The services of Holy Week originate in an ancient tradition of the churches in Jerusalem, in which services would be held on different days in different places in the week leading up to Easter, commemorating the events of Jesus’ last days in the very place they happened. These services became a kind of mini-pilgrimage, with the whole congregation traveling from place to place in the footsteps of Jesus.

Our Holy Week pilgrimage takes place in a single location, far from the original events. But it is no less a pilgrimage for that. We journey with Jesus and his disciples through this week, hearing the same old stories and wondering where they meet us on our own path this year. More than any other services of the church, our Holy Week services are full of drama and symbolism, of embodied and material realities that remind us of spiritual truths.

I hope you can join us for some part of our pilgrimage through Holy Week this year.

Palm Sunday — April 2 — 10am

We celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem with a parade of palms, and remember the crushing disappointment of his betrayal, arrest, and death with a reading of the Passion According to Matthew.

Maundy Thursday — April 6 — 6pm

As Jesus gathered with his disciples for a Last Supper together, we share a simple meal. As he taught them his “new commandment” to love one another as he loved them, and then humbly knelt to wash the dirt from their feet, we wash one another’s feet. As darkness fell and he went out to the Garden to pray, we strip the decorations and ornaments from our sanctuary and bring the Blessed Sacrament to rest in a Garden of Repose.

Good Friday — April 7 — 7pm

We remember again the events of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial, and death with a solemn service of readings and prayers, and venerate the cross on which he died and through which he destroyed the power of death.

Holy Saturday — April 8 — 12pm

One of the simplest, most austere, but most beautiful services of the year, the Liturgy of the Word for Holy Saturday reflects on the day in which Jesus rested in the tomb, and offers prayers drawn from our funeral services.

The Great Vigil of Easter — April 8 — 7pm

Our celebration of Easter begins with the kindling of a new fire and the retelling of the whole story of salvation, stretching from the moment of creation through Easter morning, followed by a festive celebration of the first Eucharist of Easter.

Easter Sunday — April 9 — 10am

We journey with the women who followed Jesus to the door of his empty tomb, and see their astonishment to find him risen, crying aloud our words of praise: “Alleluia! Christ is risen!”