Worship schedule

Holy Week provides a liturgical experience of the last days of Jesus' earthly life, as well as the time and events leading up to his Resurrection. The three holy days, or Triduum, of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are at the heart of the Holy Week observance, culminating with the Great Vigil of Easter. We invite you to join us for as much of Holy Week as you are able as we enter together into the story of Christ's Passion.

Following the schedule below are descriptions and details about the different services.

Wednesday Tenebrae
Tenebrae represents a move into the darkest days of the church year. The two holy days that follow it are framed by the descent from light into darkness, and at Saturday’s Great Vigil the ascent begins out of the darkness into the brilliance of the Resurrection.

The liturgy of Tenebrae is a merger of the traditional morning prayer hours of Matins and Lauds. Structurally, Tenebrae is characterized by the progressive extinguishing of all lights in the church except one candle.

The appointed psalms, lessons, and prayers form a prolonged contemplation of the events of Jesus’ last days, beginning with the Last Supper and ending with his burial. The realities of betrayal, abandonment, judgment, and death are only slightly relieved by the still obscure hint of resurrection, symbolized by the one remaining candle.

We witness as pride, jealousy, and hatred appear to defeat goodness and extinguish hope. But the processing of the Christ Candle at the Great Vigil symbolizes the victory over the powers of darkness. We can truly sing, “The Light of Christ! Thanks be to God!”

Maundy Thursday Liturgy of the Day
This liturgy is both an act of joyful thanksgiving for the gift of Christ’s eucharistic presence and a somber preparation for all that follows. The readings place this Eucharist in the context of three other meals: the Passover meal eaten as Israelites prepared to leave Egypt; the gatherings of the earliest church that Paul describes and attempts to correct; and the meal Jesus shared with his friends during which he washes their feet and offers an interpretation of his coming death.

The foot washing is observed as an enacted parable. In Luke’s account of the Last Supper, the disciples argued among themselves as to who was the greatest. Christians are still prone to argue amongst themselves and, too often, need this reminder. This day takes its name from the Latin, Maundatum,—Command. The command we are given is that we love one another as we have been loved by Christ. The words which introduce the foot washing suggest that while there is a lesson here for all, it is particularly pointed at the church’s priests.

Maundy Thursday Holy Hour Prayers and Overnight Vigil
After the Eucharist is celebrated with great joy and thanksgiving, the consecrated bread and wine are removed from the high altar and taken in procession to, what is for us, the Garden of Gethsemane. There, we keep watch with Jesus in his eucharistic presence through the night. After the procession, the altar is stripped and laid bare in preparation for the liturgy of Good Friday.

Good Friday Liturgy of the Day
Together with Christians around the world, we stand before the cross on Good Friday in awe of what God has accomplished through these events, and keenly aware that it is “for us and our salvation” that Jesus endures this death. We see ourselves in this story—our betrayals and denials, our hatreds and fears, which bring this story to its conclusion. In our best moments, we rise to stand with Mary and John at the foot of the cross and accept our responsibility towards each other. In our worst, we turn against each other, falsely calming our conscience by blaming the other.

It must be acknowledged that the passion narratives and even the liturgies of Holy Week have been perverted to incite anti-Semitism. The evangelists wrote the passion narratives out of their understanding of the events, and to some degree, under a growing tension as the early Christian community was separating from its roots in the Jewish tradition. These ancient texts disturb and unsettle us, and the discomfort points to the burden of scapegoating and violence that we forget at our own peril—and at the peril of our Jewish brothers and sisters.

Holy Saturday Morning Prayer
On Holy Saturday the church is, as it were, at the Lord's tomb, meditating on his passion and death, on his descent into hell, and awaiting his resurrection with prayer and fasting. The service of Morning Prayer calls us to reflect on the middle place between Christ's crucifixion and his resurrection. We will also hear together the words of "An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday," an anonymous sermon from the fourth century. 

In the words of theologian Shelly Rambo, "Holy Saturday provides a vocabulary consonant with being a survivor. It is a place of alienation, confusion, and godforsakenness. But it is also a place that is continually covered over, dismissed, rendered unintelligible, and therefore subsumed under operative narratives of the progression of death to life... Attributing theological significance to the middle involves resisting the forward pull of the Christian narrative, from death to life. The middle suspends this forward movement and, in so doing, provides a necessary witness to the struggles of living in the persisting storm of the aftermath." (from Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining)

Holy Saturday Great Vigil of Easter
At the Easter Vigil, the new fire is kindled in darkness and the paschal candle is prepared and blessed. It is carried in procession through the church as the people’s candles are lit from it. In the coming year, when baptisms are celebrated, each new Christian will be given a candle lit from this candle, and when a funeral is celebrated, this candle will stand by the coffin as witness to Christ’s victory over death. Through the entire fifty days of Easter, the flame that we light in this liturgy will be kept burning and will be the source of light for the candles at the altar.

The Exsultet, an extensive hymn of thanksgiving and blessing over the candle, is sung. The liturgy of the word begins with a series of readings from the Old Testament that illuminate the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection and the renewal of all things.

After the readings, the renewal of the Baptismal Covenant and the Blessing of the Waters bring us to the transition point that marks the turning of the year. At the font, where we are joined with Christ in death and resurrection, the Resurrection is announced. Light and music flood the church, the bells which have been silent since the beginning of the Triduum ring out, and we move on to celebrate the eucharist, with great joy and thanksgiving.