Holy Week reenacts a powerful story of transformation—a story that continues to transform the world, and to change people’s lives. We hope you can join us for any or all of these offerings.

Some services in the Sanctuary will be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. Recorded services can be found on this website HERE.

Childcare for children through age 4 will be available on Palm Sunday from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. and on Easter Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.—in the Nursery on the lower level below the Sanctuary.

* Indicates services with incense.

Introduction to Holy Week – All are Invited

In preparation for Holy Week, we are opening up our Episcopal 101 class to everyone. The journey through Holy Week from Palm Sunday through the Easter Vigil is a pivotal and dramatic time for all Christians. Come walk with Jesus and deepen your own Holy Week experience by attending this Zoom seminar with the Rev. Ann Gillespie. Be sure to have a Book of Common Prayer handy. (Join on Zoom.)

Palm Saturday

This service will start outside and process indoors. We will gather in the upper parking area for a procession with palm branches—around the front circle, then enter the Chapel—to reenact Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Palms will be blessed and the Passion will be read.

Join us as we gather outside for a procession with palm branches to reenact Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Please bring blankets or lawn chairs to set up where desired, then gather in the upper parking area to process around the front circle. The Passion will be read, and palms will be blessed.

Drive through the Front Circle to receive palms and Holy Communion from your car.

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday

This service will also be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. The service will start outside and process indoors. We will gather in the upper parking area for a procession with palm branches—along the columbarium, around the Chapel, then enter the church—to reenact Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. There will be bells. Children will line the narthex and wave palms as the procession passes. The Passion will be read, and palms will be blessed.

PLEASE NOTE: There will be no 9:30 or 11:15 a.m. services on Palm Sunday—also no Sunday School on this day.

Nursery Care: On Palm Sunday, childcare for children through age 4 will be available from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the Nursery, located on the lower level below the Sanctuary.

Monday in Holy Week

Tuesday in Holy Week

Wednesday in Holy Week

Maundy Thursday

The Agape (or “love feast”) was a regular feature of the life of the early church. Apparently when the celebration of the Eucharist was separated from an actual meal, the tradition of fellowship meals modeled on the Lord’s Supper remained. The Agape eventually became a charity supper in which the church fed the poor, but its original purpose was Christian table fellowship. On Maundy Thursday, we gather in gratitude for the life in Christ we share as a parish family, and bring bread, cheese, fruits, “Mediterranean style” simple foods and wine to share.

Maundy Thursday is an alternative interactive service for all ages in which we tell the story of the last supper and Jesus washing the feet of the disciples through dramatic reenactment. Parishioners will play the parts of Jesus and the disciples to give us more of an “upper room” feeling. We will gather at 7:30 in the Ministry Center, then we will move to the Garden of Gethsemane (the Chapel) and finally the church for stripping of the altar. With simple prayers and Taizé-style hymns, we will walk this important journey with Jesus.

This service will also be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. We reenact Jesus’ demonstration of what it means to be a servant through the care of serving one another in the washing of feet. The service concludes with the Stripping of the Altar in preparation for the observance of Good Friday.

Each year, St. Mary’s Altar Guild creates an indoor garden in St. Mary’s Chapel as a gift to the Parish. Following the Maundy Thursday 7:30 p.m. service, a Prayer Vigil begins in our candle-lit Chapel, keeping watch throughout the night until noon. There is a poster in the narthex where you can sign up for a time of prayer in the Chapel, or sign up online below, or feel free to come as the Spirit moves you. The front doors will remain unlocked with lights on in the narthex, and there are prayer books, hymnals, and plain paper available. Keeping watch in our “Garden of Gethsemane” can be a wonder-filled and grace-filled blessing.

Sign up online or or feel free to come as the Spirit moves you.

Good Friday

This service will also be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. The devotion known as the Way of the Cross is an adaptation of an ancient custom widely observed by pilgrims to Jerusalem: the offering of prayer at a series of places in that city traditionally associated with our Lord’s passion and death. The Stations of the Cross at Holy Comforter will include musical responses, projected imagery, and readings.

This service will also be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. Good Friday is a day of intense sorrow, but of sorrow that holds tightly to Christian hope. The remembrance of what Jesus Christ suffered for us cannot fail to arouse in us feelings of sorrow and regret for our share in the brokenness of the world. The liturgy falls in three parts:

Liturgy of the Word

Veneration of the Cross and Solemn Collects

Holy Communion

Sealing of the Sanctuary Doors and Departure in Silence

The Sunday of the Resurrection: Easter Sunday

PLEASE NOTE: There will be no Children’s Chapel or Sunday School on this day.

Nursery Care: On Easter Sunday, childcare for children through age 4 will be available from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Nursery, located on the lower level below the Sanctuary.