No other span of time in the Christian year, not even the time of Christmas, is held with such deep devotion
among believers as the time of the year between Ash Wednesday and Easter. The Bible’s most important
teachings — the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus — are highlighted during these days. More church
services are held and more people attend these services than during any other time of the year.
To derive the highest benefit from these “holiest days of the year” keep three things in mind:
1. The resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in the Christian religion. Over the span of 20 centuries
the Church has reserved its noblest rites and highest ceremony for the Easter Festival.
2. For four hundred years after the resurrection, Easter was the day on which adult converts were baptized and
brought into the Church. Many of the customs that accompany Easter have their roots in the preparation of
these adults for Holy Baptism.
3. Think of Easter Sunday, therefore, as the zero on a kitchen timer. Think of Ash Wednesday as the day on
which the timer is set. During all the days in between, the timer clicks and clicks and clicks, and the
anticipation grows stronger and stronger and stronger for the moment the timer will ring and the feast will be
ready!
The Season of Lent
In the earliest days of the Church’s life, adults who became Christians needed to be ready to make enormous
sacrifices. They might have to give up their jobs, their families, even their lives, if they became Christians. The
training to give up a pagan lifestyle and live a Christian lifestyle was long and involved, therefore instruction
often lasted as long as three years. The most intense part of that training took place during the last weeks
before their Easter Baptism. The catechumens (i.e., students; think of the word catechism) fasted and prayed
for forty days — as Jesus did before he faced Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. That forty-day period of
prayer and meditation became known as the season of Lent.
Ash Wednesday
The name given to the first Wednesday in Lent is Ash Wednesday. It is a name which reminds us that we no
longer are the perfect creations that God placed into the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve chose to be less than
perfect. They chose sin. From dust or ash were they created and to dust they would return. Like Adam and Eve
we are less than perfect. We are sinners. Our need for a Savior is more than apparent. We can be made
perfect again only by the perfect Son of God who came to save us. Ash Wednesday is one of the most solemn
days of the Church Year. The color for the day is black. This dramatic liturgical color inaugurates the Lenten
cycle and its use is repeated on Good Friday. The Ash Wednesday liturgy marks the beginning of a penitential
discipline that climaxes with the liturgy on Maundy Thursday. The mood is penitential and reflective on our
baptismal faith and life. Originally, Lent was the time when candidates for Holy Baptism were intently preparing
to be baptized at the Vigil of Easter. We, too, in this season of Lent prepare ourselves to remember our baptism
at Easter as we ritually "pass over" with Jesus from death to new life. A traditional part of the Ash Wednesday
observance is the imposition of ashes when worshipers receive ashes on their foreheads as a sign of
penitence and baptismal remembrance. The ashes are prepared by burning palm branches from last Palm
Sunday. Their use suggests in a dramatic way God's judgment and condemnation of sin, our frail
and total dependence on God, humiliation and repentance. The words spoken as ashes are imposed,
"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," were first spoken to Adam after his fall into sin.
We are forcefully remindede of the words of the committal in the Burial Service, "...earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust." They remind us of the fact that we will die because of our sins. Yet the ashes also
suggest cleansing and renewal. Ashes were once used as a cleaning agent. Thus, ashes imposed in the shape
of a cross symbolize both judgment and baptismal cleansing. They point to the gift of forgiveness which God
gives us in Christ.
Palm Sunday
In the Christian tradition, palms were reserved for the procession on this Sunday, the first day of Holy Week.
Since the 8th century after Christ left the earth visibly, children and adults would carry palm branches into
church as they sang:
All Glory, laud, and honor to you, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
The real focus on this Sunday, however, was on the reading of the Passion history. Since there were no
midweek Lenten services in the early church, the story of the Savior’s suffering and death—the version from
St. John’s Gospel—was read in church on this Sunday and then again on Good Friday. The accounts of Jesus’
suffering and death from the other three Gospel writers were read during Holy Week. Devout church goers
would have come to church on Monday to hear St. Matthew’s account, on Tuesday to hear St. Mark’s version,
and on Wednesday to hear St. Luke’s account. Our Palm Sunday worship focuses on the Savior’s entry into
Jerusalem. We follow in procession with Christians throughout the world and throughout the ages behind the
cross of Christ and with palm branches in hand we join with them in singing Hosanna—which means, Save us,
Lord.
