Editor s Foreword<br > In the celebration of Holy Week， the biblical drama of the salva-<br >tion of the world is now moving rapidly toward its climax. That<br >which was hidden in two thousand years of history is now soon to<br >be revealed: God s lordship over all the earth， to which every knee<br >shall bow. At the center of the drama are the suffering and<br >glorification of Jesus Christ. Thus the lessons of the Sunday of the<br >Passion (Palm Sunday) tell the story of his suffering and promise<br >his exaltation to glory. The lessons of each day of the week spell out<br >the significance of these events.<br > Two traditions merge on the Sunday before Easter: the fourth-<br >century Jerusalem custom of commemorating the triumphal entry<br >in a procession of palms， and the fifth-century Western com-<br >memoration of the day as the beginning of the Lord s final passion.<br >It was the latter which passed into the Reformation， but in the.pres-<br >ent lectionary， the two have been almost combined: the story of the<br >passion is read， but the joyful mood of the triumphal entry is<br >preserved by the OT and Epistle lessons.<br > Maundy Thursday s name is taken from the Latin， man-<br >datum="commandment，" remembering Jesus words "A new<br >commandment 1 give to you . . ." at the washing of the disciples <br >feet. The ceremony of foot washing was widely practiced in the<br >Middle Ages and in Reformation England， but it is the eucharistic<br >imitation of the Last Supper which predominates in practice. In the<br >custom of the fourth-century Jerusalem church， this was followed<br >by a visit to Gethsemane after midnight.<br > In the primitive church， Good Friday and Holy Saturday were<br >originally simply fast days in preparation for baptism and par-<br >ticipation in the Easter Eucharist. It was， again， the fourth-century<br >Jerusalem church which introduced the three-hour Friday service<br >of reading， hymns， and preaching so often found today. The<br >Jerusalem service took place at the actual site of Golgotha，<br >followed by a visit to the Holy Sepulcher in the evening.<br >