Marking Holy Week with Thoughtful Liturgies

For years, members of Christ Church of Davis (Calif.) rented a space for their worship and therefore had to hold their Easter service late in the afternoon.

But now that they are in their own church, things will be different -- not only for Easter but for Holy Week services as well.

“We're excited to celebrate the resurrection on Easter morning [as so many other churches do,] instead of at 4 p.m. While still lovely, it always felt like something was a little amiss,” said Eric Dirksen, pastor of Christ Church.

Christ Church will mark Holy Week by following the traditional Easter Triduum, the three-day period from Thursday evening through Easter Sunday evening.

On Maundy Thursday, like many churches, they will follow the lead of Jesus’ washing the feet of his disciples. Next, they will commemorate Good Friday, recalling Christ’s death on the cross. Then comes Holy Saturday, commemorating the time Christ’s body was in the tomb, followed by Easter.

In marking Holy Week with Easter Triduum services, Christ Church is among a growing number of churches, including CRC congregations, that are offering thoughtful liturgies during this holy season, said Kathy Smith, an adjunct professor of church polity at Calvin Theological Seminary and an associate director at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

As noted on the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship website, which also provides resources for worship planning, Holy Week begins this Sunday, Mar. 25 (Palm Sunday), and ends with the Triduum, running through sunset on Easter Day, April 1.

“Worship throughout Holy Week,” said Smith, “invites the congregation to think of themselves as participants in a dramatic reenactment of scriptural events.”

Here is a look at some thoughtful ways CRC congregations are marking this sacred time this year.

Christ Church of Davis, Calif.

The Maundy Thursday service tends to be somewhat informal, but it includes a foot-washing as a reminder, said Eric Dirksen, “to follow Jesus' command to love one another, and then we finish with a soup potluck.”

Good Friday is a contemplative Tenebrae service of shadows with music, Scripture, and prayer that encourages people to imagine what Christ experienced as he was being judged, beaten, and then crucified.

On Holy Saturday, said Dirksen, “we do a brief vigil with some readings of Scripture and song around a campfire in our courtyard. And then we have a breakfast potluck in the park early Sunday morning, culminating in worship at 10 a.m.”

Covenant CRC, St. Catharines, Ont.

For Lent, Covenant CRC in St. Catharines has been focusing on the meaning of the cross of Christ, using the book The Crucifixion by Fleming Rutledge as their guide.

“We have also encouraged our congregation to get together with others throughout the week and do a devotional guide together in small groups,” said Elly Boersma, pastor of worship.

This year, she said, Covenant is trying something a little different. In part, this is because many people in the Niagara area work in the flower industry and are busy getting their Easter shipments finished.

“We typically have had a worship service for Good Friday in the morning, in which we celebrated communion. This year, we are celebrating communion on Easter Sunday,” said Boersma.

So on Good Friday, keeping in mind people’s busy schedules, Covenant will be setting up a space for prayer in the church with different prayer stations.

“Each station,” said Boersma, “will have a different activity that will center on the meaning of the cross of Christ. People are invited to come during the day and into the evening, as their schedule allows, to spend some time in prayer.”

First CRC, Crown Point, Ind.

Being able to serve people in the community who don’t attend the church regularly is always a welcome opportunity at Easter time, said Jonathan Parker, director of worship and arts at First CRC in Crown Point.

But most significant is that Holy Week and Easter help people, whether they are regular attendees or not, to “focus on the basis of our faith, which is the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” said Parker.

Also important, he said, is sharing the Easter story with children and grandchildren.

“It is important for us to verbally explain why Holy Week and Easter are so important to us as a community of believers. The tradition of sharing and spending quality time with family runs deep here at First CRC of Crown Point.”

Mill Creek Community Church, Kirkland, Wash.

For Palm Sunday, the children at Mill Creek CRC will gather in the front of the sanctuary at the beginning of the service and then march around the worship space, waving palm branches as the congregation sings “Hosanna!”

As the children march, interim pastor Clay Libolt will explain that the children and congregation “are enacting a bit of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. . . . We see; we do; we remember,”
said worship leader Joy Tjoelker.

Mill Creek will then hold a service on Maundy Thursday that, through Scripture, song, messages, and prayers, will encourage people to “‘walk’ with Jesus to the cross via a service of shadows,” said Tjoelker.

“As is traditional with tenebrae, we will extinguish one candle for each of the seven shadows,” she said. “These are the shadows: betrayal, agony of the Spirit and arrest, denial, accusation, mockery, crucifixion, and death.”

Redeemer CRC, Sarnia, Ont.

During Holy Week, church members will be invited to consider and enter into the story leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection, said Nicole Veencamp, a worship leader at Redeemer CRC in Sarnia.

“At the heart of our Good Friday service is a series of readings of the gospel accounts of Christ’s suffering and death,” she said.

This year Redeemer is adapting a service from the December 2010 issue of Reformed Worship magazine titled “Lead Me to the Rock.”

“This includes readers’ theater and the repeated dramatic action of moving rocks across the stage in a wheelbarrow. To accompany the dramatic reading, our drama coordinator has selected a series of images that will be projected throughout the service,” said Veencamp.

“Woven throughout the telling of the story are hymns that give us space to voice our response to God’s Word.”
The Easter celebration will include a special Easter breakfast before the service.

Year after year during Holy Week and Easter, said Veencamp, the church recounts the story of Christ’s death and resurrection, in one form or another, passing it from one generation to the next.

“As we do so, we make sense of our own stories in light of God’s story. In the midst of our own grief, betrayal, confusion, pain, and abandonment we remember that our Savior, Jesus Christ, has experienced each of these things. We are not alone when we suffer.

“Moreover, we cling to the resurrection hope of Easter. Death and the grave do not win! Christ is risen!”