This week is Holy Week, the most important week on the Christian calendar! We WILL hold Holy Week services, online. Scroll down for plans and times. Here are some ideas about preparing for Holy Week.
1. Gather and prepare some things to help you participate in our online liturgies. For each service, below, I suggest some items you might gather or prepare. These suggestions are not meant to feel like an assignment or a burden! Rather, I want us all to feel that we can create holy space wherever we are, and know that we are participants in, rather than viewers of, these special liturgies. Here’s the abbreviated list: Banners/signs & boughs; bread, wine or juice; ointment or balm; envelope, paper, & writing utensils; a cross; a special candle; a bowl of water; snacks and treats; bells & noisemakers. See list of liturgies for more detail.
2. Pray the Stations of the Cross. The Stations of the Cross are a practice of prayer that dwells with Jesus’ journey from his sentencing, until his body was laid in the tomb. You could sit in a quiet place and read and pray the Stations, or you might call them up on a smartphone and take them on a walk with you, pausing to read and pray as you move around your neighborhood. There are many online versions of the Stations. Here is the version we have used in recent years.
3. With younger children, share the whole story. It’s important for younger kids to be reminded of the whole story before we begin Holy Week – so they know that it eventually has a joyful, triumphant ending. That’s more important than ever, this year! Here are some ways to do that:
- Watch the Faces of Easter videos that Evy Gildrie-Voyles is creating for the young children of our parish. (Only three are up so far but Evy will continue to post them!)
- Watching these somewhat longer Godly Play-style videos, with wondering questions, for each of the services/stories of Holy Week:
- Read the Easter story in a children’s Bible and talk about it.
- Sing a song that tells the whole story, like “Now the green blade riseth” (#204 in our Hymnal) or “Lord of the Dance”. Find the lyrics here; find the tune here.
HOLY WEEK LITURGIES
MAUNDY THURSDAY, April 9, 6PM
Try to be at the end of your dinner, more or less, at 6pm as we gather online for this service. (But it’s OK if you’re still finishing up!) Consider setting your table nicely and making this a special meal, whatever that means for you right now. PREPARE: Please have some bread and some red wine, grape juice, or another special drink set aside on your table, to use in our worship. Please have some ointment or balm for dry skin nearby.* Please have an envelope (or special box or container), slips of paper that will fit in envelope or container, & writing utensils on hand.
Download the Maundy Thursday bulletin here.
GOOD FRIDAY, April 10, 12PM & 7PM
PREPARE: Find a cross, or make one; it can be as simple as two sticks and some twine.
Download the Good Friday bulletin here.
GOOD FRIDAY STATIONS for KIDS, April 10, 4PM
Nothing to gather; just join Rev. Miranda on Zoom!
EASTER VIGIL, Saturday, April 11, 7PM
We are starting our Vigil early this year so that our younger members can join in the sharing of holy stories. The Vigil should be finished by around 8:30PM. PREPARE: A special candle to light; a bowl of water (maybe a special bowl?); a special place prepared for listening to holy stories (cozy blankets? snacks? A fire in a fireplace?); Alleluia signs or banners; something that rattles (a container with pebbles or dry beans); bells & noisemakers (keyrings work well); perhaps some treat foods for a feast.
Download the Easter Vigil bulletin here.
EASTER SUNDAY, April 12
Diocesan Easter liturgy, 10AM, on Youtube and Facebook.
Think about doing something on Easter Sunday that gives you joy and leans into the future. Plant something. Make a time capsule. Watch the sun rise, or set. Go someplace with water and celebrate your baptism. Blow some bubbles!