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Dear Friends:  

Some have been asking if Dr Bonnie Henry’s recent announcement permitting a small number of indoor and outdoor faith gatherings over the next few weeks means that the Cathedral will be open for worship over Easter.  

Sadly (but wisely, I believe), the answer is no.   Out of a duty of care for our older and more vulnerable parishioners, the Diocese of British Columbia has suspended in-person worship until April 12.  That decision stands, and will not be revisited until the week after Easter.   

Meanwhile, the Cathedral’s plans for Holy Week are well in hand. If you missed the recent mailing outlining our schedule of services, you can check it out below.   I would particularly like to draw your attention to Easter Day, when Bishop Anna Greenwood-Lee will be preaching; to Maundy Thursday when Compline will be sung; and to Good Friday, when Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ will be played by the Emily Carr String Quartet, with commentary by seven gifted preachers from across Canada.  

With every blessing to you over this strangest of Holy Weeks.  Be well, and stay well.  

Faithfully,    

(The Very Reverend) M. Ansley Tucker
Dean and Rector

 

Holy Week in 2021  

Sunday, March 28  

10.30 a.m. Palm Sunday  

A livestreamed commemoration of Jesus’ defiant entrance into Jerusalem and the wild enthusiasm of the crowds.  Palms will be available for pick-up at the doors of the cathedral. Check out the Cathedral Check-in on Friday March 26, to learn how to make your own palm cross.  

4.00 p.m. Music and Readings for Passiontide  

By now a tradition at the cathedral, this service turns the corner from the adulation of the palms to the dreadful chain of events that follows. It is an opportunity to hear some of the most beautiful music in the liturgical repertoire, and to allow it to colour our reading of Christ’s passion.  

Monday, March 29, Tuesday, March 30 and Wednesday, March 31  

5.00 p.m. Evensong  

The daily office sung by our choral scholars as it might be “in quires and places where they sing.”  The recitation of the daily offices of matins and vespers mark time, and thereby sanctify it. So too, does this daily offering of Evensong in Holy Week mark Jesus’ inexorable progress toward the Cross. A simple service, livestreamed, with choir.  

The Solemn Triduum  

April 1 – Maundy Thursday  

7.00 p.m. Compline  

Maundy Thursday, of course, is the night of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, his arrest and trial, the denial by Peter, and his conviction of a capital offence. But before all that, Jesus gathered the twelve in an upper room to keep Passover, and to give them the means to fortify themselves forever: Take, eat. Drink this, all of you. And know that I am with you.  

Sadly, once again this year we are unable to gather on this occasion to eat and drink of the eucharistic sacrament. That time will come soon. Meanwhile, we know that our God is faithful, and is in no way dependent upon, or confined to, our ceremonies in order to be present to us. God is here. Now.    

Compline is the church’s nighttime office – and it carries within its symbolism all those things that go bump in the night: darkness, fears, evil, death, the grave, rest, and – hope.  We recite this office with the passion of Christ in our hearts, and the knowledge that he has gone already where all of us must one day go.  

April 2 – Good Friday  

12.00 noon. The Seven Last Words   

Join us for a livestreamed service featuring Haydn’s Seven Last Words played by the Emily Carr String Quartet, introductory chorales sung by our Cathedral choral scholars, and reflections by seven distinguished Canadian preachers.    

More information: https://www.christchurchcathedral.bc.ca/news/the-seven-last-words

April 4 – Easter Day  

10.30 a.m. Service of the Word and Renewal of Baptismal Vows  

A livestreamed service with big music, which will incorporate the renewal of baptismal vows that normally happens at the Great Vigil of Easter the night before.  Bishop Anna Greenwood-Lee is the preacher.  

4.00 p.m. Evensong  

We tend to think of Easter Day as a “morning event.”  The gospel of John says, “Early on the first day of the week while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb…”  However, the bible provides us a rich tradition of evening happenings as well.  One of these is the encounter of Cleopas and his unnamed companion with the risen Christ on their way back home to Emmaus from Jerusalem.  This is traditionally the focus of Evensong on Easter night.