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Holy Week
Worship over these three days will cover it all
-creation and redemption, death and life, fire and water, desolation and celebration. These days enact the great Christian drama, and the worship services are, in many ways, dramas that embody the story, the tensions, and the teachings of the very core of our faith.
Maundy Thursday, April 17 – 7:00 p.m.
On Maundy Thursday, we reach back to the beginning of Lent to recall the confession we made on Ash Wednesday. The service does not follow the normal order- because we are both continuing and beginning an extraordinary worship experience. We are touched by words of forgiveness. It is only with a clear knowledge of being forgiven that we can engage the rest of the story.
Forgiven, we learn of God’s new commandment. Foot washing, so intimate that it’s embarrassing in our culture, is the image Jesus chose to demonstrate the servant nature of our calling. We watch and we eat a last supper with Jesus. We hear him offer all of himself to us, even his body and blood.
With the taste of wine still fresh in our mouths, the altar is stripped bare. It will be the consequence of Jesus’ love for us. Judas slips out to meet his conspirators. As the sanctuary is stripped bare, as the words of the psalm drift through the air, we are reminded of what this love will cost Jesus. We leave the sanctuary lingering-silence is observed. It is a holy time.
GOOD FRIDAY, April 18 at 7:00 p.m.
“Tenebrae” or Service of the Shadows, is one of the oldest traditional services of the Christian Church. Scripture readings and hymns focus our attention on our Lord’s crucifixion, death and final victory. Our visual center is the cross. There is nothing else to distract us. The pace is slow, as those final hours must have been for him. We move, relentlessly to the end. We are reminded that Jesus’ death was, paradoxically, the moment of his triumph. Through his death he defeated death. We confess that this death is God’s glory, but it is also silent between now and tomorrow. Deadly silent…. Our hope and promise will sustain us.
EASTER DAY - The Resurrection of Our Lord
The morning light beckons us. We know where we have come from before we peek into the tomb with the women and Peter. When we hear the angel say, “He is not here, but has risen,” we know again that life is always God’s way with us. Death is defeated. He who was dead lives. The promise has been fulfilled. Flowers, which begin again the cycle of life, surround us. The aroma of bread and wine remind us that the holy meal is a celebration this day, for in it we confess that life is stronger than death under God’s reign and we have seen it with our own eyes. Christ is risen! Alleluia!
Though the faithful claim to love Jesus, we fail to make the effort to journey with Christ. We wave our palms, but avoid the nails, wanting to lay claim to the spoils of his victory. We all need to travel Holy Week in the presence of our Savior. I invite you to experience the trials and tribulation, the pain and suffering to comprehend the inexplicable joys of Christ’s victory.
Special Services Held Throughout the Year Include:
- Christmas Eve, Holy Communion, Candlelight Service, Dec 24, TBD
- Ash Wednesday, Holy Communion - TBA
- Midweek Lenten Services, (see Lenten Services info.)
- Maundy Thursday, April 17th @ 7 pm
- Good Friday, April 18th @ 7 pm
- Sunday School - held during 10 am worship serive.
- First Communion instruction is offered each year for children in grade 2 or above.
- A catechetical program is offered to students in grade 7 or above.
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