Scenes from Lent & Holy Week at St. Mark’s

A look back at Lent and Holy Week at St. Mark’s

April 6th, Guest Preacher Jeffrey Kist

April 14th – Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday begins outdoors with the blessing of the palms and a ceremonial procession into the church recalling Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It concludes with the reading of the passion (the story of Jesus’s crucifixion and death) at which time the Christ Window is extinguished and we leave in silence.

April 17th – Maundy Thursday

Our Maundy Thursday observance begins with a potluck meal, loosely evoking the Last Supper.  We recall the passage where Jesus washes his disciples feet by washing each other’s hands. The service concludes with the ceremonial stripping of the altar and bringing the consecrated bread and wine to an altar of repose in the parish hall, where we have meditative music, walking the labyrinth, and silent contemplation.

April 18th. – Good Friday

We have two services on Good Friday, at noon we offer Walking the Way of the Cross which we were able to do outdoors due to the wonderful weather. For the first time this year, we were able to have the Stations up all week for others to experience.

In the evening we had a contemplative candlelight service with music by the Taizé religious community in France.

April 19th – Holy Saturday/The Great Vigil of Easter

The Easter Vigil service, arguably the most important in the church year, begins outdoors with the lighting of the New Fire. From this, a single candle is brought into the church from which many others are lit. The church remains dark otherwise as stories from Biblical history are told in chronological order. When we come to the moment of the resurrection, the lights come on, the organ thunders and we sing the good news with joy.

April 20th – Easter Day

The church  was filled to overflowing on Easter Day, many old friends returned and we had some first-time visitors too. We had our egg hunt on the lawn for the kids and a festive reception in the parish hall.