Holy Week
Holy Week at Plainville UMC….
The week started out with our Sunday School children making Holy Week Stones and reviewing how to invite Jesus/God into our Easter Festivities.
During our Worship the children entered the sanctuary with a triumphant waving of the palms to start our Palm Sunday Service. Hosanna, Loud Hosanna’s rang out for everyone to sing. We had a Celebratory Procession of the Old Rugged Cross and an introduction to the Passion Reading. We heard the Passion of Luke 22:14 – Luke 23:56.
April 18, 2019 at 7:00 pm we will have our Maundy Thursday Worship with Holy Communion.
Maundy Thursday is an alternate name for Holy Thursday, the first of the three days of solemn remembrance of the events leading up to and immediately following the crucifixion of Jesus. The English word “Maundy” comes from the Latin mandatum, which means “commandment.” As recorded in John’s gospel, on his last night before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and then gave them a new commandment to love one another as he had loved them (John 13:34). This is why services on this night generally include the washing of feet or other acts of physical care as an integral part of the celebration.
While John’s gospel does not record the institution of the Lord’s Supper among the events of this night, the other gospels do. Christians therefore keep this night with celebrations both at the basin (foot washing) and at the Lord’s Table (Holy Communion).
Join us for Tenebrae Service on Good Friday, April 19, 2019 @ 7:00 pm.
What is a Tenebrae:
The word “Tenebrae” comes from the Latin meaning “darkness.” The Tenebrae is an ancient Christian Good Friday service that makes use of gradually diminishing light through the extinguishing of candles to symbolize the events of that week from the triumphant Palm Sunday entry through Jesus’ burial.
This increasing darkness symbolizes the approaching darkness of Jesus’ death and of hopelessness in the world without God. The service concludes in darkness, sometimes with a final candle, the Christ candle, carried out of the sanctuary, symbolizing the death of Jesus. A loud noise may also sound symbolizing the closing of Jesus’ tomb. The worshipers then leave in silence to ponder the impact of Christ’s death and await the coming Resurrection.
Why is it called “Good Friday?”
The source of our term for the Friday before Easter, “Good Friday,” is not clear. It may be a corruption of the English phrase “God’s Friday,” according to Professor Laurence Hull Stookey in Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church (p. 96). It is the common name for the day among English- and Dutch-speaking people. It is a day that proclaims God’s purpose of loving and redeeming the world through the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a day that is good because God was drawing the world to God’s self in Christ. As seen in John’s gospel, particularly, God was in control. God was not making the best of a bad situation, but was working out God’s intention for the world — winning salvation for all people. We call it “good” because we look backward at the crucifixion through the lens of Easter!
Sunday, April 21, 2019 Join us for our Joyous Easter Celebration at 10:00 am!
