Rector’s Note: Making Space for Holy Week-3.26.2026

As we enter the sacred story of the Passion of Christ next week, try to make some time either personally or communally to place yourself with Jesus on his walk to the cross. Here are things to do every day of the week to enter the story.

Read about it.  The Last Week: A Day by Day Account of Jesus’ Final Week in Jerusalem is a thought-provoking and readable treatment of the historical Jesus’ journey to the cross, told by Scripture scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. Starting on Monday, you can read it day by day through Easter.

Pray with the Lectionary. Visit the Lectionary Page to find an interactive calendar that allows you to click on the days of Holy Week and read and pray with the Scriptures appointed for liturgies that day.

Pray for Healing on Wednesday. The weekly Wednesday Eucharist in the St. Philip’s Chapel at 9:30 am is a lovely way to pray for healing for yourself and others. It will be held as scheduled during Holy Week.

Pray the Stations of the Cross. There are several ways to encounter the visual and visceral story of the way of the cross, starting tomorrow.

• Tomorrow from 11 am to 1 pm –A faith-filled walk (about an hour and a half) from Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral to the ICE office, to stand in solidarity with our immigrant neighbors and all who carry heavy crosses in our community. All are welcome to walk, pray, and stand together. Sign up here.  Contact Rev. Canon Toneh Smyth at Tsmyth@diopa.org for any questions.

• Starting March 29 and continuing through Holy Week, a self-guided booklet on the Stations of the Cross will be available in the church. The guide is based on ten images from Kathrin Burleson's The Soul's Journey: An Artist's Approach to the Stations of the Cross, prints of which will be in the window wells of the church. The worship space is open from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for quiet prayer and reflection throughout the week.

1. Community Stations of the Cross are Good Friday at noon starting in the parking lot of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 120 N. Easton Road, and walking through the neighborhood. St Peter’s brings the cross.

Attend the Holy Thursday Agape meal and Eucharist -- A simple supper of soup and bread, with traditional prayers over the food and sharing of Scripture, starts at 6 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Click HERE to RSVP and indicate whether you can contribute soup, bread, fruit or wine. Then at 7:15 p.m., the traditional Maundy Thursday service begins in the church, including foot washing and the stripping of the altar. 

Spend some time in prayer in the Garden of Repose on Thursday and Friday. The St. Philip’s chapel will be filled with flowers and plants to create a garden-like space for prayer and meditation, open by 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 2 and all day Friday.

Attend the Good Friday Tenebrae Service at 7 p.m.  As the church slowly dims to darkness, contemplate through Scripture, music, prayers, and silence the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Get a jump on Easter on Holy Saturday. Montco Deanery churches, including St Peter’s, will celebrate the Great Vigil of Easter, Saturday, April 4, at 7 p.m. at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Whitemarsh, 7020 Camp Hill Rd. Fort Washington, PA. I will be preaching during this service. This moving liturgy starts in darkness lit only by the Easter fire, and includes Old Testament stories that speak of the saving work of God. It ends in blazing light, joyous Eucharist, and the A-word that we’ve hidden all Lent makes its first debut.

Celebrate Easter Sunday at St Peter’s. The Easter service at St. Peter’s is at 10 a.m. on April 5. Bring your friends and invite your neighbors to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus with this joyful choral Eucharist, followed by a brunch in the parish hall and an Easter Egg hunt in the courtyard.

I want to extend my thanks to all who work so hard on these Holy Week experiences. It is a work of the entire church to clean up the grounds, prepare the spaces, rehearse the liturgical components, make the meals and get the Easter eggs in place.  It truly is a story that we all tell together.