The Week is coming: Experiencing Easter

Soon we enter Holy Week, that most mysterious time of remembering the Passion of Our Lord: the Last Supper, the betrayal in the garden, the trial, crucifixion, descent into Hell, and then the amazing Resurrection of Easter. It is the most holy of weeks, and for the clergy, it is generally the most stressful week of the year (keep all of us in your prayers). 

This will be my first Holy Week in Charlottesville, and I am looking forward to it with a mix of anticipation and a little anxiety. Please keep Lori and me in your prayers, and I hope you will join us for as much of Holy Week as you can.

Below is the Presiding Bishop's Easter message, followed by the Holy Week schedule for St. Paul's. Blessings to all...

Easter 2009 Message from 

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

The light returns and the days lengthen, even if it remains startlingly dark as we rise these days – daylight savings time is not always a blessing so early in the year! Christians, however, look for light even in the midst of darkness, for we know that darkness will not overcome it. The rising of the Son brings light into lives filled with grief, agony, and despair. Are you searching for the light of new life?

Easter recollects us and reorients us toward God’s eternal light of truth and peace and love. The resurrection is the ultimate proclamation that nothing can separate us from that light, not despair or destruction or death. We see hints of that resurrection all around us once our eyes have learned to look, and we continue to hope for its fullness, for the blessing of a light so encompassing that there can be no darkness or separation. Lent has been a willingness to experience the darkness of our current separation and tune our yearning for that light. Carry that yearning into Eastertide, and beyond, that we and the world around us may know the blessing of the light of Christ.

Easter 2009

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church

Holy Week Schedule of Services at St. Paul's

Passion (Palm) Sunday - Sunday, April 5: 8 am - Holy Eucharist Rite I; 10 am - Holy Eucharist Rite II, procession with palms; 5:30 pm - Holy Eucharist Rite II
Monday in Holy Week - Monday, April 6: Noon - Prayers for Peace; 12:30 pm - Holy Eucharist
Tuesday in Holy Week - Tuesday, April 7: 12:15 pm - Holy Eucharist; 7:30 pm - Taize Evening Service
Wednesday in Holy Week - Wednesday, April 8: Noon - Prayers for Healing; 5:30 pm - Evening Prayer with Holy Week Message for Children, followed by Community Night dinner; 7 pm - Instructed Eucharist
Maundy Thursday - Thursday, April 9: 7:30 pm - Foot washing, Holy Eucharist and stripping of the Altar
Good Friday - Friday, April 10: Noon - Good Friday Liturgy of the Word; 5 pm - Good Friday Liturgy with homily and Communion from the Reserved Sacrament; 8 pm - solemn Prayers and Tenebrae
Holy Saturday & The Great Vigil of Easter - Saturday, April 11: 9 am - Holy Saturday Liturgy of the Word; 7:30 pm - The Great Vigil of Easter and adult baptisms (with incense)
Easter Sunday: The Day of Resurrection - Sunday, April 12: 8 am - Holy Eucharist Rite I with hymns; 9:15 am - Festival Eucharist with Brass and choir; 11:15 am - Festival Eucharist with Brass and choir; 5:30 pm - Holy Eucharist Rite II with hymns