We invite you to journey through Holy Week with Grace Anglican
PALM SUNDAY: Sunday, April 13th
8:30 AM Traditional Service
11:00 AM Contemporary Service
Childcare will be available for children ages nursery through 4 year olds.
Palm Sunday is also called Passion Sunday because the triumphal entry of the rightful King into the Holy City goes not to a throne but a cross. Our liturgy starts outside, under the pavilion as we wave palm branches and shout “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” We wave palm branches and all process into God’s house, singing together. What starts out very celebratory, quickly transitions to Jesus’ passion. Hosanna is used as a name for God, but it literally means “save us.” The only way to salvation is through Jesus’ death on the cross. We will have a dramatic reading of portions of the passion from Luke’s Gospel.
Families are encouraged to worship together so we will not have children’s classes. However, childcare is available for nursery through 4-year-olds in the administration building for both services.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS:
Monday, April 14th - Friday, April 18th
We are setting up an outdoor course on the church campus for Stations of the Cross. You can come on your own or as a family and pray through our Lord’s Passion. A map and station instructions will be available on this page for you to view. Hardcopies will also be available on a table outside of the church office doors.
EVENING PRAYER SERVICES:
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
6:00 PM - 6:30 PM
In addition to our usual Monday-Friday 9AM Morning Prayer, we will also have Evening Prayer Monday-Wednesday in the sanctuary. These evening services will be based on the Daily Family Prayer Services (BCP, pg. 66), which will include Scripture readings, prayer, a short message, and an intentional time of confession. Families are encouraged to worship together so we will not have childcare available.
MAUNDY THURSDAY - SUPPER & EUCHARIST SERVICE
Thursday, April 17th
Dinner at 6:00 PM , Service at 7:00 PM
RSVP by Sunday, April 13th
Maundy Thursday is our commemoration of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples in the Upper Room. It is where he gave them a novum maundatum (new mandate), from which the name “maundy” comes. Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” In that meal, Jesus was both celebrating and fulfilling the Passover Feast that God gave to the Jews through Moses centuries prior (see Exodus 13). He demonstrated his love by providing a needed and mundane service, washing their feet. He also fulfilled and replaced the Passover meal with his institution of the sacrament of Holy Communion.
We will be hosting a soup and salad dinner catered by Olive Garden in the Fellowship Hall and Classrooms beginning at 6 PM. After dinner we will move to the sanctuary for a simple Eucharist service followed by a stripping of the altar. In the Upper Room, Jesus said some heavy things about the imminent events. He predicted Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial and his own arrest and death. He said he would not drink wine again with them until the Kingdom comes. He was fully anticipating the Cross and resurrection. Appropriately, there was a heavy feeling following that Last Supper. After we participate in the Eucharist, there will be solemn stripping of the altar linens leaving the church prepared for Good Friday.
Please register ahead of time for dinner so we can make adequate preparations. $5/adult for the supper and kids are free. If you only plan to attend the service without supper, there is no need to register.
GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE:
Friday, April 18th at 7:30 PM
Childcare will be available for children ages nursery through 4 year olds.
Good Friday is a focused and experiential engagement with Jesus’ sacrificial death for our sins. During the service, the sanctuary gradually gets darker as we read portions of Christ’s passion. Our music team, accompanied by strings, will rehearse the story with songs and hymns that impress upon us the sobering reality of Christ’s crucifixion. This ceremony is intended to bring contemplation upon the awful consequence of sin and the magnitude of our Savior’s suffering and extreme love as it expresses the spirit of the Church on this day of sorrows. We leave in silence and in darkness, just like the first disciples did. This service will also be available online.
EASTER SUNDAY: April 20th
8:30 AM Traditional Service
11:00 AM Contemporary Service
Childcare will be available for children ages nursery through 4 year olds.
Easter Sunday is a time of great rejoicing and feasting. The tomb does not get the last word and we declare, "Alleluia, Christ is risen!" Because death could not hold Jesus down, we have the hope of being resurrected with him. Hope is one of the three theological virtues (faith, hope and love) and it will cap off our Lent study of the virtues. Join us this Easter as we renew our hope in the resurrection life.
Both services will have the same readings, sermon and Holy Communion. The music and stylings will be similar to our current Sunday worship services, with the addition of a few instrumentalists at all services.
Flowering the Cross:
We invite you to bring flowers from your garden as an offering to the Lord to place on the cross located in the foyer.
Families are encouraged to worship together so we will not have children’s classes. However, childcare is available for nursery through 4-year-olds in the administration building for both services.
Our 11:00 AM service will also be available online.