Holy Week and Easter
Join us for the most meaningful and poignant time
of the Church year.
Find out more about each service
and see a full calendar of worship below.
Palm Sunday
Hosanna in the highest!
Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter and the first day of Holy Week.
We gather to retell the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and Jesus’ Passion on the cross. At our in-person services, people wave branches of palms and together shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
After we rejoice, we solemnly pause to read and remember the Passion. The service ends in silence, and the tone is set for the rest of Holy Week.
Click on the events for more details about the service.
Holy Week
These are the three most powerful and poignant
services in the whole Church year.
Go deep in your faith and come to all three.
You won’t be the same when Easter comes.
The “Triduum” of Holy Week is the three days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday where we commemorate and prepare for Easter.
Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin for mandatum novum, “a new commandment.” (John 13:34) After Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, he said, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” The Eucharist commemorates the Last Supper and includes the reservation of the Sacrament for Good Friday. Join us in the Parish Hall for an Agape Meal. We’ll then move to the sanctuary for a traditional Maundy Thursday service with ritual foot washing and candlelit procession of the sacrament to the Gethsemane chapel. From there, vigil will be kept in the chapel with the sacrament through the night until the Good Friday service begins.
Come pray by walking the labyrinth and prayer stations on your own at any time. They are available in the Parish Hall throughout the whole Triduum.
Good Friday comes from “God’s Friday,” the day we commemorate the Crucifixion. It is a continuation of the Maundy Thursday service, beginning, as the night before ended, in silence. The Liturgy has four parts: the Word of God (with the Passion according to John), the Solemn Collects (which date back to the 4th century and are an early form of the Prayers of the People), the veneration of the Cross, and Holy Communion from the reserved Sacrament.
Holy Saturday is a day of solemn prayer and preparation for Easter which begins with the first fire of the Easter Vigil that night. We recall the great pause Creation felt as Jesus descended to the dead, and the disciples as they sat in their grief.
The Great Vigil of Easter is the most dramatic service of the church year, and takes place Saturday night. We begin by lighting the new fire, and then gather around to tell the full story of God’s salvation, from Genesis, through the Exodus from Egypt, from the prophets, and finally in Jesus’ resurrection. This is the first celebration of Easter. “Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!”
Click on the events for more details about each service.
Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday is a time of celebration and great joy and is the most important worship service of the year. We celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection and our salvation through it by proclaiming:
“Alleluia! Christ is risen!” “The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Click on the events for more details about each service.