Holy Week at Church of the Redeemer - Part 2
From Monday in Holy Week through Thursday, we will have Eucharist at 7am, 12 noon, and 7pm. The 7pm services will include music from the breadth of the musical offerings we have here at Redeemer. We will worship with the Celtic musicians on Monday, the Banquet musicians on Tuesday, Choral Section Leaders on Wednesday, and the Redeemer Choir will be serving during the Maundy Thursday service.
The Thursday in Holy Week – known as Maundy Thursday – will include Eucharists at 7am and noon. As Maundy Thursday commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples, we will have an Agape Meal together in the Great Hall at 6:00. Holy Eucharist will follow in the sanctuary at 7pm. This service will include foot and hand washing, as we remember Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. The word Maundy comes from the Latin word for Commandment – as during the Last Supper, Jesus gives us the commandment to Love one another as the foundation of our faithfulness to God.
The Maundy Thursday service concludes with the stripping of the altar – a symbolic representation of Jesus’ arrest and stripping at the hands of the authorities. A procession from the Sanctuary to the Chapel with the reserved sacrament – the physical Presence of the Body of Christ – follows. The sacrament will remain in the Chapel overnight while parishioners take shifts keeping watch over it and praying. The distribution of the Sacrament concludes the Watch Friday morning prior to the Liturgy of the Hours.
Next week we’ll explore our Good Friday services and how we observe Jesus Christ’s Crucifixion.
Tags: Notices
