Holy Week & Easter Services
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Holy Week is upon us once more, and we are about to enter the eight most important days in the Church Calendar. Not every parish can keep the full round, and that is very much the case here, but we will be having services on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and of course, Easter itself.
PALM SUNDAY
11:00am Blessing of Palms, Procession and Holy Communion (1662) - this is the usual main liturgy for this day which starts with the commemoration of Christ's entry in Jerusalem, and then moves on to hear the first of the four Passion narratives, St Matthew.
5:00pm Evensong - the traditional evening prayer office of the church consisting of Psalms, Canticles, and readings. On Palm Sunday it focuses on St John 12: 20 - 36, when the Greeks ask to see Jesus.
MAUNDY THURSDAY
6:00pm Holy Communion - the term Maundy is a corruption of the Latin "Mandatum" (Command) which appears in the text for the Introit for this day, which is "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you." In the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the main service focusses either on the St Luke Passion, or else on the institution of the Lord's Supper. At Good Shepherd, we take the second option, and the service ends with the stripping of the altar, which is symbolic of Christ's humiliation before his captors following His betrayal.
GOOD FRIDAY
6:00pm The Good Friday Liturgy - this consists of three elements. The first is the Liturgy of the Word which focusses on the St John Passion. The second is a series of ancient prayers called the Solemn Collects in which we pray for the nation, the church, the ministry, the unconverted, etc.. The final element are the Reproaches, drawn from various Old Testament prophecies, which speak to Christ's betrayal and sacrifice.
EASTER
11:00am Sung Holy Communion according to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
5:00pm Evensong - which focuses on Isaiah 12, and Mary Magdalen encounter with the Risen Christ. 6:00pm (approx) Holy Communion in the Chapel