Lent, Holy Week and Easter Worship

Ash Wednesday - February 18

12:15 PM – Ash Wednesday Service of Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes 
6:30 PM – Ash Wednesday Service of Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes with special music (choir, organ, cello) 

On Ash Wednesday we begin our forty-day journey toward Easter with a day of fasting and repentance. Marking our foreheads with dust, we acknowledge that we die and return to the earth. At the same time, the dust traces the life-giving cross indelibly marked on our foreheads at baptism. While we journey through Lent to return to God, we have already been reconciled to God through Christ. We humbly pray for God to make our hearts clean while we rejoice that “now is the day of salvation.”  

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Wednesdays in Lent – Feb. 25, Mar. 4, 11, 18, 25 
5:30 PM – Simple Soup, Bread, and Fellowship (Fellowship Hall) 
6:30 PM – Evening Prayer Service (Sanctuary) 
Offerings received at our Wednesday services in Lent

will support ELCA World Hunger. 

Palm/Passion Sunday, March 28 & 29 
Saturday, 4 PM – Worship with Holy Communion 
Sunday, 9:00 AM – Worship with Holy Communion ​

Today, we encounter the paradox that defines our faith: Jesus Christ is glorified king and humiliated servant. We too are full of paradox: like Peter, we fervently desire to follow Christ, but find ourselves afraid, denying God. We wave palms in celebration today as Christ comes into our midst, and we follow with trepidation as his path leads to death on the cross. Amid it all we are invited into this paradoxical promise of life through Christ’s broken body and outpoured love in a meal of bread and wine. 

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Maundy Thursday, April 2 
6:30 PM – Maundy Thursday Worship, Service of Holy Communion ​

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. This night 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.  

Good Friday, April 3 
1:00 PM – Good Friday Worship 
6:30 PM – Good Friday Worship

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. 

Easter Vigil Worship, Saturday April 4 

5:00 PM – Easter Vigil Service at
CARTHAGE COLLEGE'S SIEBERT CHAPEL in Kenosha

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! 

Easter Sunday, April 5 
9:00 AM – Festival Service of Holy Communion 
10:30 AM – Easter Breakfast 

This is the day the Lord has made! Christ is risen, and through him all creation is made new! Indeed, “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34): Christ’s resurrection truly brings life to everyone. We sing hymns of praise, gather around sacred words, and proclaim God’s faithfulness, power, and love in the feast of holy communion. With the women at the tomb, we are astonished, elated, and grateful. We depart with joy to proclaim the good news of God’s endless love.​