Institute of Christian Worship Offers Holy Week Resources

March 9, 2015
Glory

Glory

Julie Quinn

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship is making available a range of resources for churches to use in marking Holy Week that begins on Palm Sunday, March 29.

“The week begins with Passion/Palm Sunday and ends with the ‘three days’ (also called the Triduum, from sunset on Thursday to sunset on Easter Day) which mark Jesus’ trial, death, and resurrection,” says the institute in words adapted from The Worship Sourcebook.

“These days feature not only the drama of the triumphal entry, trial, last supper, and crucifixion but also poignant prayers and prophetic teachings of our Lord. John’s gospel devotes eight of its twenty-one chapters to this week alone!”

Worship throughout Holy Week invites the congregation to think of themselves as participants in a dramatic reenactment of scriptural events.

So, says the institute, children may be invited to process while shouting “Hosanna!” Or, in the reading of the passion narrative, the entire congregation may be invited to speak the words, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

“These help the congregation sense the significance of the narratives for what they teach us about Jesus’ ministry, about God’s being and character, and about the nature and scope of redemption in Christ.”

Prior to Holy Week, the institute’s website has numerous resources to help churches and individuals plan Lenten worship on either a corporate or a personal level. 

Resources for Worship During Holy Week

Arts

The Worship Sourcebook

Parts K through N of The Worship Sourcebook Second Edition, pp. 587-660, offer sample prayers and other worship resources for each act of worship during Holy Week and Easter, including the Call to Worship, Opening Responses, Confession and Assurance, Prayers for Illumination, the Lord's Supper, and Blessing/Benediction.

Also, browse all Holy Week resources for worship from the institute’s ministry partner, Reformed Worship magazine.

Calvin Institute of Christian Worship