Holy Week at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church
The services of Holy Week – Palm Sunday, Tenebrae, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday – are unique in the church year. Each service is moving in its own way, and together they are a powerful journey in our Christian faith. We invite you to join us in all, or in any part, of this journey.
Palm Sunday, March 24, 2024 9:30 am
Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday, is a day of sharp contrasts. We begin by processing with palm branches, singing “Hosanna! Loud Hosanna!”, remembering Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. At the Gospel, we have a dramatic reading of the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. After the closing hymn, we depart in silence, to continue to walk with Jesus through Holy Week.
Tenebrae, Wednesday, March 27, 2024 7:00 pm
Parishioner Patty Dixon shares:
One of Robert’s and my favorite parts of Holy Week has always been Tenebrae which takes place on the Wednesday night before Maundy Thursday. This is a very moving, dramatic service which begins the mysteries of the Triduum (the three days before Easter).
Tenebrae is the Latin word for “darkness” or “shadows”.
Tenebrae is based off the ancient monastic services of matins (late night services) and lauds (usually early morning services). This means that in the service there are three Nocturns which consist of psalms and responses as well as lessons, St. Augustine’s commentaries on the psalms, and the reading from the Lamentations of Jeremiah. After this follows the Lauds which consists of additional psalms, responses, and scripture readings.
The service starts with 15 lighted candles and is structured around 14 beautifully appointed psalms. After each psalm is read, one candle is extinguished. The 15th candle, symbolic of Christ, is left lighted at the end of the final psalm. But it is carried away to a hidden spot in the sanctuary which symbolizes the victory over the forces of evil.
At the end of the service a sharp, loud noise is heard symbolizing the earthquake at Christ’s death.
The lighted candle is then restored to its place symbolizing Christ’s triumph over death.
The ministers and congregation then depart by the remaining light and in silence.
Hopefully you will all attend Tenebrae to create your spiritual mood of what is to come in the days following.
Maundy Thursday, March 28, 2024 7:00 pm
This service begins with focus on the Last Supper, and Jesus’ commandment to us to “love one another as I have loved you”. We demonstrate that love and a spirit of service with an opportunity to wash each other’s feet or hands. After sharing communion, we begin to walk with Jesus through his betrayal, arrest, and abandonment by his disciples. We express that by reserving the bread and wine to the altar of repose in the small chapel, where we may pray, remembering Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. At the end of the service, we strip and wash the altar, and the church is emptied of the elements of our usual worship, as we begin our vigil with the Lord: a time of watching, waiting, and contemplating.
Parishioner Richard Shields shares:
I’ve been asked to share a few words about the upcoming Maundy Thursday service, and in doing so, invite everyone to share the full experience of worship at St Barnabas during Holy Week.
My first experience of Maundy Thursday and the days that follow (what we call the “Triduum” -- or the three days of Holy Week prior to Easter) took place 48 years ago in this very place.
I was a college junior studying religion and philosophy, and at the same time, I had an ache in my heart with a growing sense that the faith and trust in God of my childhood and adolescence was slipping away.
Looking back, I can say that through Holy Week, I entered into experience of corporate worship that has helped anchor me ever since.
Maundy Thursday (or Holy Thursday, as it’s called in much of western Christendom) is one of the Holy Week services that tells a part of the story about Jesus saving actions for the world, and for all of humankind.
The name Maundy is likely derived from the Middle English word Mandatum – from Jesus words meaning Commandment. John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
On Maundy Thursday, we not only hear the words of this new commandment, but in a liturgical fashion we re-enact them, by recounting Jesus Feast of the Passover – his last supper and subsequent betrayal, followed by Jesus taking the role of a servant by washing his disciples’ feet.
During the Maundy Thursday service, we enact this entire drama and in doing so, Jesus’ new commandment challenges us to ponder and act on what it means to serve God and to serve one another in this community of faith.
The liturgy comes to an end in a profound and stark manner. After the Eucharist, all musical instrumentation ceases. The altar is stripped and washed, and we leave the church in silence --- or perhaps, as some do, wait with Jesus through the night as he wrestles with the Father about what is yet to come.
So if you haven’t done so, or if it has been a while, I’d encourage all of us to attend the Maundy Thursday service, as well as the other services leading up to our Easter celebration at the Great Vigil.
Stations of the Cross
Friday evenings in Lent at 7pm - March 8 and 22
Good Friday, March 29, 2024 at noon
From parishioner Chris Greenman, remembering Stations as we did them on Zoom:
Every year during Lent, a group of us gather to read the Stations of the Cross together. Before the pandemic, we would walk around the Sanctuary, stopping at each banner, meditating on a passage and prayer at each one. [During the Pandemic we gathered} on Zoom to virtually walk the “Via Dolorosa” or the “Way of Sorrow”.
Much like our Sunday service and Compline, everything we need is available on line. As we read the prayers, we have awesome images to contemplate, one for each station, that depict the events. The readings start with Pilate’s condemnation of Jesus, to His crucifixion, to His body being taken from the cross.
My favorite part is listening to the passage and absorbing the icon and artwork images that enrich the experience.
When I first started attending on Friday nights, after we walked the Stations in the church, Evie Seaman would lead us in singing the “Stabat Mater Dolorosa”, hymn 159, which describes Mary’s sorrow. Evie had such a beautiful voice.
