Sunday worship 10:30am – In Person/Zoom/YouTube
Complex world. Thoughtful church.

Holy Week Worship 2020

As we continue to practice social distancing in an effort to flatten the curve, and slow the spread of COVID-19, we will be gathering for Holy Week worship on Zoom and Livestreaming on YouTube. If you would like to receive links to the Zoom meetings for any of the days of Holy Week, please request access at ulch@ulch.org. 


Holy Week Toolkit


Holy Wednesday April 8th

  • Remember there is no midweek worship today. Instead, choose a place in your home where you will worship for the coming three days – somewhere with a place to sit, a place for your device, and an “altar” of sorts…a surface with some space to place things (dining room table, side table by a window, coffee table, etc.)
  • Gather candles from around your home and place them on your altar. Ideally, you will have 7 candles for Good Friday, but one single candle will also work.
  • Prepare bread dough for tomorrow’s Maundy Thursday service. Use your favorite recipe, or consider these very simple ones: Conventional https://ourbestbites.com/easy-no-knead-overnight-artisan-bread/ or Gluten Free https://www.letthemeatgfcake.com/gluten-free-artisan-bread/

Maundy Thursday, April 9th

This evening our Lenten observance comes to an end, and we gather with Christians around the world to celebrate the Three Days of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Tonight we remember Christ’s last meal with his disciples, but the central focus is his commandment that we live out the promise embodied in this meal. As Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, so we are called to give and receive love in humble service to one another. Formed into a new body in Christ through this holy meal, we are transformed by the mercy we have received and carry it into the world. Departing worship in solemn silence, we anticipate the coming days.

  • Finish preparing your dough and bake your bread. Place it on your altar under a dry dish towel or linen. After the service, save some of the bread for Saturday and Sunday.
  • Pour some wine or juice into a beautiful glass and place it on your altar. After the service, save some for Sunday.
  • If you and others in your household would like to participate, prepare materials for footwashing – large basin, pitcher with warm water, towels, a bar of soap if you have it. Your bathtub or a hose outside can also work! If you live alone, prepare soap for handwashing and a nice lotion for moisturizing your hands.
  • Prepare a wet washcloth (or towel from footwashing). At the end of the worship service when we typically strip and wash the altar, you will wash your tabletop to ready it for Good Friday.
  • Log in or tune in via Facebook livestream starting shortly before 7.

Good Friday, April 10th

Life and death stand side by side as we enter into Good Friday. In John’s passion account, Jesus reveals the power and glory of God, even as he is put on trial and sentenced to death. Standing with the disciples at the foot of the cross, we pray for the whole world in the ancient bidding prayer, as Christ’s death offers life to all. We gather in solemn devotion, but always with the promise that the tree around which we assemble is indeed a tree of life. We depart silently, and we anticipate the culmination of the Three Days in the Easter Vigil.

  • Practice silence throughout your day, in whatever way is possible for you. Maybe the first words you speak aloud are those you speak at worship. Or maybe, in the bustle of your day, you pause for 3 minutes and sit in silence and meditation.
  • Create a cross using materials from around your home. Sticks tied with twine, pieces of cut cardboard, or maybe an existing cross you already have hanging in your house. Be creative. Place the cross on your altar.
  • Place your candles on your altar around your cross. We will be using the Tenebrae service for our liturgy…the Passion story is divided into 7 parts with a candle extinguished after each part.
  • Take a picture of your cross and post it on social media, tagging University Lutheran Church of Hope.
  • Find the password for Zoom worship and log in or tune in via YouTube livestream starting shortly before 7.

Easter Vigil, April 11th

This is the night of salvation! At the Vigil of Easter, we gather around fire, word, water, bread, and wine, proclaiming through story and song that ours is a God who continuously brings life out of death. On this night we experience again the heart of God’s baptismal promise and the center of our faith: we are claimed and cleansed, renewed in the death and resurrection of Christ. We gather with all the saints of every time and place to celebrate the good news: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

  • Create a handheld banner that says ALLELUIA. Place it face down on your altar, ready for use later.
  • Place your largest bowl on your altar, along with a pitcher or glass. Fill the bowl with water and place the empty pitcher or glass beside the bowl.
  • Have a bright-colored accessory ready (earrings, scarf, bandana, hat, sunglasses, etc), but don’t put it on yet.
  • Light your candles from last night’s service.
  • Gather your leftover bread and wine and place it on your altar.
  • If you have a plant or flowers in your home, bring them to your altar.
  • If you have a fireplace, light a fire. If it’s nice enough and you have a firepit, light a fire outdoors and bring your altar outside.
  • Find the password for Zoom worship and log in or tune in via YouTube livestream starting shortly before 7.

Easter Sunday, April 12th

  • Dress up for worship! Don something fabulous and get all gussied up just for fun.
  • Gather your leftover bread and wine and place it on your altar.
  • If you haven’t already, memorize this verse from the psalms which we used all throughout Lent as our statement of faith.
                  God’s wrath is short,
                  God’s favor lasts a lifetime.
                  Weeping spends the night,
                  but joy comes in the morning.  (Ps. 30:5)
  • Find the password for Zoom worship and log in or tune in via YouTube livestream starting shortly before 10:30.