During Easter we celebrate and worship together in a spirit of joyful fellowship.
There’s a place for you here and we invite you to join us at any or all of our Holy Week and Easter services.
Palm Sunday: April 14
Services at 7:45 am, 9 am, 11:15 am, 5:30 pm,
8 pm Compline, (Nave)
Taize Service: April 16
Service at 7 pm, (Nave)
This service gently opens our hearts for Holy Week through the repetition of Taize hymns along with readings from scripture and prayers.
Wednesday: April 17
At 6:30 pm, we offer Stations of the Cross in the Nave, a series of 8 meditations on the last day of Jesus’ life as we move around the nave. The service takes about 20 minutes.
Maundy Thursday: April 18
Service at 7 pm, (Nave)
We enter into the experience of the disciples stunned by Jesus’ insistence that he would take on the role of a servant and wash the feet of the others. Anyone who wishes will be able to have their feet washed – and wash the feet of others. The service will continue with Eucharist followed by the stripping of the altar. Stripping the church of every bit of decoration, we go to dark Gethsemane with the disciples, where they struggled to stay awake as Jesus prayed.
Good Friday: April 19
Services at Noon and 7 pm
On Good Friday, we meet in a church that is so bare it even sounds different. We read the account of the Crucifixion according to the Gospel of John, following the traditional Prayer Book Good Friday service.
Walk the Labyrinth
1 – 7 pm, Sydnor Hall
The labyrinth is an ancient spiritual tool. Its winding path becomes a mirror of the way we live our lives. It touches our sorrows and releases our joys. Please join us to walk, search, and follow with an open mind and an open heart.
Downtown Stations of the Cross
1:45 pm, Meet at Micah Ecumenical Ministries, 1013 Princess Anne St.
For hundreds of years, the Stations have been a way to make a virtual pilgrimage in the spirit of pilgrims to Jerusalem walking the Via Dolorosa. We will walk in procession, stopping fourteen times at different sites in downtown Fredericksburg to pray and mark moments in Jesus’ journey to the cross and tomb.
Holy Saturday: April 20
Morning Prayer, 8:30 am
Liturgy of the Light, 5 pm
For children age 3 and above
The Liturgy of the Light is one of the beautiful experiences Catechesis of the Good Shepherd gives us. It is a children’s Easter Vigil service, and adults are welcome as well. Each child receives their own “light of Christ,” and we conclude with a simple Eucharist prepared by the children. We will celebrate the Liturgy of the Light in Sydnor Hall. Nursery provided for toddlers and babies.
Great Vigil of Easter, 8 pm
Followed by the Paschal Party in Sydnor Hall
At the Easter Vigil, we gather in a darkened church. We light the Paschal (Easter) candle, and we are warmed by the candlelight retelling of stories from the Hebrew Scriptures. We sing our Alleluias for the first time in forty days! And we proceed with a celebration of the first Eucharist of Easter. Afterward, the celebration continues with festive food and drink at the Paschal Party in Sydnor Hall. In all, it is a powerful and dramatic celebration of Easter.
Easter Sunday: April 21
Sunrise Easter Service at 6:30 am
Outside The Presbyterian Church
Our ministry partners from Micah Ecumenical Ministries gather for a joint service. Together, we greet the sunrise, share joy with each other, and begin our Easter celebrations in community.
Easter Eucharist at 7:45 am, 9 am, 11:15 am
Easter Egg Hunt: 10:15 am
Celtic Evensong + Communion at 5:30 pm
Compline at 8 pm