Holy Week at Home

As we look forward to Holy Week in 2021, we realize that many of us will still be strictly limiting our social interactions. BC's plans for in-person worship gatherings are expected to change quite close to Easter Sunday. So we wanted to provide ways for you to experience the sacred journey of Holy Week from home and online.

Here you will find a number of resources and suggestions. Feel free to pick and choose among what is helpful for you. Members of St Stephen's seeking paper copies of any of these resources should contact the parish office at info@ststephenburnaby.ca.

Palm Sunday
While we will not have our usual procession, there will be a point at the beginning of our Zoom Morning Prayer service when you will be invited to wave a branch. You are welcome to use a branch of any plant growing in or around your home -- or to colour and cut out the palm frond (a copy is available for download below).

The palm branches were used to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem and you might want to use the palm printout to reflect on ways that you welcome Jesus into your life. Perhaps you might write them on the frond before colouring it in.

To join our Palm Sunday worship, please see the event listing.

During our worship for Palm Sunday, we watched this video of the Passion Readings.

Daily Prayer
With our partners at St Timothy’s in Brentwood, we will have a daily prayer offering available each day of Holy Week. They will be posted to our website and Facebook page each morning and be available for you to pray with at any point that day. If you prefer to pray off line, the order of worship we will be using is available in the document downloads.

Some Thoughts on Holy Week as a Whole
For families who are attempting to shape the formation of their children without the support of Sunday School, this article from Faithful Families author, Traci Smith, has several helpful reminders. My personal favourite is to remember that we don’t have to get it all perfect each year, because we’ll have another chance next year.

These two reflections both consider Holy Week through the eyes of the pandemic. Both come from last April, when I think it was slightly unimaginable that we’d still be worshipping from home for a second Holy Week and Easter:

For this blog post by an Episcopal priest, the best part is towards the end.

This reflection is shaped by the author’s annual practice of fasting from technology becoming unsustainable during Lent 2020 and invites thoughts about how we have come to use technology to build community. For some reason, the link seems determined to take you through a "prove you are not a spambot" step. The Parish Office has a print out of the article that can be picked up or emailed if you can't get passed the security.

Maundy Thursday
For your reflection on the themes of Maundy Thursday, you might like this imaginative way of entering into the story of the Last Supper from Urban Faith in 2014.

I also appreciated the linking of the stripped altar on Maundy Thursday to Jesus being stripped during his crucifixion in this article from The Christian Century. It is, however, from 2012 and in at least one place the author could use language more carefully.

For details on our Soup Supper by Zoom, please see the event listing.

Maundy Thursday worship will be at 7:30 pm on Zoom. We plan to read Scripture, pray, and reflect on the traditional actions of our Maundy Thursday worship: foot-washing, Holy Eucharist, and stripping the altar.

Good Friday
Our Good Friday service will be a modification of the Stations of the Cross, live on Zoom at 10 am (and available later in the day on our website). See the event listing here. As you participate in that service, you might find having an image of a cross available for your doodling helpful. You could use it to take notes, to draw in and around, or to keep your hands busy and your mind focused with a bit of colouring. There's one available for download at the bottom of this page.

Holy Saturday
The traditional worship on Holy Saturday is a late evening Vigil in which we read and remember the whole arc of the story of God’s people as recounted in Scripture and welcome Easter in with a holy fire and the lighting of the Christ candle. Although the drama of shared worship isn’t available to us this year, it can be done alone or with your household and still be incredibly powerful. Please see the downloaded documents for a suggested order of worship for use alone or in a small group.

Easter Sunday
You can learn more about our Easter worship here.