As an immigrant learning English, the word sanctuary confused me at first. I saw it at church. I saw it when hiking. I saw it in news about immigration. What in the world was the meaning of this word that it was being used in such different settings? Now of course I know that it means a place of safety and protection from the dangers of the outside. And after everything we have been through in the past couple of years, we all need a sanctuary more than ever.

We were so excited to be back in our sanctuary for Holy Week for normal worship this year. Holy Week services in 2020 were all online and the alfombra was on my home driveway on a cold and rainy Good Friday. Last year we were at least back in person, but there was no singing and communion was at the door as everyone exited the building. We were making big plans. And then we received the exciting and disappointing news that the renovations of the Spanish Sanctuary were going to be taking place over Lent and Holy Week. We would be worshipping in the Hearth Room for the rest of Lent and possibly all of Holy Week. So our plans changed. We slashed the number of alfombras we were planning. We uninvited the guest musicians for Easter Sunday since it was unknown where Easter worship would be. If we were still in the Hearth Room, there would barely be room for the piano. There definitely wouldn’t be room for extra musicians.

When we first started down this road, we were so excited about the project that the disappointments weren’t that big of a deal. But by the time Palm Sunday arrived, it was our third week in the Hearth Room. The energy level of worship was lagging regardless of my energy level. We decided to avoid publicizing our Holy Week worship schedule because we were afraid if visitors came, they would never come back again.

But at the same time, as we were having our own little moment of feeling sorry for ourselves, there were stories of worship in bombed buildings and in subway stations in Ukraine. We were seeing stories of drought and locusts in Tanzania. Yet worship continued. Violence and the government reaction was taking over life in El Salvador, yet worship continued. The story of Jesus’s death and resurrection always overcomes the troubles of this world. If worship was continuing in these terrible circumstances, surely we can do Holy Week in the Hearth Room.

And then we had our own little miracle, and we were able to get into the sanctuary in time for Maundy Thursday. We had a place for the alfombra procession for Good Friday. It was still under construction, but we were energized. And in spite of our efforts to try and hide our worship schedule from visitors, we had over 20 visitors for Easter morning. We had to bring in extra chairs and run additional bulletins. It was a full worship service filled with singing and shouts of resurrection joy. ¡Él ha resucitado!

Edwin Aparicio, Pastoral Intern, Spanish-Language Minister