Scenes from Holy Week...

I promise I'm going to stop with the Holy Week and Easter posts after this one, but I just wanted to share some of the design elements that I used in my church during Holy Week.

I really love the use of candles and other elements to help invoke emotions and feelings during worship, and Holy Week provides a perfect opportunity for that.

I used only things I had on hand and I sort of made it up as I went along, trying to get the right feel for each service during the week.

Thursday- I did a tenebrae service with communion as the central piece.

I had twelve candles which represented the 12 disciples with the Christ candle in the center. At the beginning of the service I read the names of the disciples and "invited them to the table that Christ had set" as each name was said the candle was lit. Then throughout the service using songs and scripture the candles were slowly extinguished. At the end only the Christ candle remained lit and it was carried lit from the sanctuary. 

Of course on Holy Thursday communion was central and I invited members 4 at a time to gather around the table. Inviting them to feast at the table Christ set and prepared for them. 

On Good Friday I decided it would be a great idea to completely clear out the area. I had a ton of fun pushing around our huge altar and table. But I liked the look. The cross was draped in black and candles lit the way to the cross. The still lit Christ candle was at the base. At the end of the service with the words, "It is finished" the Christ Candle was extinguished. Along with the candles lighting the way to the cross.  

Then on easter everything returned and the cross was covered in flowers.