Holy Week and Easter Worship

Our Palm Sunday worship will begin with a festive parade of palms and will move through the story of Christ’s passion, ending at the cross.

Maundy Thursday will begin with a soup and salad dinner at 6:00pm in the Fellowship Hall. Everyone is welcome for this meal. At 7:00pm we will celebrate our Lord’s last supper with a service of Holy Communion.

Good Friday Service of Light and Darkness. It is a service blending two traditions: Tenebrae and Taizé. Tenebrae (Latin for”darkness”) was the name given to the medieval predawn morning prayer celebrated by monks during the last three days in Holy Week. In the monastic practice, it was a service of prayers and readings from scripture. As the light began to dawn, the candles used for reading were gradually extinguished, so that at the end of the service, the rising sun provided the necessary light for reading and singing. In modern times, Tenebrae has become descriptive of a service that moves from shadowed light todarkness. As we hear the Passion narrative from the Gospel according to John, candles will be extinguished, making us mindful of the suffering of Christ on that Friday so long ago.

Taizé is an ecumenical community located north of Cluny, France. Begun in 1949 by Brother Roger, Taizé is the home for over 100 brothers who have hosted visitors from every continent for retreat and weeklong gatherings. As a part of their prayer services, the community uses short songs,repeated again and again. As the words are sung over many times, the meditative singing becomes a way of listening to God. It allows everyone to take part in a time of prayer together and to remain together in attentive waiting on God, without having to fix the length of time too exactly.

On Easter Sunday we will have two worship services: 9:00am and 11:00am. Together we will “release” our Alleluias and celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord.