Holy Week at TGC

Wednesdays 12:15-12:45PM

Join us throughout the season of Lent for a mid-week Lenten worship experience. This will be a service to offer a time of corporate gathering, quiet reflection, prayer, music, and a brief word from scripture. Invite neighbors and friends for this 1/2 hour of encouragement. Our mid-week services will be from 12:15-12:45 PM every Wednesday starting on March 5, Ash Wednesday. Our theme for our Wednesday gatherings will be 40 days as we explore episodes in the Bible in which 40 days played an important role for the people of God as they interacted with the Lord. Messages will be between 5-10 minutes in length.

March 5, 2025 | 6:00PM

Lent is a time we set aside in our church life together to reflect on our inward obedience to Christ as we approach our Holy Week celebrations. Our Ash Wednesday dinner and service, which will be held on March 5, opens the way for the season of Lent. We shape it to be a family time as a faith community - sitting around tables, enjoying fellowship, and eating a good meal together. Following that we will introduce a meaningful experience of worship as we celebrate communion, confess sin, and are marked with a reminder of our need for Christ as a cross of ashes is placed on our foreheads. The dinner and service will be in the Family Life Center starting at 6:00 PM. We’ll have a Spaghetti Dinner (vegetarian & gluten free options), salad, bread & dessert. Join us!

Sundays at 9:00AM

Lent is a season we set aside in our church life together for inward reflection that will lead us to a life of action in obedience to Christ. The Lenten Discipleship Initiative (LDI) is a churchwide event designed to assist those involved in thinking deeply about their walk with Christ through personal reflection, prayer, and corporate study of scripture as we move toward the remembrance of Christ’s death and celebration of his resurrection during Holy Week.

LDI spans a six-week period starting the Sunday after Ash Wednesday (3/9) and continues through Palm Sunday (4/13). It is comprised of three major components - Sunday small group discussions, daily devotional materials you will receive by email, and the sermon series. Small groups will meet before our morning services during the Discipleship Hour at 9:00AM.

Our LDI 2025 theme for this year is “The Kingdom of God is at Hand.” Daniel predicted in chapter 7 of his prophetical book that a king would usher in a new kingdom that would extend to the ends of the earth. From the perspective of the Old Testament, the inauguration of this kingdom was the beginning of the end times. Jesus declared in Mark 1 that the kingdom of God had arrived as he began his gospel ministry. We will consider aspects of eschatology (the study of the end times) and the difference such a perspective makes in our lives as we participate in this kingdom work exploring issues such as kingdom presence, suffering, angels and demons, kingdom values, death, resurrection, and inviting others into kingdom life. If you have questions or would like to sign up in person, Molly can do that in the Fellowship Hall after worship.

April 13, 2025 | 10:15AM

Childcare provided

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of our Holy Week experience as a worshiping congregation joining believers around the world remembering the passion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The earliest known record of any Holy Week observance, which includes a description of Palm Sunday, is found in the travel diaries of a woman named Egeria. Egeria was a nun who documented her pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the late 4th century. We observe the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The processional reminds us of the large crowd which gathered to welcome Jesus following him into the city. Palm branches are waved as we sing corporately reflecting the gospel record as Jesus passed by. The word Hosanna is repeated throughout the service to remember the celebratory cries which met Jesus as he entered Jerusalem. Hosanna means, “Please save us” which is a transliteration from Hebrew into Greek from Psalms 118:25. Join us for a powerful blend of celebration, reflection, and spiritual introspection, setting the stage for the profound events of Holy Week.

Maundy Thursday (from the Latin, mandatum, meaning “commandment” as found in John 13:34) serves with Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday as one continuous service commemorating the passion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As the service is continuous, there is no benediction pronounced until Easter. Clergy stoles signify the servant towel worn by Christ as he washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. Red reminds us of the blood of Christ shed for our sin. As the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus Christ is read from John 17, the church will be “stripped” to signify Christ moving from the Passover meal toward Calvary where, as the Lamb. of God, he takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29) The crown of thorns recalls Christ’s trial and crucifixion. The bare church is designed to remind us of the grave into which Christ descended on Good Friday. Most portions of this service are adapted from John Calvin’s 1542 Geneva order of worship for Holy Communion. John Calvin (1509–1564) was a French theologian, church reformer and pastor, whom Protestant churches in the Reformed tradition (such as Triangle Grace Church) regard as a major formulator of their beliefs. Other portions of this service are derived from Reformed practices over the centuries. Come and join us in worship and around the Table. All are welcome!

April 18, 2025 | 7:00PM

Childcare provided

Good Friday serves, with Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday, as one continuous service commemorating the most holy passion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no benediction pronounced until Easter. The word “Tenebrae” is Latin for “shadows” or “darkness,” recalling the apparent triumph of darkness on Good Friday and Matthew’s reference to the increasing darkness that covered the earth as Jesus hung on the cross. During the service, the sanctuary will progressively darken. As an act of solemnity, the congregation remains seated for the service. The seven candles signify the seven last words of Christ and are extinguished to symbolize the sacrificial death of Jesus for our sins.

The light returns with Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning and is symbolized with the Christ candle, the last to be extinguished.

On Easter we conclude our Holy Week celebration of Christ’s passion and resurrection entering a sanctuary filled with life.

The banners preceding the choir lead a triumphant procession of God’s people restoring the sanctuary from its stripped state at the end of Maundy Thursday to a meeting house filled with glory manifesting greater beauty than was previously experienced even before Holy Week began.

Song selections throughout the service emphasize the victory and life given to us by Jesus Christ. The diverse fauna suggests a restoration of God’s people to an escalated Garden of Eden as Adam and Eve’s failure has been overcome by Christ’s death and resurrection.

His eternal Word once again rests at the center of our corporate experience as the Bible is returned to the pulpit.

Ministers’ white stoles represent the cleansing of sin, and the lit candles which had been extinguished on Good Friday teach that in the end, darkness could not overcome the Light of the World.

Come & Join us for our Easter Services! It promises to be triumphant services of music, color, and celebration. Invite a friend to join you!