Our Vicar, Russell Dewhurst, explains the various services on offer during Holy Week:
Sunday 13 April is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. At 8am and 9:30am we celebrate Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem with the Liturgy of the Palms, and read St Matthew’s account of Jesus’s crucifixion in the Liturgy of the Passion. At 11am, there is a service of Morning Prayer and Holy Baptism.
Weekday services in Holy Week include Holy Communion in the parish room at 10am on Holy Tuesday (15 April) and in church at 12noon on Holy Wednesday (16 April).
The great three days, the Triduum Sacrum, begin on Maundy Thursday (17 April) at our 8pm Sung Eucharist. This service starts with the reception of the Holy Oils, which will be used throughout the year, having been blessed by the Bishop in the cathedral that morning. In the readings we hear about the institution of the Eucharist on this very night, at the Last Supper, and we also hear Jesus’s New Commandment to “love one another”. Foot-washing is offered to those who wish to come forward, and Holy Communion is celebrated. As Jesus waits prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Blessed Sacrament is placed in a garden at the altar of repose, which becomes a place of prayer for the evening. As Jesus waits for his arrest, the high altar is stripped and the church is left bare. We continue in silent prayer until 11pm. The church is open for everyone to come and go as they wish during the evening, and many people drop in to spend a few minutes in prayer even if they could not make the service itself.
Services begin on Good Friday (18 April) with the children’s Stations of the Cross at 11am: this is a popular service with all ages, especially when the weather allows us to go outside, as it usually does. Jesus was on the cross between noon and 3pm and there is one service lasting for this period, the Three Hours’ Devotion. However, each hour is designed to stand alone so if you are only able to come for one hour, please do so. The hours between noon and one, and between one and two, will be very simple preaching, with prayers and hymns, on the subject of The Cross in Scripture. The last hour, between 2pm and 3pm, will be the Liturgy of Good Friday. During this choral service, we will hear St John’s passion read, and we have the opportunity to venerate before a wooden cross carried into church. Holy Communion is given in one kind, from the sacrament reserved on Maundy Thursday. Our liturgy finishes in silence at 3pm, the time Jesus died.
On Holy Saturday (19 April), Jesus lay in the grave, and the day is quiet in church. However, at 8:30pm, we anticipate Easter at the Easter vigil. We gather outside church for the lighting of the new fire, and the blessing of our new Paschal Candle. The candle lights our entry into the dark church, where we sit to hear the prophecies of Christ’s resurrection from the Old Testament. As Jesus bursts from the tomb, the church bursts into light with the first Gloria of Easter, the most joyful moment of the Christian year. At this service we renew our baptismal vows and receive our first Holy Communion of Easter.
It is probably obvious from what I’ve written that I love the services of these great three holy days, and I commend them to you if you have not experienced them before. We all lead busy lives, but sometimes it’s right to decide to make time for the things that are most important for our faith. For me, these days, and Easter Day itself, are very important in sustaining my own life of faith throughout the year.
On Easter Day itself (20 April), our services begin with 8am Holy Communion and after their enforced absence during Lent, “alleluias” abound. Our 9:30am Sung Eucharist resounds with resurrection joy in the music, preaching, and prayers. Then our celebrations continue at Praise@11, when all ages join together in celebrating the Easter feast. This 11o’clock service on Easter day is rapidly becoming a favourite fixture in the calendar for many families in Ewell.