Holy Week

“God has provided a rhythm of season which orders life and influences the church’s worship. God’s work of redemption in Jesus Christ offer the Church a central pattern for ordering worship in relationship to significant occasions in the life of Jesus and of the people of god. The Church thus has come to observe the following days and seasons.”

…Holy Week, a time of remembrance and proclamation of the atoning suffering and death of Jesus Christ.”

The Book of Order W-3.2002

At Hanover, we celebrate several special worship services during Holy Week. We invite you to join us for any and all of them.

Palm Sunday
Sunday, April 13
11:00 a.m. Worship

“Passion / Palm Sunday begins Holy Week, a time in the church year when we remember how Christ gave his life in love for the world. As this service opens, the crowd waves palm branches, wanting to crown Jesus as king. But as the story of the passion unfolds, their shouts of praise turn to demands for his crucifixion; he receives a crown of thorns as he is handed over to be mocked and killed.”

Ecumenical Celebration
Wednesday, April 16

There will be a Community Way of the Cross, A Response and Witness to the Violence in Our City.  From 6:00pm-7:30pm people of faith will take a journey through the streets of our city modeled on the stations of the cross.  Click here for more information.

Maundy Thursday
Thursday, April 17
7:00 p.m.

“Maundy Thursday begins the Three Days (or Triduum), remembering the new commandment that Christ gave us in word and deed as he taught us how to love one another, washing our feet as a servant. We also celebrate the Lord’s Supper, remembering the meal Christ shared with his disciples before his death. Historically, this was the traditional day in which those who had undergone a period of public penance under church discipline would be restored to full communion.” At Hanover, we share in Communion and have a “washing of the hands” to commemorate the washing of the feet.”

Good Friday
Friday, April 18
7:00 p.m.

Friday (April 18) – “The Service for Good Friday draws people into the story of the passion of Christ. It is composed of contrasting actions and moods of the solemn reading of the passion of Christ and, yet, a hopeful look toward the resurrection. … [I]t is most dramatic and meaningful when all depart in silence. The service continues with the Great Vigil of Easter on Saturday, or an Easter Day service.”

Easter Sunday
Sunday, April 20
7:00 a.m. (Sunrise service in the bandstand at the head of the Washington Street Bridge)
11:00 a.m. (At the regular location of 1801 N. Jefferson St.) Sunday (April 20)

“The festival of the Resurrection of the Lord (or Easter Sunday) is the center of the Christian year. On this occasion the church joyfully proclaims the good news that is at the very heart of the gospel: that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.”

The descriptions of each day of Holy Week can be found on the PC (USA) website at http://www.pcusa.org/