​A User’s Guide to Holy Week at St. Paul’s

People sometimes say that attending Holy Week services makes celebrating Easter more special. Think about it – most people don’t show up for the last fifteen minutes of a movie, or watch a TV series for the first time when the series finale is airing. The celebrations at the end mean much more when you’ve followed the characters throughout over time.

The same is true of Easter. During the week leading up to Easter, we relive many of the last days of Jesus on earth. Yes, it can be a little sad. But so are the individual episodes of TV shows sometimes. Attending worship during Holy Week, though, can make the finale of Easter much more glorious.

Wonder what we do during Holy Week, and if it’s right for you? Here is a quick guide to what happens:

Palm/Passion Sunday – As the hyphenated name might suggest, we actually re-enact TWO crucial scenes from Jesus’s life the Sunday before Easter. We begin by distributing palms, and waving them as we process into the church. This is our way of remembering the way people celebrated when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Think of it as a first-century ticker-tape parade. The story is found in the Gospels – this year we will read Luke 19:28-40.

Of course, some churches re-enact more than others. This Episcopal Cathedral in Florida uses a real donkey in their procession – we just have the palms and the hymn:

After the glorious opening procession, we move to the events of the last days of Jesus’s life, culminating in his death, or passion. We do a dramatic reading of this passage in the Bible, with different people reading the parts.

This reading can be rather impassioned (if you’ll forgive the pun) – it’s sent chills down my spine a number of times. The coupling of the passion with the celebration of palms can induce a sort of whiplash, but that’s part of the point. It’s a reminder that people loved Jesus, but were also willing to see Jesus killed. It’s humanity at its worst. But, reliving that before Easter makes the Easter celebration more joyous the following week. It reminds us that God can triumph over the very worst.

Maundy Thursday – The word Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning mandate or commandment. In church on Maundy Thursday, we remember the last night of Jesus’s life, which includes the Last Supper, where Jesus tells the disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Three different things happen at St. Paul’s on this night:

• Eucharist service and (optional) footwashing. – In many ways, this is Eucharist service much like what we do on Sunday. On the other hand, this service reminds us of the reason we do what we do on Sunday. This service commemorates the Last Supper, including the moment when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. Like all things, this takes the form of a symbolic ritual, where people (including the clergy) sit down and have others pour warm water over their feet and towel them off. It is a reminder that God reached out to serve all of us (even the priests!), and that God loves every part of us – even our tired, worn feet.
• Stripping of the altar – after the Eucharist, the lights go dim, and the choir exits in silence. The acolytes and clergy remove all decoration from the church, and the Rector covers the cross with a black veil. This solemn conclusion of the service reminds us that the Last Supper was a prelude to the events of Good Friday, and Jesus’s death.
• All night prayer vigil – On the night before Jesus died, he asked the disciples to pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Between the Maundy Thursday service and the Good Friday service at St. Paul’s, we offer parishioners a chance to pray for an hour by themselves in the darkened church, or in the office. This is a great opportunity to pray, meditate, or read some devotional literature (provided, or bring some of your own). To ensure that someone is praying throughout the night, please sign up for an hour-long “shift” on the bulletin board in the parish hall.

Good Friday – On Good Friday, we mark Jesus’s final hours, and his death, through a series of liturgies.

• The Good Friday liturgy – at noon – includes a different reading of the Passion. We serve communion from the reserved sacrament (wine and wafers that have been consecrated at another service and “reserved” for this use). This reminds us that Jesus was no longer with us for a time after his death – Eucharistic prayer always recalls Jesus’s presence.
• One aspect of the Good Friday Eucharist at St. Paul’s is the opportunity to venerate – pay honor – to the cross. We have a real wooden cross, and offer people the opportunity to write out their sins and nail them to the cross. This is a really cathartic moment, a chance to literally give your troubles to God. (The sins will be burned as part of the Easter Vigil on Saturday, a chance to truly make a clean beginning and a right start with God)
• After the Good Friday service, we observe the Stations of the Cross, literally walking along with Jesus’s final steps as we process to the various art representations hung in the church.

Easter Vigil – Just as the glorious celebration of Jesus’s birth begins on Christmas Eve, so the great celebration of Easter begins the night before, at the Easter vigil! This great liturgy starts just after sundown, when we kindle the Paschal fire (by using the sins we wrote on slips of paper on Good Friday). We carry the fire into church chanting, and then read a number of stories that tell us “salvation history,” the high points of the story of Christian story, starting with Creation. This year, there will be two baptisms, a chance to welcome new members into the Community of Christ, and a time to renew our own commitments. It is a glorious celebration of resurrection, and all that we believe. The service lasts about 90 minutes – it is not for those with a short attention span – but it sums up almost everything it means to be a Christian.

After the service, we have an Agape Reception, a chance to break the fast of Lent. Join with others in the St. Paul’s community with a potluck of treats, and celebrate the Resurrection. (If you’d like to bring a treat to share, please sign up on the bulletin board in the parish hall)

Easter Day – We will have two identical glorious services on Easter Day, and open our doors wide to welcome all our neighbors. This is St. Paul’s worship at its finest, with full choir, and beautiful brass.

After the 8:45 service, we will have our annual Easter Egg hunt for children of all ages. This year, we will once again give kids a chance to share in the joy of Easter by helping a variety of children’s charities with the “Blessing Bucks” they will find in their eggs (along with candy, of course)

After the 10:45 service, adults will have a chance to share the blessings of Easter as well, by bringing an Easter flower and card to a St. Paul’s parishioner who could use a bit of joy.