The Triduum or the “Three Days”
The services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are really one worship service. Called “The
Triduum” (TRIDD-oo-um; “three days”), this “service” refers to the time from the evening liturgy on Maundy
Thursday until the liturgy of the Great Vigil of Easter. The “three days” of the passion and resurrection of Christ
is the culmination of the entire church year. What Sunday is to the week, Holy Week is to the entire church
year. To miss one of the three services is like skipping a chapter in a book: you miss important developments
in the plot and risk fully appreciating or enjoying the book. Each of the three services rely on each other, just as
the events of Holy Week did. Both Good Friday and Easter are given to us in their fullness on Maundy Thursday
as we receive the Holy Supper our Lord instituted. We cannot have life unless there was death on Good Friday.
Our faith is futile unless there is Easter.
Once we begin our worship on Maundy Thursday we do not leave it until Easter, although we leave the
sanctuary to go about our daily lives between services. Notice on Maundy Thursday there is no traditional
dismissal and blessing. Good Friday’s service has no greeting or dismissal. Worshipers leave the sanctuary in
darkness and silence, ready and anticipating the next chapter in the story of God’s act of salvation. The
benediction closes the Easter Vigil service. The idea is that once worship begins on Maundy Thursday, the
church remains together in spirit to see it to its conclusion.
Maundy Thursday
In the middle of the year’s quietest week, Holy Week, comes a major festival: the institution of the sacrament of
Holy Communion. It was on this night that Jesus gave his Church a special meal through which he strengthens
our faith by giving us his very body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Passover meal. On
this night Jesus also gave his disciples the command to love one another and he showed them how by
washing their feet. From this event we get the name for this holy day. Maundy comes from the Latin word
“mandatum” meaning “command.” At the end of the service the paraments are removed from the altar, the
sanctuary is darkened, and we leave in silence to recall how Jesus and his disciples left the upper room to
pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. We return the next day, Good Friday, as we left— in darkness and in silence.
Jesus is about to die for the sins of the world.
Good Friday
On that evil Friday we call Good Jesus suffered and died on a cross. The “Good” of Good Friday comes from an
old English word meaning “God’s” Friday. And that is exactly what it is. It is God’s doing that Jesus, the perfect
God-man, became sin for us that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Since the earliest days of
its history, the Church has reserved its deepest solemnities for this day—and especially for the three hours,
from noon to 3:00, when darkness covered the earth and the Savior endured the deepest agony.
For our Good Friday worship, the altar is covered in the paraments of sorrow, the organ is muted, the sanctuary
is dark, worshipers gather and leave in silence. A Tenebrae service is observed. Tenebrae means darkness.
On Good Friday the sun did not shine during the darkest hours of God’s punishment for sins of the world. Seven
readings review the events of Jesus’ suffering. After each reading, a candles is extinguished. Finally, as the
sanctuary is in total darkness, a special candle called a Paschal Candle symbolizing Christ is carried from the
sanctuary. There is a loud noise symbolizing the cataclysmic nature of God destroying sin and the devil by his
Son’s death on the cross. Then the Paschal Candle reappears and worshipers depart anticipating the
celebration of the resurrection on Easter morning.
The Great Vigil of Easter
Victory is the cry of Easter! The celebration in the early Church began at midnight, and Christians gathered to
keep vigil and to wait for the shout, “Christ is risen!” The catechumens who had been learning the faith over the
past months, even years, were baptized and received Holy Communion at this great Vigil of Easter. At their
baptism they were buried and raised with Christ. At Holy Communion they received a foretaste of heaven. The
service lasted for hours. Many of the hymns and prayers have been used by Christians for centuries.
Today we still hold to many of the great traditions of Easter. The Alleluias return with vigor at the Easter Vigil on
Saturday night. Through the Vigil we learn the deeper meaning of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection in the
Means of Grace. This is the last step in the journey begun on Maundy Thursday. The celebration of the passion,
death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Saturday night and Sunday morning of Easter is the Church’s
oldest liturgical observance. In the service we recall Old Testament events of God’s great deliverance, and
celebrate the continuation of these events by the power of the Holy Spirit. The service highlights the connection
between our dying and rising with Christ in Holy Baptism, and his death and resurrection for us. The service
begins in darkness, outside of the sanctuary. Worshippers enter the sanctuary in a procession of candlelight.
The light of the risen Christ breaks forth and the alleluias, buried since the beginning of Lent, fill the sanctuary.
What happened during Holy Week gives meaning to our worship on Sunday, throughout the Church year, and all
of our lives. May our greater understanding lead us to a deeper faith in the crucified and risen Savior.
