Holy Week
It’s Easter 2021!
The day started out cool and cloudy and then warmed up with the sun coming out about 9am. Such an important transition for resurrection Sunday!
We had 40 in attendance which included 4 online through Zoom. The inhouse attendance was at a maximum based on pandemic guidelines. This was only the second Sunday service we have been open.
A highlight of Sunday was the music. Andy Cortez provided a festive note with his trumpet. He had a workout, with opening hymn “Jesus Christ is Risen Today”, “The Day of Resurrection” as the concluding hymn and “Trumpet Voluntary” as the postlude. Helmut added his violin on Mozart’s “Alleluia”. Brad was featured in the prelude “Prelude and Fugue in C Major” by J. S. Bach. The music was warmly received by the congregation.
Also to be mentioned was Charles McGuire’s Calla Lilies which provided company to the Easter lilies. The lilies were on the altar and all the windows.
Since there was no gathered service in 2020 due to the pandemic, this service had a special meaning as we are finding new life in our fight over the pandemic.
Palm Sunday March 28, 2021
We reopened the church for the first time since March 8, 2020. There was a Litany of Thanksgiving that accompanied the usual Litany of the Palms to celebrate. From the flowers in the window to special violin music there were small touches that added to the celebration. We had 24 people in attendance.
Best of Holy Week – Photos, 2024
We were blesssed to celebrate Holy Week (March 24-March 31) with 6 services – Palm Sunday, Tenebrae, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunrise Service and Easter 11am. These are among the best photos.
Rev. Tom Hughes’ sermon, Sunrise service, March 31, 2024
“Happiness comes from in here. We live from the inside out not from the outside in”.
Video
Transcribed
I’m Tom, I’m from over here at St Peters and what a joy to be doing this and to hear that beautiful reading of that scripture again. You never get tired of that do you, that story over and over again.
What a wonderful gift that is, and on top of that, the perfect setting for being here together for the sunrise the Lord has provided for us so beautifully. And if you appreciate it, the symbolism here is everywhere. You’ve got spring, new beginning, new life coming up, you got the river of God flowing by out here and it just goes on and on, new life, new light into the world, the light of Christ – we’re celebrating it right now so it’s just everywhere. If you’re not already half dead you can see it around you, the presence and power and the love of God.
Easter Videos, March 31, 2024
Special segments this Sunday included :
#2 Dedication of the Paschal Candle
#3 Alleluis comes back, a project of the children
#10. Farewell Helmut Linne von Berg
#11. Birthday – Larry Saylor
1. Opening Hymn – “Jesus Christ is risen today”
2. Dedication of Paschal Candle
3. Alleluia comes back
Photos and video, Easter Sunrise Service, 7am, March 31, 2024
The weather made getting up early worth it! Many shades of light in the sky and on the river were awe inspiring on this Easter Sunday.
Video
Photos
Photos, Easter Sunday, 11am March 31, 2024
Of note this Sunday in the photos:
- the beautiful weather with nature blooming
- the flowers on the altar including a special one for a new birth,
- the work of the youth servers with the candles at different points in the service,
- Helmut Linne von Berg’s farewell,
- Larry Saylor birthday
Sermon, Easter, March 31, 2024
“Noli me tangere” Antonio Correggio (CA. 1525)
In the beginning, the Lord God formed a man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into that man’s nostrils the breath of life, and so the man became a human being. And then, the Lord God planted a garden in Eden. And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, a river to water the garden, and God put the man there to till the garden and to care for it. The Garden of Eden was so inviting that God would walk there in the cool of the evening breeze, reveling in the beauty of the garden.
Since the beginning of time, gardens have provided sustenance, beauty and inspiration.
Those blessed enough to have a garden witness the ways in which the garden changes through the seasons.
They’ve tilled the ground, watched with an amazement the new growth springing up from the seeds they have planted. Gardeners harvest, and then when the plants are spent and dead, they put the garden to bed to rest for the winter. And then the gardener waits, the seasons change, and it’s time to till and to plant again.
Gardens have always been places of death and resurrection.
That first man, blessed to live in the Garden of Eden, could not simply live there, reveling in its blessings and beauty, but ended up putting himself above God, and sin came into the garden. God sent the man and the woman out of the Garden so that they would not eat from the Tree of Life and live forever.
And so death came into the world.
Holy Week Introduction
Holy Week between Palm Sunday and Easter is the most sacred time of year.. The purpose of Holy Week is to reenact, relive, and participate in the passion of Jesus Christ, his triumph, suffering and resurrection. Ultimately it’s about ours. From our Baptism liturgy- “We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.” Every Sunday is an Easter.
From early times, Christians have observed the week before Easter as a time of special prayer and devotion. As the pilgrim Egeria recorded in the late fourth century, numerous pilgrims to the holy city of Jerusalem followed the path of Jesus in his last days. They formed processions, worshipped where Christ suffered and died, and venerated sacred sites and relics. The pilgrims took the customs home with them. Holy week observances spread to Spain by the fifth century, to Gaul and England by the early seventh century. They didn’t spread to Rome until the twelfth century. From this beginning evolved the practices we observe today on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.
Best of Holy Week, 2024 – Words
We dwell so much in images today that the words often get forgotten or glossed over.
This is a limited look considering based on excerpts sermons and blogs for this year’s Holy Week, mostly from our services at St. Peter’s without considering hymns or prayers. That’s another story.
Here are 9 selections – totally subjective in choosing them!
Bulletin, Easter Sunday, March 31 2024
Click here to view in a new window.
Sermon, Good Friday, March 29, 2024
Before his crucifixion and death, Jesus shared a last supper with the disciples.
“After supper he took the cup of wine; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, “Drink this, all of you; This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”
Blood is essential to life. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients throughout our bodies and helps to regulate our body temperatures. Blood carries waste materials to the organs that rid the body of that waste. Blood also fights off infections. Without blood, we cannot live.
Good Friday art – Andrea Di Bonaiuto
Andrea Di Bonaiuto
Road to Calvary, Crucifixion, and Descent into Limbo, c.1365, Fresco,
Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Commentary by Paula Nuttall for theVCS.org
“Located opposite the entrance, the fresco dramatically confronts the visitor. Dominating the scene at top centre, Christ hangs on the cross above a multitude of figures, the two thieves to either side, all three figures prominent by virtue of their pale forms silhouetted against the dark sky.