SALT LAKE CITY — Cathedral bells rang as about a dozen choir members offered songs of worship and helped lead a procession of hundreds to where they would worship on Palm Sunday, one week before Easter.
"Let us commemorate the Lord's entry into the city of our salvation, following in his footsteps so that being made by his grace partakers of the cross, we may have a share also in his resurrection and in his life," the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Catholic bishop of Salt Lake City, said minutes earlier outside the Cathedral of the Madeleine.
Events on Palm Sunday are a reflection of the biblical account of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem one week before his death, when many spread their coats and leaves on the ground as Jesus rode on a donkey into the city. The day marked the beginning of Holy Week, a time when many Christians observe the final days and events of Jesus' life, culminating Sunday with Easter and the Resurrection.
"We remember the very fundamental events that give shape to our faith and reconcile us to God," said the Rev. Phil Hughes, pastor of the Mount Olympus Presbyterian Church.
Hughes said God created people to learn through their senses, so he sees the physical preparations for Easter as working with that learning style.
"We try to bring in all the senses into worship. Because God made us that way," he said. "Eating bread, sharing in a cup, seeing visual pictures, being able to put flowers on a cross and then seeing that cross decorated come in, I think that touches the sensory part of worship of God that I think is also important."
For many traditional Christians, their Easter observance begins with a 40-day fast, called Lent, that is a reflection of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness before he entered Jerusalem. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, when congregants have crosses traced on their foreheads with ashes. During Lent, Christians are asked to make some sort of sacrifice to help them spiritually prepare for Easter or for Good Friday, depending on the tradition.
Many Catholics and Protestants also observed Holy Thursday, also known as Maundy Thursday, a time of reflecting on Jesus' Last Supper with his apostles. This is the beginning of what many traditional Christians call the Triduum, the three days leading up to Easter, or Resurrection Sunday.
“Maundy Thursday is a day to examine our lives and look inwardly at our very souls," said the Very Rev. Ray Waldon, dean and rector of the Cathedral Church of St. Mark, an Episcopal church in Salt Lake City. "This one day of the year we are forced to look at our collective humanity and ask why isn’t this world a better a place? After all he said, 'Peace is my last gift to you, my own peace I now leave with you; peace which the world cannot give, I give to you.'"
Holy Thursday prepares Christians for Good Friday two days before Easter, which marks the death of Jesus. Many Christians had a special service Friday with Good Friday the culmination of Catholics' Lenten observance.
"When Jesus died on the cross, all sin was forgiven," said the Rev. Martin Diaz, pastor at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. "That's the reconciliation between humanity and God."
Many Christians will also worship Saturday night. This is also a time when Catholics and Orthodox Christians receive new converts into their churches. In the Catholic church, congregants are sprinkled with Holy Water on Easter Sunday to help remind them of the covenants they made when they were baptized.
"All other Sundays are reflections of these events. So in other words … this event of Holy Thursday, Mass of the Last Supper, death of Jesus, baptism, resurrection, all of that then is reflected every other Sunday," the Rev. Diaz said. "Every Sunday is like little Easter. Every Sunday is meant to bring us back to these three days."
Some Christian churches do not observe the practices of Lent, Ash Wednesday and Holy Week, although they see Jesus' Resurrection as a primary focus of their faith. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are among those who do not follow an official Lenten observance.
LDS Church officials encourage their congregations to hold Easter-themed services, perform and listen to relevant music and review scriptural accounts of the events leading to Jesus' death and resurrection in their services, according to lds.org.
This year, the LDS Church released a video called "Because He Lives," which details events of Jesus' life. The church has also launched a social media campaign asking members to share the video and their thoughts and feelings about Jesus along with the hashtag #BecauseHeLives. This year Easter Sunday falls on the same weekend as the church's Annual General Conference.
Some Christians, including Jana Riess of Ohio, will blend traditions in their Easter worship.
“It’s very easy for our minds to get really sidetracked by just life and material things and Lent gives us an opportunity to step back, pray more hopefully, enjoy meals with more mindfulness, a lot of different things,” said Riess, an author and blogger on religious topics.
Riess, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and former Presbyterian, still observes and finds meaning in Ash Wednesday and Lent. She sees Lent as a way to help her fully experience the joy of Jesus' Resurrection.
"We are a people (in the LDS Church) who emphasize joy and that’s a great thing, but my concern is that with Easter is that you cannot, you know, celebrate the Resurrection and the joyfulness without first going to the cross with Christ," she said.
Back at the Cathedral of the Madeleine on Palm Sunday, Bishop Wester and a deacon walked in the midst of a group, sprinkling Holy Water on those around them and reading a passage from the Gospel of Mark. The crowd made its way around the block, palms in tow, to the front entrance of the cathedral. Some in the group had shaped their palms to resemble crosses.
One woman, seeing the seats in the sanctuary chapel filled, slipped out, remarking with a smile that she should have stayed inside and saved her seat. Constance Daly was raised Catholic from birth but investigated other major world religions before setting organized religion aside.
As she walked from the cathedral, she said that for her Palm Sunday is "just like going home." Because she attends Palm Sunday Mass annually, she would return to the Madeleine in the evening, when it was less crowded.
"(Palm Sunday) is a script to keep me in balance and to keep me wearing a smile," she said.
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