Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives…
The Liturgical Home: Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the holiest week of the liturgical year. During Holy Week, we walk with Jesus through his final days before his crucifixion. The tone of this week begins with joy as we remember his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Like the people in the Bible, we wave palm branches…
10 Ways to Preach the Palm Sunday Sermon
In David Roseberry’s ongoing series of posts on 10 Ways to Preach, we come to Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Almighty and everlasting God, in your tender love for us you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon himself our nature, and to suffer death upon the Cross, giving us…
Good Friday: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Good Friday is the most somber day of the Christian year. On this day, we remember the death of Jesus on the cross. But why do we call the day “Good Friday”? The etymology of Good Friday goes back to Middle English, where “good” had the sense of “holy.” At the time, other days in…
The History of the Holy Week Collects
We outline the history of the Holy Week Collects, located on pages 607–609 of the Book of Common Prayer 2019. In researching this topic, we drew especially from commentaries by Massey Hamilton Shepherd, Jr., Marion J. Hatchett, C. Frederick Barbee, and Paul F. M. Zahl. What is a “Collect?” A collect is a short, formal prayer, written in “collect…
The Way of the Cross: An Invitation to Holy Week
Holy Week is the high mark of the church’s liturgical year. In it, we celebrate Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem, from his arrival on Palm Sunday to his death on Good Friday. Then, we celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday, with all the momentous events in between. There are many ways to commemorate the week,…
How Maundy Thursday Hooked Me
A few years ago, leading up to Holy Week, I was about 50/50 on becoming an Anglican. I saw some things I liked, I didn’t understand a handful of other aspects, and I wrestled with leaving a tradition that raised me, and then Holy Week got me. It was all over from there. Now, I…
Praying the Stations of the Cross: A Devotion of Suffering During a Year of Lent
In November of 2019, I sat in our priest’s office at church with my ministry partner, Jessi, as we naively discussed small group plans for 2020. It had been a discouraging season in ministry, but we had finally found a topic to get excited about. We would spend the beginning of the year studying the…
Online Worship Ideas for Holy Week & Easter (Webinar Recording)
Earlier this week, the Evergreen Project hosted a panel of Rectors from Anglican churches in the US and Canada to talk about how they are navigating online worship and plans for this coming Holy Week & Easter. The webinar began with greetings from Archbishop Foley Beach who prayed for our Rectors and joined us for…
Here Are the Holy Week Liturgies from the 2019 Book of Common Prayer
We recently received a question from a reader looking for “Good Friday liturgies that would work well for home worship,” given the global COVID–19 pandemic. The 2019 BCP’s Good Friday service could easily be adapted for use at home. If you’re looking for liturgical materials for Holy Week and Easter, you should know that you…
Here’s Why You Should Celebrate an Epiphany Festival
Anglicans often speak of the tradition of the 12 Days of Christmas, emphasizing that the holiday is not merely one day but an extended season. The season spans from December 25 (or the evening of December 24) through January 5 and includes several nativity-oriented feast days, as well as separate saints’ days. Many families and…
3 Reasons Why Christ’s Descent into Hell Is Good News
Christ’s descent into hell is one of the strangest things Christians confess. Two out of the three ecumenical creeds confessed by Anglicans contain it (Apostles’ Creed and Athanasian Creed). From Augustine to Aquinas to Calvin, the vast majority of theologians have concluded that the descent into hell is implicitly taught in Scripture. They have argued…