This information was taken from The Lutheran Church and School of Saint Luke.
among believers as the time of the year between Ash Wednesday and Easter. The Bible’s most important
teachings — the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus — are highlighted during these days. More church
services are held and more people attend these services than during any other time of the year.
To derive the highest benefit from these “holiest days of the year” keep three things in mind:
1. The resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in the Christian religion. Over the span of 20 centuries
the Church has reserved its noblest rites and highest ceremony for the Easter Festival.
2. For four hundred years after the resurrection, Easter was the day on which adult converts were baptized and
brought into the Church. Many of the customs that accompany Easter have their roots in the preparation of
these adults for Holy Baptism.
3. Think of Easter Sunday, therefore, as the zero on a kitchen timer. Think of Ash Wednesday as the day on
which the timer is set. During all the days in between, the timer clicks and clicks and clicks, and the
anticipation grows stronger and stronger and stronger for the moment the timer will ring and the feast will be
ready!
The Season of Lent
In the earliest days of the Church’s life, adults who became Christians needed to be ready to make enormous
sacrifices. They might have to give up their jobs, their families, even their lives, if they became Christians. The
training to give up a pagan lifestyle and live a Christian lifestyle was long and involved, therefore instruction
often lasted as long as three years. The most intense part of that training took place during the last weeks
before their Easter Baptism. The catechumens (i.e., students; think of the word catechism) fasted and prayed
for forty days — as Jesus did before he faced Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. That forty-day period of
prayer and meditation became known as the season of Lent.
Ash Wednesday
The name given to the first Wednesday in Lent is Ash Wednesday. It is a name which reminds us that we no
longer are the perfect creations that God placed into the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve chose to be less than
perfect. They chose sin. From dust or ash were they created and to dust they would return. Like Adam and Eve
we are less than perfect. We are sinners. Our need for a Savior is more than apparent. We can be made
perfect again only by the perfect Son of God who came to save us. Ash Wednesday is one of the most solemn
days of the Church Year. The color for the day is black. This dramatic liturgical color inaugurates the Lenten
cycle and its use is repeated on Good Friday. The Ash Wednesday liturgy marks the beginning of a penitential
discipline that climaxes with the liturgy on Maundy Thursday. The mood is penitential and reflective on our
baptismal faith and life. Originally, Lent was the time when candidates for Holy Baptism were intently preparing
to be baptized at the Vigil of Easter. We, too, in this season of Lent prepare ourselves to remember our baptism
at Easter as we ritually "pass over" with Jesus from death to new life. A traditional part of the Ash Wednesday
observance is the imposition of ashes when worshipers receive ashes on their foreheads as a sign of
penitence and baptismal remembrance. The ashes are prepared by burning palm branches from last Palm
Sunday. Their use suggests in a dramatic way God's judgment and condemnation of sin, our frail
and total dependence on God, humiliation and repentance. The words spoken as ashes are imposed,
"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," were first spoken to Adam after his fall into sin.
We are forcefully remindede of the words of the committal in the Burial Service, "...earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust." They remind us of the fact that we will die because of our sins. Yet the ashes also
suggest cleansing and renewal. Ashes were once used as a cleaning agent. Thus, ashes imposed in the shape
of a cross symbolize both judgment and baptismal cleansing. They point to the gift of forgiveness which God
gives us in Christ.
Palm Sunday
In the Christian tradition, palms were reserved for the procession on this Sunday, the first day of Holy Week.
Since the 8th century after Christ left the earth visibly, children and adults would carry palm branches into
church as they sang:
All Glory, laud, and honor to you, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
The real focus on this Sunday, however, was on the reading of the Passion history. Since there were no
midweek Lenten services in the early church, the story of the Savior’s suffering and death—the version from
St. John’s Gospel—was read in church on this Sunday and then again on Good Friday. The accounts of Jesus’
suffering and death from the other three Gospel writers were read during Holy Week. Devout church goers
would have come to church on Monday to hear St. Matthew’s account, on Tuesday to hear St. Mark’s version,
and on Wednesday to hear St. Luke’s account. Our Palm Sunday worship focuses on the Savior’s entry into
Jerusalem. We follow in procession with Christians throughout the world and throughout the ages behind the
cross of Christ and with palm branches in hand we join with them in singing Hosanna—which means, Save us,
Lord.
