“This is the center of our story, the source from which everything else flows.”

Worship for Holy Week and Easter will be even more memorable this year. Beginning the weekend of April 2nd (with Saturday evening worship on April 1), the most holy of weeks will be filled with ten (10) services and events. Be sure to make plans to be at church all week! All of the services will be in the church sanctuary.

Sunday of the Passion with Procession with Palms

April 2 at 8am & 9:30am (April 1 @ 6pm)

April 2nd is Palm Sunday and with that comes an opportunity to not only celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry, but also hear the entire story of the Passion from Matthew’s gospel. We begin with the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and within moments our thoughts will turn to His betrayal by Judas, his trials before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, and his crucifixion. A homily will bring some things into clearer focus before we once again gather at the Lord’s altar.  

Maundy Thursday, the Paschal Day of the Lord’s Supper

April 6 at 10am & 6:30pm

Maundy Thursday takes its name from the Lord’s command (maundatum) to love one another, demonstrated most clearly in Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet. Our worship on that day includes several critical pieces that both bring an end to the season of Lent, and then begin the Paschal Triduum, the three holy days. 

The Reconciliation of the Penitents begins our worship service. On Ash Wednesday we made corporate confession of our sins and then individually approached the altar to receive a cross of ashes as a reminder of our sinfulness and the promise of redemption (it’s a cross, not just a smudge of ashes). On Maundy Thursday we are confess our sins and then are invited to come forward individually to receive absolution.  We once again gather at the altar to celebrate the supper our Lord institute on “the night when he was betrayed.”

The evening service concludes with the Stripping of the Altar as all hints of celebration our removed, leaving the sanctuary as bare as possible in advance of services on Good Friday.

Good Friday, the Paschal Day of our Lord’s Death

April 7 at Noon & 6:30pm

The tone for Good Friday is somber and reflective. We gather for the Liturgy of the Cross at noon, the hour our Lord was crucified to focus our attention on the punishment our Lord receives in our place. The day will end with the Way of the Cross liturgy at 6:30pm, drawing even more attention to the horror of the cross itself.

The Celebration of Easter, the Paschal Day of our Lord’s Resurrection

April 9 at 6:30am & 10:00am

A Sunrise Celebration begins our day. While the sanctuary remains dark and the tone is rather somber at the very beginning of the service, the Easter Proclamation makes clear that the day is focused on the joy of resurrection! Our processions and hymns of praise will focus on the news the women receive and bring to the disciples early in the morning on that first day of the week.

The Festival Service at 10:00am on that day is the chief celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection. The hymns and readings continue to proclaim that Christ has, indeed, been risen.

Five persons will be receiving the Sacrament of Holy Baptism on Easter morning! Young adults and older children who have been receiving instruction through this past year and especially in the month of March will be received into the fellowship of God’s people, one at the Sunrise Celebration and the other four at the Festival Service.