Fr Chris writes about Holy Week:

​Dear Brothers and Sisters,
​
Yesterday (as I write this) was Passion Sunday and, as Holy Week approaches, the atmosphere of the season darkens.  We now begin to turn our hearts and minds towards Christ’s passion. I invite you all to come to the services for Holy Week and to share in Christ’s journey from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the empty tomb on Easter morning. 
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Palm Sunday: On Palm Sunday we will meet together at the top of the West Path for the blessing of the palms before processing into church to the Palm Sunday hymn, All glory, laud and honour.   This service will include a reading of the Passion Narrative according to Matthew, in which the whole story of the week will be anticipated. 

The Stations of the Cross: Stations is a beautiful, meditative devotion often used at Passiontide.  Its purpose is to help us engage with the path of suffering walked by Jesus, from Pilate’s house to Calvary. 

​Maundy Thursday: Our Maundy Thursday Service will begin with the reception of three oils; the oil of the sick, the oil of baptism and the oil of chrism. These oils, all of which are used in the life of the church, will have been blessed by Bishop David on the Monday of Holy Week.  The liturgy for Maundy Thursday (from mandatum, ‘commandment’) contains a rich complex of themes: humble Christian service expressed through Christ’s washing of his disciples’ feet, the institution of the Eucharist, the perfection of Christ’s loving obedience through the agony of Gethsemane. During this service the sacrament will be processed to the altar of repose in the Lady Chapel (symbolic of the Garden of Gethsemane) and you will all be invited to keep vigil (‘Could you not watch with me one hour?’). The chapel will be adorned with white and yellow flowers as well as five red flowers to represent the five wounds of Christ.  The chapel will also contain eleven candles to represent the eleven disciples. After the Holy Thursday Liturgy the altars will be stripped so as to demonstrate the bareness of the cross and to help us to reflect on the emptiness of the world without Christ.  

​Good Friday: Thursday passes into Good Friday.  Good Friday is marked by two separate services at St. Cross. First is another service of The Stations of the Cross. Stations is a beautiful, meditative devotion often used at Passiontide.  Its purpose is to help us engage with the path of suffering walked by Jesus, from Pilate’s house to Calvary.  Then we have the Good Friday Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion, comprising two main episodes: the veneration or proclamation of the cross and the distribution of pre-consecrated bread.  St Cross Church will remain stripped of all decoration and she will continue bare and empty throughout the following day, which is a day without liturgy: there can be no adequate way of recalling the being dead of the Son of God, other than silence and desolation.  But within the silence will hopefully experience a growing sense of peace and completion, and then excitement as the Easter Vigil draws near. 

​Easter Eve: The Easter Vigil and Service of Light is a service of vigil and prayer and anticipation.  The service will begin with a series of vigil readings which tell of God’s saving deeds.  After the lighting of the new fire, symbolizing our eternal life in Christ, the Paschal Candle will be inscribed.  This is done by inserting five grains of incense into the candle in the form of a cross to recall the aromatic spices with which His Sacred Body was prepared for the tomb, and the five wounds in His hands, feet, and side. The candle will be lit from the fire and it will be carried into the dark church. The candle represents Christ himself and you will be encouraged to light your own candles from the Paschal candle as a way of acknowledging the life and light which you have received through your baptism.  The service will continue with the renewal of your baptismal promises and the final procession of the paschal candle into the sanctuary.

Easter Day:  The joy created at the Easter Vigil will be continued into Sunday Morning with a Sung Eucharist service to celebrate the gloriously risen Christ. The service will begin with the blessing of the Easter Garden. The Easter Candle which was brought into the church during the Service of Light will stand prominently in church for all the Eastertide services. White or gold vestments and decorations will emphasize the joy and brightness of the season.