Building God's Kingdom through Worship, Outreach, and Fellowship

Holy Week and Easter online worship

April 2, 2020 Uncategorized

Dear friends,
The holiest days of our Church year are upon us, and this year we will walk through them in new and different ways because of the pandemic.  This is a brief description of what you can expect when you join us online for worship:
Palm Sunday
The liturgy on this day begins with the blessing of the palms and typically includes the passion reading, with parishioners taking on roles in the narrative. The passion narrative actually belongs on Good Friday but is included on Palm Sunday for folks who might not attend other Holy Week services and thus would miss the story of the crucifixion.  Our Palm Sunday worship this year will focus on the first part of the liturgy:  the blessing of the palms and the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Our service will be live at 10:30 AM on Sunday, April 5.  Look for the link in your email on Sunday morning, and bring your palm!  (We are delivering palms to our homebound members and will have a cross set up at our River Road entrance on Friday, April 3, beginning at 10:00 AM so that you can come and pick up palms for your family.)
Maundy Thursday
On this night, the theme is sacrificial love.  We hear the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, and the service ends with the stripping of the altar.  Our online worship will end in silence, with pictures of our altar being stripped.
Good Friday
We have mailed to you a hard copy of the service of the Stations of the Cross so that you can follow along as we walk those stations at St. Andrew’s.  We will post the service at noon, the hour when Jesus was crucified.
Holy Saturday
Marc will lead us through this short and somber service.
Easter Sunday
This year our service will begin with two elements from the Great Vigil of Easter:  the lighting of the Paschal candle from newly kindled fire, and the story of God’s deliverance of Israel in Exodus.  We will renew our baptismal covenant and celebrate the glory of resurrection, replete with numerous Alleluias!  (Watch for the unpacking of the Alleluias from the wooden chest where the children stored them for us at the end of Lent.)  This service will also include the first round of your Easter Project videos!
Two additional ways you can celebrate Easter:

  • Our flower cross will be in front of the church on River Road all day, on Easter.  Please come and add your flowers to it.
  • Watch the Easter Sunday service at the National Cathedral by going to cathedral.org.

–Anne