Holy Week & Easter 2025 at Christ’s Church
All our services will take place in the Church unless specified otherwise. They can also be viewed on our Livestream.
For a full description of our Holy Week services, click here.
Sunday, April 13, Palm Sunday
8:00am Spoken Palm Sunday Liturgy
10:00am Palm Sunday Liturgy with music and procession
(we will begin in the parish hall and process to the church.
Those who are not physically able to walk with us
may wait in the church where Mother Jen will bless palms.)
The Triduum
Triduum is Latin for “three days.” In the Christian church, Triduum refers to the last days of Holy Week: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil. These three sacred days offer the church’s most dramatic and beautiful worship services in preparation for the great feast of Easter. The church considers the Triduum to be one continual act of worship which is why the congregation is not formally dismissed until the end of the Easter Vigil on Saturday night. During the Triduum, we shift from our Palm Sunday orientation of observation to more intentional acts of participation in Jesus’ last three days of earthly life.
Thursday, April 17, Maundy Thursday
7:00pm The Liturgy for Maundy Thursday
Followed by Nightwatch
Friday, April 18, Good Friday
7:00pm The Liturgy for Good Friday
Saturday, April 19, Holy Saturday
7:00 pm The Great Vigil of Easter
Sunday, April 20, The Feast of the Resurrection: Easter Day
9:00am Rite II Worship for Easter with music & choirs
(10am Easter Egg Hunt- see below)
11;00am Rite II Worship for Easter with music & choir
Christ's Church will be having its Annual Easter Egg Hunt on April 20 at 10 am! There will be two separate hunts going on at the same time. The front lawn along Rectory Street will be reserved for children 6 and under. Older children will be in the Columbarium Garden (where our Grace in the Garden services is held). All children will be supervised by Tyler James and teen volunteers. Please limit your child to 10 eggs so there will be enough for everyone. When you are finished, if you would like to empty the candy into your baskets and return the plastic eggs, we will recycle them for next year! All of the candy provided is nut free. Baskets for the eggs and bags for the candy will be provided.
All of our livestreamed services may be found here:
Holy Week and the Great Three Days
April 13 at 8 & 10 and April 17,18 & 19 at 7pm
Easter Sunday, April 20 at 9 & 11am
Palm Sunday is the sixth and last Sunday of Lent. It’s called Palm Sunday because the first thing we do upon entering the church (or the parish hall at 10) is take up palms and tell the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This day is also known as Passion Sunday because we will have a dramatic reading of the Passion according to Luke. After the excitement of our procession from the parish hall into the church the mood changes as we hear and sing about the death of our savior. Oh, who am I that for my sake my Lord should take frail flesh and die? (NB: at 10 those who are unable to make the walk from the parish hall to the church are invited to wait in the church.)
Maundy Thursday brings an end to Lent. That night we begin the Great Three Days (Triduum) that are the center of our year. We are going to immerse ourselves in the mystery of God’s infinite love for us. We will wash each others hands and break the bread of Eucharist (Thanksgiving); we’ll keep watch during the night just as Jesus asked his disciples to keep him company. Choir and special musicians offer us a meditative and poignant sound to all that we do this evening and beyond.
Good Friday deposits us at the foot of the cross where Jesus has been betrayed by his disciples, the law, religious and Roman authorities. He is deemed too dangerous to live. We will observe the Good Friday liturgy with the choir singing the Passion Gospel from John, a simple veneration of the wooden cross that has been resting in the vestibule, the solemn prayers of this day and communion from reserved sacrament (from Maundy Thursday). The choir and musicians lead us in the great hymnody and anthems of the day and we close with the Spiritual: Wondrous Love. Nothing is rushed on this evening. We are attending the wake of a beloved.
Saturday and the Great Vigil of Easter. We gather in the church and wait in the near darkness of our unlit sanctuary. Soon a fire is kindled and from that fire we light the Paschal Candle – the symbol of the resurrection; the light of the world that does not fade. All present light their tapers from this marvelous candle and we continue with scripture readings, hymns and anthems. Once we have renewed our baptismal covenant the lights of the sanctuary and church are turned on revealing the beauty of flowers and our Easter altar frontal (is your hand represented?). Bells ring and the first shouts of Alleluia are made. It is Easter. We continue with the first Eucharist of this great feast as we continue in the pray that God is transforming all of us into the new life of his son.
Easter Morning brings the sunrise of a new and glorious day as we celebrate the resurrection. Our cherub choir, choristers and choir lead us in music at 9am and our choir leads us at 11am. In the light of day we celebrate our renewed lives, the communion of saints and the love of God in Christ. We pledge ourselves to be Christ’s love in the world. The music will be glorious and the Easter egg hunts will delight our children.
Invite friends and neighbors to all of these sacred days. If you are traveling during the week find a church to attend and let us know about your experience.
Peace,
Janet+
