Celebrate Holy Week with Church of the Messiah

Starting Sunday, April 28th, Church of the Messiah invites you to join us as we celebrate the holiest week of the entire year!  Holy Week commemorates the final week of Jesus Christ’s life on earth before His betrayal, death, and glorious Resurrection on Easter Sunday.  We will be marking the incredible events with special, once-a-year church services that will help you grow closer to The Lord and experience Easter like never before!

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday.  Our service begins at 10 o’clock on Sunday morning, April 28th.  Palm Sunday commemorates the Triumphal Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem when the people of the city waved palm branches and cried out “Hosanna” as Jesus entered the city.  Our services will begin outside the sanctuary where we will bless palm branches and then process into the sanctuary together in memory of Our Lord’ Triumphal Entry.  We will also have a special reading of the Passion Gospel and other surprises to commemorate this historic day.

Holy Week continues on April 1st with our observance of Maundy Thursday.  “Maundy” is derived from the Latin word “Mandatum” and refers to Our Lord’s command to “do this in remembrance of Me” when He instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper.  The service will begin at 7 o’clock in the evening and contains two unique and powerfully stirring moments.  The first is where the priests volunteer to wash the feet of those who choose to participate in memory of Our Lord washing the feet of the Apostles at the Last Supper.  The second is the Stripping of the Altar as a sacramental sign and symbol of Christ’s betrayal and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.  You will not want to miss this moving and powerful service.

We remember Our Lord’s Passion and Death on Good Friday, April 2nd.  This service begins at noon and lasts until 3 o’clock in memory of the three hours Our Lord was on the Holy Cross.  During these three hours, we hear the Passion Gospel, meditations from different speakers on the seven last words of Our Lord, moving worship presentations, and participate in the Veneration of the Cross.  Many people say that the Good Friday service is their favorite service of the entire year!  This year we are blessed to have the Patriarch of the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church, Archbishop Craig Bates, deliver one of our meditations.

We will be observing Holy Saturday this year by praying the Liturgy for the Pre-Born outside A Woman’s Choice (click HERE for a map), one of our local abortion clinics.  The Liturgy for the Pre-Born is a set of prayers that combine prayers to end abortion throughout the world with the traditional Last Rites prayed when someone is near the moment of death.  On a day that we remember Christ laying in the tomb, we will be praying for those innocent children who will be killed in this holy season.  We will be praying for them, for the repentance and conversion of all involved in their deaths, and for an end to abortion in American and throughout the world.  This is the only service of Holy Week that will not be held at Church of the Messiah.  The Liturgy will begin at 8 o’clock on Saturday morning, April 3rd.

Finally, on April 4th, we celebrate Easter Sunday at 10 o’clock with the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord!  All of Holy Week has been building to this celebration and we pull out all the stops as we rejoice in Jesus’ victory over death and the grave.  We invite you to join us as we have special presentations for our youth and children, fabulous worship time, and incredible fellowship at the Table of the Lord.  After the service, all of the children are invited to participate in an Easter Egg Hunt as well!

All of our services will be held in the sanctuary of Fort Caroline Presbyterian Church (click HERE for a map) where we have ample room for social distancing.  For more information on our pandemic precautions, visit our COVID-19 Precautions Page. All of our services will be live streamed on Church of the Messiah’s Facebook page for those who are unable to attend in person.  We invite everyone to join with us as we relive these powerful moments in the final week of Christ’s life before His death and Glorious Resurrection.

 

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely
more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from
generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus
for ever and ever. Amen.     Ephesians 3:20,21

 

 

Holy Week at Church of the Messiah

This Sunday, April 5th, marks the beginning of the holiest week of the Christian calendar, however, this year, COVID-19 has changed the way that Christians will be observing Holy Week throughout the world.  On Wednesday, April 1st, both the Mayor of Jacksonville and the Governor of Florida issued their own “Safer at Home” orders directing non-essential businesses to close, residents to stay home unless on essential activities, and for everyone to maintain safe social distancing practices.

Thankfully, Governor DeSantis’ executive order specifically declares that churches and other houses of worship are essential during this time, but we will not do anything that might endanger either our congregation or those with whom they might come in contact.  The verse that Fr. Looker said would guide our actions during this time is still 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  We will continue to do everything that we can to share the love of God, but we will do so in a prudent way that makes every use of the sound minds which God has given us.

Recognizing that this current crisis makes for very fluid circumstances, here are our plans at the moment.  We will continue to live stream our Sunday morning services via Facebook Live.  We will do so with a skeleton crew that will be ten people or less, which follows the CDC recommendations and our Bishop’s directives.  Those people who are present in the building will do their best to maintain a healthy 6 feet of social distance whenever possible.  We will provide Holy Communion through the Host only to those who are present in the Sanctuary and those who join us in the parking lot at the designated times.  We believe that this allows us to be in submission to all of our earthly authorities while still remaining faithful to our heavenly authority which calls us to preach the Gospel at all times, and in all places; to be a light which shines in the darkness; and to bring hope to those who otherwise might have none.

