Sunday March 16, 2008
The Sunday of the Passion – Palm Sunday
(Starting outside – weather permitting)
7:30 am Holy Eucharist with Hymns and Palms
9:00 am Holy Eucharist with Songs and Palms
10:45 am Choral Eucharist with Palms
Tuesday March 18, 2008
7:30 pm Tenebrae (with Incense)
Thursday March 20, 2008
7:30 pm Maundy Thursday
9:00 pm Vigil at the Altar of Repose (Ending at 9:00 AM Good Friday)
Friday March 21, 2008
9:00 am Good Friday service to end vigil
11:00 am Intergenerational Stations of the Cross
7:30 pm Good Friday service
Saturday March 22, 2008 (Starting outside)
7:30 pm Great Vigil of Easter with Baptism (& Incense)
Sunday March 23, 2008
7:30 am Holy Eucharist Rite I with Choir
9:00 am Holy Eucharist
10:00 am Easter Egg Hunt for children 4th grade & younger
10:45 am Choral Eucharist Rite II with Choir
A Concise Explanation of the Holy Week services...
The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
We begin this day by celebrating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. We gather in the Columbarium Garden (weather permitting) where palm fronds are blessed and distributed as we re-enact the festive procession described in the gospels.
Palm Sunday begins Holy Week by abruptly shifting mood. The church is adorned in the red of the blood of martyrs. The Passion story (the story of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion) is read with the congregation reading the part of the crowd. The congregation, who before sang sweet hosannas, now calls "Crucify him!" It is in this drama that the tone is set for the liturgies of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and ultimately of the Great Vigil of Easter.
Tenebrae
Tenebrae is a Latin word that signifies darkness, shadows, and obscurity. The name of this service comes from the opening words of the fifth responsory: “Tenebrae factae sunt” – “darkness came over the whole land.” (Mark 15:33).
Tenebrae is characterized by the progressive extinguishing of all lights in the church except for one candle. The service ends with the ministers and people departing in silence through the shadows cast by that solitary flame. The appointed psalms, lessons, and prayers of Tenebrae form a prolonged contemplation of the events of Jesus’ last days. Tenebrae’s structure and content work together to evoke the dark and somber mood that will not be dispelled until Holy Week concludes with the new fire of the Great Vigil of Easter.
Maundy Thursday
On the evening that precedes the events of Good Friday, we commemorate the last meal Jesus shared with his friends in the Upper Room. At that meal, Jesus gave them and us two lasting gifts. First, Jesus gave us the sacrament of the Eucharist, an everlasting means whereby we are made one in the Body of Christ. The second gift he gave was a practical example by which we are to love one another: he washed the disciples' feet.
"Maundy" is an English corruption of the Latin mandatum, which means "commandment." It reminds us of the commandment of Jesus, "Love one another as I have loved you." As a liturgical expression of that commandment, those who wish can come forward to have their feet washed. Maundy Thursday cannot be celebrated apart from the observance of Good Friday, for the Last Supper and the Cross of Christ are mystically one. After the people have received the bread and wine of our Savior's Last Supper, the clergy and acolytes strip the altar and sanctuary of any adornment and leave it bare. As the altar represents the Body of Christ, we remember the arrest, trial, stripping and torture endured by Jesus on the way to his death. As the altar is stripped, the people recite Psalm 22, the psalm Jesus may have used during his execution.
The Altar of Repose
The Episcopal Church maintains the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Good Friday is the only day of the entire year that it is not appropriate to celebrate the Holy Eucharist. Because of this requirement, the leftover bread and wine that were consecrated at the Maundy Thursday liturgy, known as the reserved sacrament, are put in special vessels and kept in a place outside the main church, called the Altar of Repose.
As the main altar is stripped on Maundy Thursday, the Deacon processes with the consecrated bread and wine to the Parlor, where a special altar has been prepared to receive the sacrament. Reminiscent of the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed in the company of his disciples before his arrest, this Altar of Repose is a place where the faithful can reflect on their own discipleship in preparation for Easter. A silent vigil is kept by those who wish to remain at the Altar of Repose until 9:00 am on Good Friday.
Good Friday
Good Friday marks the lowest point of the Christian Year. We mourn the death of Jesus and contemplate the world's rejection of his message and ministry. Yet Good Friday is called "good" because God takes an instrument of death, the cross, and turns it into a means of victory over death. The Good Friday liturgy is stark and simple. The Passion narrative from the gospel of John is read in parts, followed by the Solemn Collects, a prayerful remembrance of all who dwell on the earth.
The Veneration of the Cross is an act of devotion that began in the fourth century. A cross is brought forward by the deacon into the sight of the people. The faithful contemplate in stillness the physical sign which bore our Savior. If so moved, there is also time and space for individuals to come forward for brief silent prayer at the foot of the cross. During the veneration the choir sings an anthem whose text is a meditation on the power the symbol of the cross has for us.
The liturgy concludes with a Confession of Sin, the Lord's Prayer and distribution of Holy Communion from the reserved sacrament, followed by a final collect. The people depart in silence, leaving the church bleak and bare as was Jesus’ tomb. Christians need not despair as the first disciples did, but can wait in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.
A special liturgy with language accessible to both children and adults on Good Friday morning takes them through the stations of the cross. In small groups we make the journey to the cross in several steps throughout the church. We hear the story of Jesus' Passion unfold as we walk through the stations. We are encouraged to wonder about the mystery of death and resurrection so that we might experience God's transformative way of grace.
The Great Vigil of Easter
The Great Vigil of Easter is the climax of the year. It is the end and the beginning. The early church had no special commemoration of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday apart from the celebration of the Resurrection. All of these separate historical events were enacted at the Christian Passover on Holy Saturday night. And so the entire truth of our redemption is totally contained in this one liturgy.
We begin at the beginning. As God invoked the coming of the Light at the dawn of time, so we begin by lighting the new fire. We kindle a fire outside in the darkness of the Columbarium Garden (weather permitting) and light the Paschal candle, representing the Light of Christ, the true light of the world, through whom all things were made.
The Paschal candle is borne into the dark church where we gather to hear the ancient stories of God's faithful redemption of his people time and again throughout history. After the stories of God's people are told, we graft into the ancient stories our own stories as we baptize new Christians and remember and renew our own baptismal covenant through the waters of new life. The newly baptized persons are a powerful symbol in the Easter liturgy of our own "Passover" from death into life.
And then we wait. Tonight is the eve of the Eighth Day, the dawn of a new creation. We have watched, and we have listened. We have baptized and have seen the new light. Now it is time to celebrate God's new plan for us.
The ministers put on their best vestments, the altar is vested and adorned with glorious cloth, flowers, and brightly polished silver and brass. Bells ring, the organ plays, and the redeemed people of God make a joyful noise, shaking noise makers and bells, shouting and singing praise, "Glory to God in the highest..." And we celebrate Eucharist, that most blessed of feasts. We participate in the banquet of the Risen One who points us to abundant life.
After the liturgy, the people gather for a party of champagne and rich food. The fast of Lent is ended. Thanks be to God.
Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday services are festival Eucharists with special music and jubilation at the resurrection of our Lord. The church is adorned with flowers, the silver sparkles and the church resounds with "The Lord is Risen Indeed"!