HOLY WEEK

“Holy Week, with all its intensity of ritual and imaginative elaboration, comes paradoxically to break down the walls of self-contained religion and morality and to gather us around the one true holy place of the Christian religion, Jesus himself, displayed to the world as the public language of our God, placarded on the history of human suffering that stretches along the roadside. This is a week for learning – not management, bargaining, and rule-keeping, but naked trust in that naked gift.”
– Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury

What will we do at the Church of the Ascension?

The journey from Holy Week to Eastertide invites Christians, especially in a hurried culture, to engage and experience a time like none other on the Church Calendar through four primary liturgies. Enhanced with exquisite music, each offering is portrayed with different emphases and perspectives in the Gospels.

After Palm/Passion Sunday, the instrumental three-day occasion called the Paschal (Easter) Triduum (trid-yoo-um) is described as “three inseparable services” or the “crown of Holy Week” because it dramatizes the whole story of the human condition, suffering, hope, and why the faithful are both called and call one another “Christian.”

The Triduum points to the First Sunday of Easter when Christians celebrate the mysterious outcome of God working in and through suffering by the Resurrection of Jesus. To uncover the more profound meaning of Easter Day, the Church desires for its people to participate in the Triduum.

Palm/Passion Sunday– April 13
7:45 am, 9:00 am & 11:00 am

Palm Sunday in the Episcopal Church marks the beginning of Holy Week, the most sacred week in the Christian calendar. It commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where crowds greeted Him by waving palm branches and laying them on the road, shouting “Hosanna!” (Matthew 21:1-11). This joyful procession, however, quickly shifts to the somber tone of Christ’s impending Passion (suffering and crucifixion).

The service typically begins outside with a blessing of palm branches, symbolizing the palm-waving crowds that welcomed Jesus. We then participate in a procession into the church, carrying palms in a reenactment of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.

As the service progresses, the Passion narrative is read, recounting Jesus’ betrayal, trial, and crucifixion. This marks a dramatic shift in tone, reminding the faithful that the same crowds who celebrated Jesus’ arrival later turned against Him. The liturgical color for the day is red, symbolizing both Christ’s suffering and His kingship.

Palm Sunday holds deep spiritual meaning, serving as a transition from joy to suffering. It highlights the fleeting nature of earthly praise and the deeper call to faithfulness, as the same people who welcomed Jesus later rejected Christ. The contrast of the day also serves as a call to discipleship, challenging Christians to examine their own faithfulness. Will they stand with Christ in suffering, or turn away when things become difficult?

Holy Wednesday – April 16

6:00 pm – Stations of the Cross

Spy Wednesday is the name traditionally given to the Wednesday of Holy Week in many Christian traditions, including the Episcopal Church. It marks the day when Judas Iscariot made the fateful decision to betray Jesus to the religious authorities for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16). The term “Spy” refers to Judas acting in secrecy, essentially “spying” on Jesus before handing Him over.

The Gospel accounts tell us that, after witnessing Jesus’ growing opposition from religious leaders, Judas approached the chief priests and offered to betray Him. This act set into motion the events of Maundy Thursday (the Last Supper and Jesus’ arrest) and Good Friday (His crucifixion).

In addition to being rooted in the Gospels accounts, the idea of “walking the way of Christ,” or Stations of the Cross, likely emerged among the first disciples of Jesus. Some scholars speculate that the Gospel of Mark, and particularly Mark’s version of the Passion, emerged from the prayerful and devotional practice of walking around Jerusalem and pausing at different places of significance to pray and connect scripture with Jesus’ last days. This service invites us to follow in the final steps of Jesus as he ventures to the cross. As we come to each of the fourteen stations, we stop, pray, read Holy Scripture, and contemplate the crucifixion of Jesus.

THE TRIDUUM Begins

Maundy Thursday – April 17

7:00 pm

Maundy Thursday begins the Triduum, the most important part of Holy Week and the three most solemn days of the Church calendar. The story of this night – Jesus’ last night with his disciples and friends – is filled with beauty and contradiction. It is a story of great tenderness and love, made manifest in the simple rituals of a shared meal and a selfless act of service. It is also a story of heartbreak, as the drama of that night descends into betrayal and cruelty. By recalling and re-enacting these events, we bring our own hearts and lives into the story of our Savior. By sharing in his Passion, we make space to share in his resurrection.