In particular, we will hold our Palm Sunday service on Sunday, April 5th, beginning at 10 o’clock.  We will live stream the service through Facebook Live and those wishing to receive Holy Communion may do so in our parking lot from around 11 o’clock to 11:30.  At the time which we serve Holy Communion we will also distribute blessed palms to anyone present to take home.

Our Maundy Thursday service will be April 9th, starting at 7 o’clock.  While this service typically includes the clergy washing the feet of the congregation, we will obviously not be able to do that this year.  This service will be live streamed via Facebook Live.

Our Good Friday service will be release on our YouTube channel at noon on Friday, April 10th.  This will not be streamed live but we encourage those of you who watch it to share it on Facebook.  Our service will include the traditional reading of the Passion Gospel, the Solemn Collects, the adoration of the Cross, and, as is our tradition, seven meditations on the Passion of Our Lord.

We have yet to determine exactly how we will observe Holy Saturday.  In the past we have prayed the Liturgy for the Pre-Born outside a local abortion clinic.  We have yet to make a determination about this service.

Easter Sunday, April 12th, we will do our very best to celebrate the glorious resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ and to give that day all of the glory and honor it deserves.  Our service will be streamed live via our Facebook channel starting at 10 o’clock.  If you just cannot imagine an Easter Sunday without going to Church, then celebrate with us in our parking lot and receive Holy Communion from 11:00-11:30.

We know that these are anxious and uncertain times.  This will be a Holy Week unlike anything anyone has ever celebrated in over 100 years.  At Church of the Messiah, we are doing our very best to bring honor and glory to God, to bring hope and joy to God’s people, and to be that city on a hill that shines out God’s light in this dark time.  We invite you to join with us during this time.  By God’s grace, we will get through this together.

Holy Week at Church of the Messiah

Holy Week is the most incredible time of the year for churches throughout the world and Church of the Messiah is no exception.  We are so excited to share with you all that we have planned as we relive the events of Christ’s betrayal, death, and, ultimately, His Resurrection!  We want you to join us for all of these remarkable services.

Palm Sunday: Holy Week begins with the fanfare and celebration of Our Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  We celebrate this momentous event in Jesus’ life by gathering in the church’s courtyard, blessing the palms, and processing into the church together.  During this service there is also a special dramatic reading of the Passion Gospel.  The service begins in the church courtyard at 10 o’clock

Maundy Thursday: Join with us as we commemorate Jesus celebrating the Last Supper with His Disciples on the night He was betrayed.  This deeply moving service includes the once-a-year foot washing service as well as the solemn stripping of the altar in remembrance of Christ’s betrayal.  Prior to the service we will have our regular mid-week soup supper from 6-6:45.  The Maundy Thursday service itself begins at 7 o’clock.

Good Friday:  Without a doubt, one of the highlights of the church year is Church of the Messiah’s annual Good Friday service.  From noon til three o’clock we reflect on the Passion of our Lord taking inspiration from seven different meditations each coupled with solemn prayers and contemplative songs and dance offerings.  The service also includes the reading of the Passion Gospel and the Veneration of the Holy Cross.  While the service is three-hours long, it is structured in such a way as to accommodate those who are only able to attend a portion of the service.  Come for the whole service, come for thirty minutes.  For whatever amount you can attend, you will be blessed.

Holy Saturday: While Our Lord may have rested from His labors, the abortion industry does not rest from its and Saturday is one of its busiest days.  We will take a prayerful stand for those who are condemned to die that day and pray the Liturgy for the Pre-Born outside A Woman’s Choice clinic.  We encourage everyone to join us on this very solemn occasion.

Easter Sunday: Celebrate with us the most glorious and triumphant of Feasts, the Feast which makes all other feasts possible, the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord!  Death has been defeated and the grave has been overthrown!  This year we are especially blessed to welcome Archbishop Craig W. Bates, the Patriarch of the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church back to Church of the Messiah to preach and celebrate Easter Sunday.  Also that morning, be sure to bring spring flower for the annual “flowering of the cross.”  Help beautify our Easter cross by bring your own flowers to help decorate.  The service itself begins at 10 o’clock and, as always, we pull out all the stops for the most glorious day of the year.  Immediately following the service we will have an Easter egg hunt in the courtyard outside the church.

Everyone is welcome to attend all of our services and childcare is provided at all events.  To help facilitate inviting others to join us, we have created Facebook events for each of these services.  To find these events, simply go to Church of the Messiah’s Facebook page and click on the “events” tab or click on the each event’s bold name.