HOLY WEEK and EASTER SCHEDULE

Sunday, March 20 – 9:30 a.m. – Palm Sunday and Sunday of the Passion Worship with Procession of Palms and Holy Communion

Thursday, March 24 – 7:00 p.m. – Maundy Thursday Service with Holy Communion and Stripping of the Altar

Friday, March 25 – 7:00 p.m. – Good Friday Service featuring the choral work “The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross” by Heinrich Schütz, with instruments and soloists

Saturday, March 26 – 7:00 p.m. – Community Easter Vigil Service – First Lutheran Church

Sunday, March 27 – 9:30 a.m. – Easter Festival Service with Holy Communion and Festival Brass

Good Shepherd – Lent 2016

Holy Week, March 20-27

Coming to Our Senses:  Returning to God

This week let the sounds, images and scents of Holy Week scriptures call you to return to God.

Click on the link below for the full devotion for this week.

Holy Week Devotions

On Palm Sunday, the congregation will process from the narthex into the sanctuary before the service, using all three aisles. Congregants will carry palms distributed by the ushers and Altar Guild representatives. Palms will also be distributed to people who prefer to sit in the sanctuary.

The liturgical colors for the Sunday of the Passion or Palm Sunday, are scarlet, the deep red color of the crucifixion, or purple, the color used throughout Lent.  At Good Shepherd, the gates in the weavings have been changed to scarlet with black crosses.  The altar and pulpit paraments are those in place since the beginning of Lent, but note the areas of scarlet woven into them by Barbara Berg.  Pastor Amy’s stole also was woven with purple and scarlet threads.  Sunday of the Passion begins Holy Week and is the last Sunday in Lent.  These gates and paraments will remain in place through Maundy Thursday.

On Palm/Passion Sunday, the Good Shepherd congregation will gather outside the center doors of the church for an opening litany and a procession with palms into the sanctuary. If it is raining or too cold, the congregation will gather in the Fellowship Hall.

Our Eco-Palms are from Lutheran World Relief.  Using Eco-Palms makes a big difference in the lives of palm harvesters and their communities. Eco-Palms not only pay harvesters a fair price, they also promote sustainable harvesting practices that create long-lasting sources of income.