Dear Cathedral Family and Friends,

How my heart yearns to be with you in this holiest week of the year. The journey of Holy Week brings us to the heart of our faith.

It allows us to share in the pain and joy of Jesus. I often speak of the emotional swings that we experience on Palm Sunday, emotions that grow more profound during Holy Week. I believe that we cannot truly understand the joy of Easter without walking with Jesus through the emotional swings of Holy Week.

If we don't experience the pain and anxiety that Jesus feels as he waits in the garden, or the fear of the disciples, and even the grief of God as Jesus labors on the cross, it is then difficult for us to feel the joy of Easter fully.

I believe this year is different. We have been living with those complicated emotions of anxiety, fear, and grief in a very personal and collective way. We know how Jesus feels. We wonder how to grieve our losses, decrease overwhelm, and find new life.

Our Holy Week journey provides a way forward. Together we will worship online, and we will celebrate what we are calling "Holy Week at Home," a new and life-giving way that we can celebrate Holy Week and Easter together at home.

I can't wait to celebrate worship with you online and to celebrate Holy Week at Home with you. Because we have gone so much deeper into the fear and grief this year, I believe that our Holy Week journey will bring us to a more profound experience Easter joy.

The Easter promise is that light overcomes darkness, and life is victorious over death. While we cannot gather together physically this year, we will celebrate the gift of new life, and it will break forth like the morning dawn of a glorious new day.

As we journey together at home and online, may this Easter bring the great joy that comes to us from God, and the promise that an even greater resurrection awaits us when we will once again be worshiping together.


With love,
The Very Rev. Carol Wade
HOLY WEEK AT HOME
Invite Jesus to join you for dinner

Reflect
On the night before Jesus is arrested, he invites us to gather for a family meal. Jesus promises when we remember him that he is with us. 

Respond
  • Prepare a simple meal.
  • Set an extra place at your table for Jesus.

Activity
  • Before we eat, we wash our hands. On the night before he's arrested, Jesus washes his friends' feet as a sign of love. 
  • Let's wash our hands or the hands of someone in our family as a sign of love.

Extend God's Love
Post pictures on social media of your dinner with Jesus. Use the hashtags: #Togetherathome
#Holyweekathome
#CCCLEX
Watch with Jesus: Prayer Vigil

Reflect
On the night before he is arrested, Jesus asks his friends to wait and pray with him. Experience what it means to watch and pray with Jesus. 

Respond
  • Sign up here for your time to wait and pray with Jesus as our church prays across the city. 8pm-8am.
  • Resources for prayer vigil include the Psalms, Prayers and Thanksgivings (BCP, pgs 814-841), the service of Compline (BCP p 127), and the scriptures of Holy Week (lectionarypage.net)

Activity
Engage with what it means to wait and watch with Jesus. It is a night to practice faithfulness in prayer and discipleship. Pray for yourself and the world, for faith, courage, and strength to persevere.

Extend God's Love
Post pictures on social media of your dinner and your night watch with Jesus. Use the hashtags:
#Togetherathome
#Holyweekathome
#CCCLEX
HOLY WEEK AT HOME
Light a candle. Pray for the World.

Reflect
On the day we remember that Jesus gave his life for the world, the church is called to grieve and pray. We offer prayers for the whole human family. Because God's love this day is so great, and our need is so deep, these expansive prayers know no bounds.

Respond
  • Light a candle or a child-friendly electric or battery-operated candle.
  • Offer prayers for those we love but see no longer. Pray for those who risk their lives for us during this time of the pandemic. Pray for all leaders and people, and for wisdom and freedom from sickness, anxiety, and fear. Pray for our world.
  • Join the Zoom meeting with Devin Brown at 2pm to discuss Good Friday and pray. Contact [email protected] to join the conversation.
  • Support the ministries of the dioceses of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East by donating to the Good Friday Offering here.

Activity
  • Make a sign for frontline workers. Let the world know that God loves them, and you are praying for them. Post it on your front door. Here are some coloring pages to help you get started: Prayer, Bookmark and Journal.
  • Make a sidewalk chalk art prayer for the world.

Extend God's Love
Post pictures on social media of your prayers for the world God loves. Use the hashtags:
#Togetherathome
#Holyweekathome
#CCCLEX
HOLY WEEK AT HOME
Listen for the Earth Breathing

Reflect
Jesus rests in the tomb, and we observe a Great Sabbath. It is so quiet that we can almost hear the earth breathe. 

Respond
  • Get quiet. Breathe in, breathe out. 
  • Listen for earth breathing. Listen for signs of new life.
  • Give thanks for rest, refreshment, and peace.

Activity
  • Make some colored eggs for an Easter egg hunt on Sunday
  • Color some alleluias, both children and adults, to post on your door or in your window for Easter. Download them here!

Extend God's Love
Post pictures on social media of coloring eggs and alleluias in anticipation of Easter. Use the hashtags:
#Togetherathome
#Holyweekathome
#CCCLEX
HOLY WEEK AT HOME
Celebrate Easter Eve

Reflect
Following the Great Sabbath, the church gathers to watch for signs of new life. On this night, Christ overcomes death. We move from death to life, from defeat to hope. 

Respond
This is the night that enlightens the world with hope. Give thanks for the gift of baptism, for dying and rising with Christ to new life.  

Activity
Ring a bell or use a spoon with a pot or pan and celebrate the resurrection.

Extend God's Love
Post pictures on social media of ringing in the joy of Easter. Use the hashtags:
#Togetherathome
#Holyweekathome
#CCCLEX
EASTER AT HOME
Jesus is risen, Rejoice!

Reflect
"We are Easter people, and Alleluia is our song," cried St. Augustine. Christ has overcome death, and we are invited to see life anew.

Respond
Give thanks for the resurrection of Jesus. In the power of the Holy Spirit, raise us with Christ that we may proclaim healing and hope. God is making all things new.  

Activity
  • Rise with the sun and be filled with the light of Christ's new life.
  • Enjoy an Easter egg hunt. Invite a friend to join your family virtually for this fun.
  • Have a virtual Easter meal. Invite and gather with family members and friends online who might be alone.
  • What clothing will you wear to celebrate? Will you wear an Easter hat?
  • Place alleluias made yesterday in windows, take a picture and post them social media

Extend God's Love
Take photos of your Easter celebrations and post them on social media. Use the hashtags:
#Togetherathome
#Holyweekathome
#CCCLEX
The Easter Offering

As we move through Holy Week, your Cathedral clergy and staff are fully engaged in ministry. The pastoral care, outreach, worship, and formation ministries of the Cathedral are offering hope each day. Supporting the Cathedral ministries is as important as ever. Each year, our Easter Offering is an important part of our Holy Week observance. Though we are unable to make our Easter Offering in person, you can make your offering in any of these ways:
Christ Church Cathedral | 166 Market Street | Lexington, KY 40507 | 859-254-4497 | www.ccclex.org