The service lasts about 20 minutes, with additional time afterward to visit a bit. Sort of a mini coffee hour.
Please consider joining us on Friday nights. It’s a wonderful experience.
Good Friday service, March 29, 2024 7:00 pm
Our Good Friday service begins in silence. All the music is a cappella, as we have solemnly set aside the musical instruments. We hear a chanted version of the Passion from St. John’s Gospel. A special act of devotion is the Veneration of the Cross, where we have the opportunity to approach a plain wooden cross, and bow, or even kiss it if we desire, recognizing the suffering and death of Christ that has become our way of salvation. The bread and wine that was reserved on Maundy Thursday is brought out for communion. We leave the church in silence, experiencing the emptiness of loss and suffering, yet anticipating the certain hope of the Resurrection.
From parishioner Bonnie Pollworth:
Good Friday is unlike another day we celebrate. It is the day we remember Jesus' pain, suffering and death. We wear black and are in mourning. So why would anyone want to partake in such a sad service? Because it is a service of GRATITUDE for the supreme sacrifice Jesus made.
What happened on Good Friday does not sound very "Good" to anyone, so why call it Good Friday?
Some say it was a mistake in translation. Good actually means Holy. So it should be Holy Friday or possibly God's Friday. Or, some say it is Good because Jesus's death leads to the resurrection and the forgiveness of our sins.
When you see Fr. Tim and Deacon Mark prostrate on the bricks in front of the Altar, how will you feel? Sad, humbled, thankful.
When you see the church stripped, and hear the sad music, how will you feel?
Will you feel Loved?
Will you feel Hope?
Will you feel Gratitude?
Good Friday marks the day when wrath and mercy met at the Cross.
That's why Good Friday is both dark and Good.
Join us on Good Friday at noon for Stations of the Cross and 7pm for our service and
Strengthen Your Soul and find Hope.
The Great Vigil of Easter, Saturday, March 30, 2024 8:00 pm
This service is the culmination of Holy Week, and the beginning of the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection. In the Easter Vigil, we unfold in scripture, chanted psalm, and Sacrament the story of redemption. It begins in darkness and proceeds to a joyous burst of light; it begins in quietness and proceeds to glorious singing and bell ringing.
Parishioner Cathy Kuna shares:
A few years ago, I was at a dinner celebrating a friend’s graduation, and at our table of 6 or 7 was Adrien, James’ daughter, who grew up here at St. B. There were several conversations going on, but my ears perked up when I heard Adrien telling the friend next to her all about Easter Vigil.
“We start with kindling a new fire. Outside. And then we prepare the new Paschal candle, and light it with the new fire. And then we pass the light around and light everyone’s candle. And then we process into the church. And then, by candlelight, the Exsultet is sung (by my dad!), and it’s the most amazing chant. And then we listen to a lot of scripture, and each lesson has a special Psalm and prayer, and then…” I’m probably not remembering Adrien’s exact words, but her telling was something like that. It reminded me of “But wait! There’s more!”
I was so moved by Adrien’s recounting of her experience of the Easter Vigil here with our St. Barnabas family. Her enthusiasm reminded me of my own. My first Easter Vigil, almost 30 years ago, is probably the main reason that I call St. B my spiritual home.
In this family of faith, I have found joy that knows the reality of sorrow; hope that knows the reality of despair; a singleness of heart that knows the reality of division. And Easter Vigil is powerful to me because it recognizes all those realities. It feels like a brief history of God’s being with humanity, and it is the culmination of our church family’s walk with Jesus through Holy Week.
The Book of Common Prayer says that the Great Vigil of Easter is the first service of Easter Day. And it is a feast of liturgy, a feast of unique, sacred moments. The new fire, the candle preparation, the procession. The chanted Exsultet is beautiful and powerful. It is extraordinary, maybe the most joyous and hopeful prayer I have ever heard. Every year, I can’t wait to hear it again.
“And then…”
In the feast of lessons we hear the struggles and hopes of our ancestors and the prophets. We respond to each lesson with Psalms and canticles that are ancient, yet still speak. We renew our baptismal vows, which are very daring promises. We pray some more.
“And then!”
After listening and praying and waiting, we proclaim the resurrection – Jesus’ victory over death, joy’s victory over sorrow, hope’s victory over despair – with shouts of the A-word. And then – what better way to celebrate the magnitude of the resurrection than to follow all of that with an entire Eucharistic service! We sing the Gloria for the first time since before Ash Wednesday, accompanied by enthusiastic bell-ringing – one year, a kid responded to the Easter Gloria by exclaiming “That was great!” And it is great!
I have years of memories of seeing the faces of my sisters and brothers gathered around the altar to receive Christ’s body and blood, shining with the joy of our Risen Lord. “And then…” we keep the celebration going on Easter Sunday morning. What an extraordinary feast, with an extraordinary family of faith.
Easter Day, Sunday, March 31, 2024 9:30 am
On Easter Sunday morning, we continue the celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection. The children “unlock” the Alleluias that were set aside at the beginning of Lent, and we have a joyous service of scripture and song and communion.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the profound and beautiful observance of Holy Week and Easter 2023 at Saint Barnabas! If you were unable to attend a service, or if you would like to experience a service again, the services are available on our YouTube channel: