Holy Week & Easter
Get ready for the most significant and moving week of the year.
Holy Week through Easter Schedule
Palm Sunday (the Sunday of the Passion)
Sunday, April 2, a single service at 9:30 a.m. beginning at HJ’s Youth and Community Center.
On Palm Sunday, the crowds in Jerusalem welcomed Jesus as God’s anointed king, the one sent to free them from bondage and oppression. Only days after coming to Jerusalem, Jesus would be betrayed, tortured, and hung to die a traitor’s death. Our commemoration of Palm Sunday begins with a triumphal procession but quickly stops short at the foot of the cross.
We’ll gather at 9:30 a.m. in HJ’s parking lot for the Blessing of the Palms. Then, led by members of the Kansas City St. Andrew Pipes & Drums, we’ll walk with Jesus as he rides a donkey to the church entrance. We’ll also experience a scriptural and musical presentation of the Stations of the Cross before sharing Holy Communion.
(In case of inclement weather, the Palm Sunday procession will begin in the Jewell Room.)
Choral Evensong and Postlude Recital
Monday in Holy Week
Monday, April 3, at 12 p.m. in the chapel.
Continue your Holy Week journey with Eucharist in the chapel. The service lasts about 40 minutes.
Tuesday in Holy Week Taizé Worship
Tuesday, April 4, 6 p.m., in the nave
Reflect on Jesus’ journey to the cross through contemplative Taizé worship in the nave, which includes prayer, simple music, a time for silence, and inspirational readings.
Wednesday in Holy Week
Wednesday, April 5, 12 p.m., in the chapel.
Continue your Holy Week journey with Eucharist in the chapel. The service lasts about 40 minutes.
The Maundy Thursday Agapé
Thursday, April 6 at 5:30 p.m., Jewell Room
The Agapé is an ancient feast of love. Ours is a reception featuring special finger-foods from the Holy Land in preparation for Maundy Thursday’s worship.
Maundy Thursday Eucharist
Thursday, April 6 at 7 p.m.
The Maundy Thursday Eucharist commemorates the Last Supper. We remember Jesus taking the bread and wine, declaring them to be his Body and Blood, and giving himself for his disciples. As he washed the feet of his friends before dinner, so we will wash each other’s feet during worship. Doing so, we live out Jesus’ commandment to love by serving others.
Maundy Thursday All-Night Watch and Prayer Vigil
Thursday, April 6, all night
Following the Maundy Thursday Eucharist, you’re invited to pray during an all-night watch with Jesus in the chapel decorated as the Garden of Gethsemane. This powerful time of devotion begins when our worship ends and concludes with the noon Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. Individuals keep watch in the chapel in hour-long shifts. It’s our response to Jesus’ question to the sleeping disciples, “Could you not stay awake one hour? Watch and pray…” (Mark 14:38).
A security guard will be posted at the church door throughout the night. Look for the Maundy Thursday Watch sign-up board in the church’s entryway, or email Mary Sanders to sign up.
Good Friday Stations of the Cross
Friday, April 7 at 12 p.m.
On Good Friday, we’ll gather in the church to walk the Stations of the Cross. It’s an opportunity to meditate on our Lord’s suffering as we symbolically follow in his footsteps along Jerusalem’s Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrow. At stations marked by shadow boxes, we’ll remember the 14 most significant events of Jesus’ journey, beginning in the chapel with the judgment by Pontius Pilate, continuing along the side aisles around the nave, and concluding in the columbarium with Jesus’ death and burial. Within each box hangs a photographic interpretation of the event each station represents.
Good Friday Solemn Liturgy
Friday, April 7 at 7 p.m.
We’ll offer the Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday. This service is like no other – a time to put ourselves face to face with the cross, the instrument of bloody death and ultimate salvation, and contemplate the deep mystery of God’s own sacrifice for us.
Holy Saturday Prayers
Saturday, April 8 at 9 a.m.
We’ll mark the time our Lord’s body lay in the tomb and his followers mourned what they thought was the end of hope and promise. This very brief service in the chancel (where the choir sits) includes just a few readings and prayers. (After this service, the church will be prepared for Easter.)
The Easter Vigil
Saturday, April 8, at 8 p.m.
As the sun sets, come celebrate Christ’s journey from death to resurrection with the Easter Vigil. This is Christianity’s most ancient worship, and its power to tell the story of our faith is still astounding.
We begin outside, under the porte-cochere, kindling a new fire to symbolize how the evil of the cross can’t extinguish God’s light; and from this fire, we light the Paschal candle. The congregation then follows this holy light into the darkened church, after which a series of Old Testament readings tells the story of salvation from creation through the prophets. Then we baptize new Christians and reaffirm our baptismal vows, remembering our own passage from death to life in Christ. The congregation sits in darkened silence for a few minutes until a noise breaks through (symbolizing the earthquake that opened the tomb) and the lights come on, revealing the altar and cross adorned in flowers! Suddenly, it’s Easter, and God’s light and life have once again conquered the power of sin and death. From there, the celebration continues with the first Eucharist of Easter.
Easter Day
Sunday, April 9 at 8 and 10:15 a.m.
We’ll welcome this happy morning with our Festival Eucharists of Easter, complete with a chamber orchestra. The “alleluias” will return (including the chance for all of us to sing the Hallelujah Chorus) as we celebrate the joy of Christ’s resurrection and the joy we know in our own new lives – foretastes of the eternal life Jesus has won for us.
An Easter egg hunt for the kids will follow the second service, about 11:30 a.m.
St. Andrew’s Podcast
Weekly messages from Sunday worship and Trailside Thursdays. Listen on Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon, or Anchor.fm.