Holy Trinity Episcopal in Melbourne will celebrate Holy Week and Easter Sunday in multiple ways as Christians worldwide remember the last days of Jesus’s life on Earth.
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
On the heels of Palm Sunday on April 14 – the first day of Holy Week – a Tenebrae service on Monday, April 15, a Eucharist service on Wednesday, April 17, that included the story on how Judas betrayed Jesus, and Maundy Thursday on April 18, Holy Trinity will hold three different services on Good Friday, April 19.
The first is at noon in the church and lasts around two hours. Special music and meditations on the Seven Last Words of Jesus spoken from the cross will be featured. The second service, which begins at 2:30 p.m., is the Stations of the Cross in the church.
“We will also have a family Good Friday service at 6:30 p.m.,” said the Rev. Pamela Easterday, co-rector of Holy Trinity. “All of these services focus on the meaning of the crucifixion.”
Holy Week ends with the Great Vigil of Easter, beginning at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, April 20. “We will begin outside in the St. Francis Garden with the new fire of Easter,” Easterday said. “The service will continue in the dark church with the chanting of the Exsultet (an ancient prayer), four Old Testament lessons with accompanying music, and Holy Baptism.
“About midway through the service, the resurrection is proclaimed with loud shouts of ‘Alleluia!’ and the ringing of bells,” Easterday said. “All the lights are turned on, and the candles are lit as we continue with the celebration of the first Eucharist of Easter.”
An ice cream social will be held in the parish hall immediately after the service as a fun way to break the fast of Lent.
Easter Sunday morning will include four worship services at 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m. in the gym and the church, and 11:15 a.m. “All will be glorious celebrations of the Resurrection!” Easterday said. “The service in the gym is designed for families with children. It includes flowering the cross in the garden and an Easter egg hunt.”
Earlier in the week, there were four Palm Sunday services. Each service began with the blessing of the palms and triumphant music as people remembered how Jesus entered Jerusalem. The story was read in a reader’s theater style.
The Tenebrae service the following day was designed to be quiet and very poetic, Easterday said. At the Tenebrae, Psalms and other biblical poetry as well as other ancient writings are used to tell the entire story of Holy Week.
During the service, candles are extinguished one by one, and all lights in the church are turned off so that only the Paschal candle remains lit. Near the end of the service, this candle is hidden. A loud noise is made, symbolizing the earthquake at the time of the Resurrection, and the candle is restored to its place. “All depart in silence by the light of this single candle,” Easterday said.
The Maundy Thursday service began joyfully, remembering how Jesus gathered with his disciples to celebrate the Passover. Worshipers had an opportunity to wash one another’s feet as Jesus did for His disciples. The service ends in the most somber way, Easterday explained. “Lights are dimmed as the altar guild strips away all decorations from the altar, commemorating how Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane where he prayed and was arrested,” she said.
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church is located at 50 W. Strawbridge St., Melbourne. For more information, call 321-723-5272.