decade.
“I’ve been asked a few times, ‘What is this Maundy Thursday?’ It is a foreign idea for some, but once you explain it to them, they see it’s scriptural and it makes sense,” he said. “There are a lot of good things that Roman Catholics do that I think everybody should be open to. … It’s not a Catholic thing or a Baptist thing, it’s a biblical thing.” (Click here to continue reading.)
the local Methodist church I belong to, started observing Stations of The Cross 2 years ago; I don’t do it. I have done Ash Wednesday/Maundy Thursday in the past, not any longer. I also have done Advent studies, no longer. All these are traditions, not Biblical practices. I don’t need to ‘prepare’ for Easter, Jesus didn’t, until He was arrested, tried and crucified on the Cross for our sins. That’s enough for me to know.