Holy Week & Easter 2024
Join us at St Mary’s as we journey once more with Jesus through Holy Week, to the joyful dawn of Easter.
Worship Opportunities in Holy Week and Easter
- Sunday, Mar 24: Passion Sunday, with the Liturgy of the Palms
- Wednesday, Mar 27: 12:00 Noon Concert: Pergolesi's 'Stabat Mater' and Fleming's 'The Confession Stone', with Marni Setka-Moony, Sara Partridge and Kim Greenwood
- Thursday, Mar 28 at 7:00 pm: Maundy Thursday Service—Prayers, Music, and Movement, reflecting on the nature of self-giving Love
- Friday, Mar 29 at 11:00 am: Good Friday Service—Hear again the story of Love which walks the path of suffering in order to bring healing and Life
- Saturday, Mar 30 at 8:00 pm: The Great Vigil of Easter—Fire, Candles, and Bells as we celebrate resurrection and Life.
- Easter Sunday, Mar 31
- 7:00 am Easter Sunrise Worship in the Garden and Chapel
- 10:00am Easter Eucharist: Word, Music and the Table, open to all!
The glory of Easter is the heart of the ‘Good News’ for Christians. It is, quite literally, the centre of the Church’s faith and worship. Indeed, almost from the beginning days of the Church, the ‘season of Easter’ lasts for a full 50 days from Easter Sunday—seven weeks of celebrating what it means for us today that Christ is risen from dead. That’s some party!
But road to the joy runs through darkness—a darkness that we can recognise from our own experience. And so, as early as the fourth century, Christians set aside the week before Easter to walk with Jesus, along with those earliest followers, through the events immediately preceding the Easter sunrise.
Christians would recall the final meal Jesus had with his disciples and his institution of the sacrament of the eucharist. On the Friday they would commemorate Christ’s agony and death on the cross. On Saturday night they would gather for the reading of the scripture, for prayers, for the baptism of their new converts, and then, as the day of the resurrection dawned, for the joyful celebration of Easter. The week before Easter became known as Holy Week.
Each year, this special time gives us another opportunity to discover what it means to be loved and companioned by God, even and especially through the dark shadows. Come, join us as we mark and celebrate the love of God in Jesus Christ.