Holy Week at Christ Church

"If the time between Palm Sunday and Easter seems endless, it is meant to.

Time is suspended as we ponder and celebrate the great mysteries of our redemption." –Dennis Michno

Palm  Sunday  8:30  &  10:  Festive  Eucharist  with  Palm  Procession    

and  Reading  of  the  Passion;  children’s  sermon  at  10am  Tuesday,  7pm:  Stations  of  the  Cross  

Wednesday,  7pm  Tenebrae  Thursday,  7pm:  BCP  Maundy  Thursday  Liturgy    

(12:30pm  with  Chaplains  on  the  Way)  Thursday  8pm-­‐12pm  Friday:    Vigil  at  the  Altar  of  Repose  

Friday,  12  and  7pm  BCP  Liturgy  for  Good  Friday    Friday,  6pm  Stations  for  Children  

Saturday,  7pm  The  Great  Vigil  of  Easter  with  Baptism  Easter  Sunday,  Holy  Eucharist  at  8:30  and  10am  

 What is Holy Week? Holy week is the week between Palm Sunday and Easter. On Palm Sunday our liturgy reflects the “highs” of welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem, singing with palm branches, and then moves to the “low” of reading the story of Christ’s Passion. Thursday-Saturday of Holy Week are known as the sacred “Three Days,” or in Latin, Triduum. Technically, these are one service-there's no final blessing or dismissal from Thursday’s opening until the end of the Great Vigil on Saturday. Our observance is also deepened with Services of the Stations of the Cross on Tuesday (traditional) and Friday (for children) and the service of Tenebrae, a service of light, dark, song, and silence.

The Stations of the Cross (Tues 7pm; Fri 6pm) At this service, we walk the pilgrim walk of the Way of the Cross as a way to pray the last day of Jesus’ life from his condemnation to being laid in the tomb: the path Jesus would have walked in Jerusalem. Tuesday’s service is tradition; Friday has more accessible language for children. Tenebrae (Wed. 7pm)

This service comes from the monastic prayers of holy week, of matins and lauds: a combination of readings and song and the gradual extinction of candles toward darkness. A loud noise ends the service to symbolize the earthquake after the death of Jesus, then the last light returns.

Maundy Thursday Liturgy (12:30 & 7pm) Our celebration of Maundy Thursday comes from the account in Scripture of Jesus’ last night as described in the Gospel of John, when he washes his disciples’ feet to model God’s commandment to love and serve (the word "Maundy" comes from the Latin, mandatum, which means commandment). It is also the time we remember the institution of the Holy Eucharist; we say the same words from the Gospel as every time we celebrate Communion: This is my body, this is my blood. Participants are invited to wash each other’s feet (it’s OK not to participate). After the 7pm service, we strip the altar. The Church reflects the desolation of Good Friday. The 12:30 service is in cooperation with the Waltham street ministry Chaplains on the Way. The Vigil at the Altar of Repose (8pm-12pm Fri) As part of the stripping of the altar after the Maundy Thursday service, we move the Sacrament, Bread and Wine, Body and Blood, to a specially prepared “altar of repose” in the choir room. Participants sign up for an hour or two at a time, remembering Jesus’ invitation to his disciples to stay awake with him in Gethsemane before he was crucified. Good Friday (12 & 7)

On Good Friday, we share communion from the reserved sacrament (blessed on Thursday, which we’ve sat in Vigil with all night). We also pray at the foot of a rough, home built cross we place in front of the altar. Everyone is invited to reverence-to bow, to kiss, to kneel, or just to stand and wonder at the mystery of that symbol, an object of shame and violence transformed into life and love. At 6pm, we have a service of Stations of the Cross for Children, continuing the conversation begun at the children’s sermon on Palm Sunday. The Great Vigil of Easter The Easter Vigil is a different kind of Vigil from the Thursday night kind—more like stories around a campfire. We enter a darkened church, after lighting the Pascal candle from the “new fire” of Easter outside the church and then we process in singing, “The light of Christ,” and hear the stories of our salvation from the Hebrew Scriptures. Halfway through the service, Easter begins!-we ring in our celebration with bells and more light (so

remember to bring your own bell to ring). We baptize and are sprinkled with holy water. The service continues with a festive Eucharist, with incense and wonderful Easter hymns. The alleluias will be back! The first time we did it at Christ Church (in 2009), someone commented, “That is the Easter-est it’s ever been!” It is. Please come for the whole journey!