Maundy Thursday Service with Stripping of Altar

Occuring
for 1 hour
Venue
St Mary's, Stoke D'Abernon
Address
Stoke Road Stoke D'Abernon Cobham, KT11 3PX, United Kingdom

The Stripping of the altar, the removing all ornaments, linens, and paraments, is an ancient custom of the Roman rite done on Maundy Thursday. It is symbolic of the humiliation of Jesus at the hands of the soldiers.

Stations of the Cross

Occuring
for 1 hour
Venue
St Mary's, Stoke D'Abernon
Address
Stoke Road Stoke D'Abernon Cobham, KT11 3PX, United Kingdom

The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The stations grew out of imitations of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, which is a traditional processional route symbolising the path Jesus walked to Mount Calvary. The objective of the stations is to help the Christian faithful to make a spiritual pilgrimage through contemplation of the Passion of Christ.

Tenebrae

Occuring
for 1 hour
Venue
St Mary's, Stoke D'Abernon
Address
Stoke Road Stoke D'Abernon Cobham, KT11 3PX, United Kingdom

The word tenebrae is Latin for shadows. The purpose of the Tenebrae service is to recreate the emotional aspects of the passion story, so this is not supposed to be a happy service, because the occasion is not happy. If your expectation of Christian worship is that it should always be happy and exhilarating, you won’t appreciate this service until the second time you attend it.

It starts out with the church in candlelight. There are as many candles as there are readings, plus a white Christ candle. The readers go up one at a time, read their assigned selections, and extinguish one of the candles, until only the Christ candle remains. Then someone reads the first part of Psalm 22, which Jesus quoted on the cross. Then the Christ candle is put out, leaving the congregation in near total darkness—and near total devastation. At this point, the service ends. There is no benediction and the people leave in silence. (The lights are turned up but remain dim so that people can see their way out.)

The purpose of the service is to recreate the betrayal, abandonment, and agony of the events, and it is left unfinished, because the story isn’t over until Easter Day.

Easter Dawn Service

Occuring
for 1 hour
Venue
St Mary's, Stoke D'Abernon
Address
Stoke Road Stoke D'Abernon Cobham, KT11 3PX, United Kingdom

Our observance starts outside, around a fire, where we worship as the sun rises, remembering the Sunday morning nearly 2,000 years ago when Jesus' followers found an empty tomb, then later encountered a risen savior.

Easter Choral Eucharist

Occuring
for 1 hour
Venue
St Mary's, Stoke D'Abernon
Address
Stoke Road Stoke D'Abernon Cobham, KT11 3PX, United Kingdom

Celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The service includes readings, Holy Communion, the singing of Easter hymns, and a sermon.