Skip to content

Holy Week and Easter at OSP 2022

Crucifix on a wood and gold background, with title text overlay

Join us in person or online as we journey with Jesus towards his death and resurrection, during Holy Week and Easter 2022.

Our pattern of services for Holy Week and Easter will be as follows. You can visit our Online Resources page if you would prefer to join in online.

10 April – Palm Sunday

10:30 High Mass

A service of sung High Mass, with a congregational procession of palm branches outside the church. The Gospel and sermon are replaced with the Passion narrative from St Matthew’s Gospel, set to music by Tomas Luis de Victoria.

Includes a creche and Sunday School. 

18:30 Evensong and Benediction

A sung Office with readings, psalms, hymns and canticles. Followed by Benediction – meditation and blessing with the Blessed Sacrament.

11 April – Monday in Holy Week

8:00 Morning Prayer and Mass

A said Office with readings and psalms, followed by a celebration of Low Mass. Held in the choir stalls – you are also welcome to join in via our Facebook livestream.

19:00 Sanctus Locus – Contemplative art event

An evening to explore silent creative expression in response to ‘sanctus locus’ (holy space). The evening will start with a period of prayer, scripture, creative words and reflective audio. Then an extended period of silence, with an invitation to create something. This response can take many forms, including creative writing, drawing, painting, knitting and embodied prayer or movement. The event will end with a safe sounding space to share or observe each other’s responses.

All levels of creative skills and none are welcome. Please bring creative materials you would like to use. Basic paper and pen will be provided.

21:00 Sung Compline

A traditional service of Night Prayer, sung in plainsong chant and held in the choir stalls. You can also join in via our Facebook livestream.

You can find a recording of this service, and more explanation, on our Online Resources page.

Visit our Online Resources page

12 April – Tuesday in Holy Week

8:00 Morning Prayer and Mass

A said Office with readings and psalms, followed by a celebration of Low Mass. Held in the choir stalls – you are also welcome to join in via our Facebook livestream.

21:00 Sung Compline

A traditional service of Night Prayer, sung in plainsong chant and held in the choir stalls. You can also join in via our Facebook livestream.

You can find a recording of this service, and more explanation, on our Online Resources page.

Visit our Online Resources page

13 April – Wednesday in Holy Week

8:00 Morning Prayer and Mass

A said Office with readings and psalms, followed by a celebration of Low Mass. Held in the choir stalls – you are also welcome to join in via our Facebook livestream.

19:30 Tenebrae

Tenebrae marks the growing darkness as we approach the final days of Jesus’ life. A service of readings, psalms and responsories punctuated by the extinguishing of candles.

14 April – Maundy Thursday

8:00 Morning Prayer and Mass

A said Office with readings and psalms, followed by a celebration of Low Mass. Held in the choir stalls – you are also welcome to join in via our Facebook livestream.

19:30 Commemoration of the Last Supper

High Mass in remembrance of the Last Supper, where Jesus instituted the Eucharist before being betrayed to the authorities. This service includes the washing of feet, symbolic of Christ’s hospitality to his disciples, and the stripping of the altar in preparation for Good Friday.

21:00 Vigil at the Garden of Repose

The Vigil, or Watch, at the Garden of Repose recalls Jesus’ plea to his disciples to “Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial” in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:41). A Garden will be prepared in the Memorial Chapel, containing the Blessed Sacrament. You can volunteer to keep watch for an hour or more during the night.
 
The Vigil will end with Morning Prayer & Mass at 8:00am on Good Friday. This time of prayer will not be livestreamed, but you are welcome to pray at home with the following passages of Scripture.
 

15 April – Good Friday

8:00 Morning Prayer and Mass

A said Office with readings and psalms, followed by a celebration of Low Mass. Held in the choir stalls – you are also welcome to join in via our Facebook livestream.

13:30 Good Friday Liturgy with Holy Communion

A solemn service of Communion, including Veneration of the Cross. We completely consume the Reserved Sacrament to symbolise Jesus’ death, leaving the church empty until Easter morning.

16 April – Holy Saturday

10:30 Children’s Service – Decorating the Easter Garden

We are co-hosting a Children’s Service with our friends at St John’s, taking place at Old Saint Paul’s. There will be a story, egg decoration and card making, prayers and a chocolate egg hunt. You are welcome to bring a stone to place in the Easter Garden.

17 April – Easter Sunday

05:00 Easter Vigil

A dawn feast of music, light, scripture, baptism and Eucharist, emerging from darkness in celebration of the risen Christ.

This year, Bishop John is visiting to baptise and confirm new members of the Church. The service is followed by a community breakfast in the church hall.

10:30 High Mass of Easter Day

A Festival High Mass for Easter, which includes a creche and Sunday School. 

18:30 Festal Evensong & Benediction

A sung Office with readings, psalms, hymns and canticles. Followed by Benediction – meditation and blessing with the Blessed Sacrament.

 

Donate to the church

Donate via Give As You Live