This Maundy Thursday liturgy ends with the stripping of the altar, followed by the ritual washing and anointing of the altar. When the sanctuary is stripped bare and the altar stands completely unadorned, we recall the desolation and abandonment that Jesus knew at the time of his arrest, trial, and crucifixion. The altar is then washed, as a body would be washed, and the five crosses in the top of the altar, which symbolize the five wounds of Christ, are anointed with oil.

Finally, the reserved sacrament of consecrated bread and wine, which recalls Christ’s presence, is processed to the Chapel of the Holy Spirit (an altar of repose), which represents the Garden of Gethsemane. It was here that Jesus went when he was deeply troubled and asked his closest friends to wait, watch, and pray. When Jesus found them sleeping, he asked, “Could you not stay awake for one hour?”

An all-night vigil is kept in the chapel with the reserved sacrament, and parishioners come and go throughout the night, taking turns staying awake and praying for at least one hour. We pray that what you experience in this time and place will awaken you more completely to the unfailing love of God and to God’s dream for the world – a dream that not even death could unravel.

Good Friday– April 18

Today is the day of sorrows. With our altars and our hearts stripped bare, we confront the story of Jesus’ death on a cross. That cross was, and is, a place of desolation, where all hope seems lost. We know that this is not the end of the story, but we must not rush ahead to Easter without first standing at this intersection of life and death, hope and despair.

This solemn liturgy centers on the Passion narrative from John’s gospel. As powerful as that account is, its scapegoating of the Jewish religious leaders (as opposed to Pilate and the Roman authorities) has contributed to centuries of antisemitism. Amended prayers – known as the Solemn Collects – seek to address this history in today’s liturgy.

Noon – Ecumenical Service at Trinity United Methodist

A reading of the Passion followed by a sermon.

7:00 pm – Episcopal Liturgy for Good Friday

Sung Passion by the Canterbury Choir, Sermon by the Rev. Alex Dyer, Procession of a Wooden Cross, Solemn Collects, and Communion from the Reserved Sacrament.

Great Vigil of Easter – April 18

7:30 pm

Beginning in darkness after sunset on Holy Saturday, the vigil starts with the lighting of a fire, illuminating the darkness.

The Great Vigil of Easter is one of the oldest known rites of the Christian church, dating back to the second century. It brings worshippers, literally and symbolically, from darkness into light. The service is comprised of four parts: The Service of Light (kindling of new fire, lighting the Paschal candle, the Exsultet); The Service of Lessons (readings from the Hebrew Scriptures interspersed with psalms, canticles, and prayers); Christian Initiation (Holy Baptism) or the Renewal of Baptismal Vows; and the Eucharist.

After weeks of penitence, preparation, and reflection, more joyful elements return to the liturgy. The Exsultet, a chant almost as old as the Easter Vigil itself, invites us to rejoice in Christ’s triumph over death and redemption of the world; and the word alleluia (“Praise the Lord”)—which has not been spoken during the past 40 days of Lent—is proclaimed enthusiastically, and will remain in acclamations, hymns, and dismissals throughout Eastertide.

It has been observed that the four sections of the service can be compared with fire, air, water, and earth, the four primal elements of the cosmos. The vigil’s history evokes that sense of the primal, of foundational beginning. In the early days of Christianity, the vigil marked the night when new members of the faith, called catechumens, having passed through a long and intense period of preparation, were officially joined in the community through baptism.

Even today, while morning services on Easter Day are associated with beautiful flowers surrounding the altar and worshippers dressed in Easter finery, it is the vigil which The Episcopal Church calls “the first (and arguably, the primary) celebration of Easter.”

Why do we do this?

In each service, we are invited to journey alongside Jesus prayerfully as we participate liturgically in the final days of his life – the days leading up to the great Paschal Mystery celebrated in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Holy Week is a time to experience in a very full way what we proclaim each week when we come together for the Eucharist. We experience the truth of the Christian Way, not only through studying it or hearing about it, but by participating in it. Through this participation, we can live our lives in light of Christ’s resurrection, even as we await “his coming in glory.” We discover our story in God’s story, especially in the death and resurrection of Christ.

Likewise, we participate in the divine economy of giving/sacrifice as well as receiving/renewal. As Lent comes to an end, we have been working toward removing obstacles that prohibit us from truly receiving God’s grace by repenting of our sins, amending our lives, and cultivating our desire for the Holy. In this way, we open ourselves to “putting on Christ” (Galatians 3:27) and living the “life that is really life.” (1 Timothy 6:19).