The Triduum or the “Three Days”
The services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are really one worship service. Called “The
Triduum” (TRIDD-oo-um; “three days”), this “service” refers to the time from the evening liturgy on Maundy
Thursday until the liturgy of the Great Vigil of Easter. The “three days” of the passion and resurrection of Christ
is the culmination of the entire church year. What Sunday is to the week, Holy Week is to the entire church
year. To miss one of the three services is like skipping a chapter in a book: you miss important developments
in the plot and risk fully appreciating or enjoying the book. Each of the three services rely on each other, just as
the events of Holy Week did. Both Good Friday and Easter are given to us in their fullness on Maundy Thursday
as we receive the Holy Supper our Lord instituted. We cannot have life unless there was death on Good Friday.
Our faith is futile unless there is Easter.
Once we begin our worship on Maundy Thursday we do not leave it until Easter, although we leave the
sanctuary to go about our daily lives between services. Notice on Maundy Thursday there is no traditional
dismissal and blessing. Good Friday’s service has no greeting or dismissal. Worshipers leave the sanctuary in
darkness and silence, ready and anticipating the next chapter in the story of God’s act of salvation. The
benediction closes the Easter Vigil service. The idea is that once worship begins on Maundy Thursday, the
church remains together in spirit to see it to its conclusion.
Maundy Thursday
In the middle of the year’s quietest week, Holy Week, comes a major festival: the institution of the sacrament of
Holy Communion. It was on this night that Jesus gave his Church a special meal through which he strengthens
our faith by giving us his very body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Passover meal. On
this night Jesus also gave his disciples the command to love one another and he showed them how by
washing their feet. From this event we get the name for this holy day. Maundy comes from the Latin word
“mandatum” meaning “command.” At the end of the service the paraments are removed from the altar, the
sanctuary is darkened, and we leave in silence to recall how Jesus and his disciples left the upper room to
pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. We return the next day, Good Friday, as we left— in darkness and in silence.
Jesus is about to die for the sins of the world.
Good Friday
On that evil Friday we call Good Jesus suffered and died on a cross. The “Good” of Good Friday comes from an
old English word meaning “God’s” Friday. And that is exactly what it is. It is God’s doing that Jesus, the perfect
God-man, became sin for us that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Since the earliest days of
its history, the Church has reserved its deepest solemnities for this day—and especially for the three hours,
from noon to 3:00, when darkness covered the earth and the Savior endured the deepest agony.
For our Good Friday worship, the altar is covered in the paraments of sorrow, the organ is muted, the sanctuary
is dark, worshipers gather and leave in silence. A Tenebrae service is observed. Tenebrae means darkness.
On Good Friday the sun did not shine during the darkest hours of God’s punishment for sins of the world. Seven
readings review the events of Jesus’ suffering. After each reading, a candles is extinguished. Finally, as the
sanctuary is in total darkness, a special candle called a Paschal Candle symbolizing Christ is carried from the
sanctuary. There is a loud noise symbolizing the cataclysmic nature of God destroying sin and the devil by his
Son’s death on the cross. Then the Paschal Candle reappears and worshipers depart anticipating the
celebration of the resurrection on Easter morning.
The Great Vigil of Easter
Victory is the cry of Easter! The celebration in the early Church began at midnight, and Christians gathered to
keep vigil and to wait for the shout, “Christ is risen!” The catechumens who had been learning the faith over the
past months, even years, were baptized and received Holy Communion at this great Vigil of Easter. At their
baptism they were buried and raised with Christ. At Holy Communion they received a foretaste of heaven. The
service lasted for hours. Many of the hymns and prayers have been used by Christians for centuries.
Today we still hold to many of the great traditions of Easter. The Alleluias return with vigor at the Easter Vigil on
Saturday night. Through the Vigil we learn the deeper meaning of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection in the
Means of Grace. This is the last step in the journey begun on Maundy Thursday. The celebration of the passion,
death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Saturday night and Sunday morning of Easter is the Church’s
oldest liturgical observance. In the service we recall Old Testament events of God’s great deliverance, and
celebrate the continuation of these events by the power of the Holy Spirit. The service highlights the connection
between our dying and rising with Christ in Holy Baptism, and his death and resurrection for us. The service
begins in darkness, outside of the sanctuary. Worshippers enter the sanctuary in a procession of candlelight.
The light of the risen Christ breaks forth and the alleluias, buried since the beginning of Lent, fill the sanctuary.
What happened during Holy Week gives meaning to our worship on Sunday, throughout the Church year, and all
of our lives. May our greater understanding lead us to a deeper faith in the crucified and risen Savior.
This information was taken from The Lutheran Church and School of Saint Luke.
| An Explanation of the Customs and Ceremonies of Lent and Holy Week |
