This week, Christians all over the world are remembering Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. People often tell me that their congregation’s Holy Week service is their favorite in the year. Come, join the family of God in Boston in these liturgical services and beautiful myriad of Christian worship.
We know that it can be intimidating to go to a new church, so some of these gatherings have member of the local congregation listed as “host.” This person can sit with you and help you navigate the service.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25)
*Note that this is only a few of the many amazing worship services taking place in the Greater Boston area this week – check out www.uniteboston.com/events for more!
6:00 and 8:00pm at Old South Church, Boston
This service combines modern jazz music with ancient liturgy of Tenebrae, where the stories of Jesus’s passion are read, and after each reading a candle is extinguished. The service ends in darkness, and the congregation listens to the repetition of 39 dissonant chimes of low handbells, symbolizing the suffering of Jesus on the night of his arrest.
Host: John Edgerton, john@oldsouth.org
Holy Thursday – Potluck & Foot Washing Service
6:00 to 7:30pm at Reservoir Church, Cambridge
Join us for a family potluck meal and service. Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday, gets its name from the Latin translation of John 13:34: “I give you a new commandment” (or, in Latin, “Mandatum novum“). It was as Jesus washed the feet of his friends and followers that he said these words.
Host: John Archibald – dan@reservoirchurch.org
South Boston Outdoor Way of the CrossThe Way of the Cross – or Stations of the Cross – is a representation of Jesus Christ’s day of crucifixion, which is commemorated on Good Friday. Churches often have 14 images hung inside, which people can stop and pray at sequentially.
Alternatively, the Way of the Cross can be walked outside, as is done each Lenten season with the South Boston-Seaport Collaborative. This ecumenical event is organized by St. Monica-St. Augustine, St. Brigid and Fourth Presbyterian parishes.
Come and join us! We will meet inside the front doors of St. Monica Church, 331 Old Colony Ave in South Boston, before embarking on a prayerful walk ending at Dorchester Heights.
To learn more, read this article entitled “We Walk With Jesus” published in the South Boston Online website.
Black Ministerial Alliance Good Friday Service
12:00pm at St John Missionary Baptist Church, Roxbury
You are invited to this year’s Good Friday Service to meditate on the Seven Last Words of Christ. There will be seven preachers from many different Christian traditions!
Host: Ellen Bass, ebass@bmaboston.org
6:30pm at Tremont Temple Baptist Church, Boston
11 churches are joining together for a worship service at Tremont Temple Baptist Church. Each church is independent, but we love worshiping and cooperating together so that people far from God can be filled with life in Christ.
Social Justice Stations of the Cross
March 30 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm at the Paulist Center, Boston
All are invited to the Paulist Center to walk through the traditional 14 Stations of the Cross, but with a Social Justice lens. Our 20s/30s group will lead reflections on each station as we contemplate and pray for the many people and groups who are suffering unjustly, just like Christ did. This is a beautiful way to connect Good Friday with our lives and the world around us today.
Host: Liz Muscolino – elizabeth.muscolino@gmail.com
All Heaven Broke Loose – A New Passion Play
Still Small Theatre presents a staged reading of All Heaven Broke Loose, a new full-length drama about Jesus’ death and Resurrection. Come hear from a multitude of voices as the threads of history, Scripture, and their own lives are woven together in ways they never expected.
Saturday March 31st at 5:00pm in Woodville
April 5 & 6 at 7:00pm in Beverly
Host: Jasmine Myers, stillsmalltheatre@gmail.com
8:00 to 11:00pm at Ruggles Baptist Church, Boston
The Church of the Cross Easter Vigil marks our passage from the darkness of the tomb to the brilliant light of Jesus’ resurrection. Filled with original art created for this night (poetry, music, visual art, dance, etc.) and congregational song, this is a celebration of grand proportions. The service features readings from scripture that highlight God’s great work throughout salvation history, beginning in the work of Creation and reaching its height in the resurrection of Christ. Come join us as we reflect, pray, and raise a joyful song to God!
Host: Carson Rockett – carsonrockett@gmail.com
Good Friday Orthodox Service of LamentationsFriday April 6 at 7:15pm at St Mary’s Parish in Cambridge
The beautiful hymns of this service express these feeling of grief and loss through a dialog of prayer between the Virgin Mary and Jesus. Ultimately, they show that the tomb of Christ is not a place of death and decay, but a source of life and hope. The sorrow of the crucifixion gradually transforms into joy as the faithful process around the Church with the eptitaphios (a symbolic tomb) and pass under it on the way back inside, symbolizing Jesus’ passover from death to life as He breaks the gates of Hades and frees the souls of the righteous trapped there.
Join the St. Mary’s Orthodox community to celebrate this moving, joyful service which invites us to enter into the profound mystery of humanity’s redemption.
Happening All Week
Daily in Lexington and Wilmington
Where are the cracks in your world? If your news feed leaves you troubled, or your relationships could use a little more glue—if you need a place to process what’s going on halfway around the globe or inside your own heart, Sacred Spaces is waiting for you.
In the week leading to Easter, Grace Chapel’s Lexington and Wilmington campuses host a self-guided spiritual retreat. Different rooms are transformed into spaces where, with the help of a written meditation, you are invited to spend time in quiet prayer and reflection.
Reflective Art for This Week
Artist: Adrian Johnston, Park Street Church
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