Easter and Holy Week

Easter Services:

Saturday April 8, 7:45 pm in-person and live-streamed

Easter Sunday, April 9, 8am Zoom;  10:30 in-person and live-streamed

Everyone is welcome, young and old, to all our services many of which are live-streamed on Facebook.

Holy Week

Holy Week is a time for us to ponder the incredible love that Jesus the Christ, the Man/God showed to humanity by allowing us to kill him, and the tremendous sadness that we each have within our own nature the ability to do that to another human being. Jesus did not respond to human violence with violence but with non-violent resistance and showed by his resurrection that violence is powerless over life. God’s unconditional love is shown in that even though humanity did its worst, Jesus the Christ came back and stays in relationship to us.

Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday, when we remember Jesus’ triumphant ride into Jerusalem, incongruously on a donkey. At the 10:30 service we will process with palms and then go suddenly into the Passion Gospel, relating Jesus’ betrayal, trial and death: it’s a sudden change which brings us up short and connects us to the pathos of human love and human loss. Sunday April 2, services at 8 (also on Zoom) and 10:30 (also live-streamed on Facebook) will all reflect this joy and grief.

Stations of the Cross

Follow Jesus as he travels along the Via Dolorosa ( Road of Sorrows) from Gethsemane to his death, burial and finally resurrection. Along the way, we pray for those in need around the world. This service lasts 30 -45 minutes. It is available for private prayer here, and we will pray it together on Tuesday April 4 at 4:30pm and Friday April 7 at 2:15pm.

Maundy Thursday April 6 , 7pm in-person with livestream on Facebook

On Maundy Thursday we remember Jesus’ last supper with his friends and the subsequent betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. Following the gospel of John we include a ceremony of foot-washing as well as communion with wine. Afterwards, the church is stripped of all its color and artwork, ending with the stripping of the altar, reminding us of how Jesus was stripped naked. We depart in silence, just as his disciples left him, silently melting into the night. 

Good Friday, April 7, 12noon and 7:00pm

Good Friday is the day when Jesus was crucified. The Scriptures tell us that he hung on the cross for three hours, which we remember from noon until three. Some people choose to fast until 3 pm as a way of personally connecting with Jesus’ sacrifice. We will mark the day with a traditional Good Friday liturgy at 12 noon.  Then in the evening we join the congregation at Trinity United Methodist Church for a joint service of music and readings at 7:00pm

Easter Vigil Saturday, April 8, 7:45 pm 

Finally, we get to Easter, but we can’t quite wait until Easter morning, so we celebrate the night of Jesus’ resurrection  with the Great Vigil of Easter. During this ancient service, we usually light the new fire and bring light into the church for the recounting of our salvation history. Then, after we have renewed our Baptismal Vows, we celebrate the resurrection in a joyful singing of the Gloria before celebrating the first Eucharist of Easter. This year there will be a special diocesan service available on the diocesan Youtube channel. There will also be a shorter outdoor service Vigil for a Pilgrim People starting at 7:30pm.

Easter Day – Sunday, April 9: 8am Zoom and In-person: 10:30am in-person, live streamed on Facebook

Our celebration continues on Easter Morning, with a contemplative communion service at 8am and an in-person Eucharist at 10:30am.