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By: Pastor Horton

Why do we have extra church services during Holy Week? What is their purpose? And what insight can we teach our children about the different services?

Holy Week takes place during the last week of Lent. It highlights the most important events of Jesus accomplishing our salvation: suffering and dying on the cross to pay for our sins and rising triumphantly from the grave so that we can be sure and certain that we have life with God forever. The Christian church has celebrated Holy Week in different ways. In Christian freedom we are allowed to utilize a variety of worship services that hold up Jesus and keep with our own church’s traditions here at Eastside.

Palm Sunday, March 24^th, 8am & 10:30am. Jesus’ passion week begins with a   joyful celebration on Palm Sunday. We hear about his humble entrance into Jerusalem on a donkey, as the crowds waved palm branches in his path and praised him with “Hosannas.” Since the 6^th century, churches have held palm processions, and some of them are still city-wide! If the weather permits, modern Christians may begin their services outside of the building and proceed into church with palm branches and song. On Palm Sunday here at Eastside, we will have a processional within the church towards the front altar area where we will lay our palm branches down. We will have the chance to hear the entire Passion history and echo the first Palm Sunday crowd’s songs of praise.

Holy Thursday, March 28^th, 6:30pm. Holy Thursday is also known as “Maundy Thursday.” “Maundy” comes from the Latin word for “command” (“mandatum”). Jesus’ command is for his followers to love one another. Showing love to both God and to our neighbors remain a feature of the Christian faith. The Lord’s Supper is offered on Holy Thursday. On the Thursday Jesus was betrayed, he met with his disciples in the Upper Room to celebrate the Passover. There he instituted what we know as Holy Communion, the eating and drink of the bread and wine in, with, and under Jesus’ body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Occasionally, you may find the sermon moved towards the front of the service to better help us

focus on God’s gift of personal forgiveness in the Supper. Some years, Maundy Thursday services end with a reflective stripping of the altar and quiet exit of the congregation. It symbolizes Jesus’ abandonment in the Garden of Gethsemane and moves our focus on towards Good Friday worship.

Good Friday, March 29^th, 1:00pm & 6:30pm. For many, Good Friday worship feels like a funeral. The church paraments and music are gloomy and somber. Jesus’ death is front and center. And yet at the same time it is a day of great joy for us, for after mock trials and a wrongful execution, we find Jesus at the cross paying for the sins of the entire world. There at the cross is the great love of God on display, as the Righteous One died for us unrighteous ones. There Jesus endured the punishment of hell and laid down his life as a sacrificial substitute for you and me! Traditionally in our country, employees have been excused at noon to be able to worship. Afternoon services are held to mirror the timeframe when Jesus was dying on the cross. Sometimes churches may hold a Tenebrae service (Latin for “darkness”) and gradually extinguish candles as worship ends in nightfall. One of the practices at our congregation is the nailing of sins to a large wooden cross in the front of church. Members will have the chance to privately write in pencil on black paper their various sins and physically nail them to a cross. You will have the opportunity before each Good Friday service if you wish to participate.

Easter Sunday, The Resurrection of Our Lord. 6:30am Easter Dawn, 8:45am, &  10:30am. Holy Week concludes with the most triumphant celebration in the Christian church year: Jesus rising from the dead! “If Christ had not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,” 1 Corinthians 15:17,20. The historical church wished to hold worship on Sundays for this very reason. And each of our Sunday services contain a little Easter joy. “Alleluias” return to our worship as white and gold can be seen adorning the church interior. The first Easter service is traditionally held between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Sunday. It is our custom to have a sunrise service and journey to church bright and early much like the ladies journeyed to the tomb in the early morning on the first Easter. A brunch will be served, and then two more opportunities to worship and sing our praise to our living Savior Jesus in heaven!

Make the most of Holy Week this year. Bring your family. Ask your children about the different services. What did they hear? What did they see? What did they sing about? Talk about what Jesus gives to us after each service you attend and why those good things he gives to us are so important for us. Enjoy the unique themes and styles of each service as God proclaims his truth to our hearts. And may you have a blessed Holy Week!