Holy Week at TGC

February 18, 2026 | 7:00PM

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 service, which will be held on February 18 at 7pm in the Sanctuary, opens the way for the season of Lent. We will introduce a meaningful experience of worship as we celebrate communion, confess sin over extended prayer, worship through song and are marked with a reminder of our need for Christ as a cross of ashes is placed on our foreheads. Dinner will not be served this year. Childcare will be offered.

Sundays at 9:00AM beginning February 22, 2026

ABIDE

Simple Practices for a Deeper Faith

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

- 1 Timothy 4:8

Abide is a six-week spiritual formation experience designed to help believers cultivate a deeper, more intentional life with God through the practice of spiritual disciplines during the season of Lent. Beginning on February 22, this holistic study invites participants to slow down and create space for God’s transforming work through Scripture, prayer, fasting, worship, service, and rest. Through weekly small groups, daily devotionals, and gentle, practical invitations to engage each discipline, Abide will emphasize formation over performance and relationship over routine. Rooted in Jesus’ call to “abide in me,” this course will offer a gracious, sustainable rhythm for growing in faith, attentiveness, and obedience as we learn to live connected to Christ in everyday life. Invite a friend to join you on this journey!

March 29, 2026 | 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 3, 2026 | 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.

One of our great Easter traditions is the flowering of the cross. People bring and place colorful fresh flowers on a drab wooden cross in the Narthex. What’s behind this? Is it just a pretty decoration? Well, it does look beautiful but there are also some beautiful traditions and meanings associated with the flowering of the cross. The point is that the cross of Christ is the new tree of life and every cross now flowers with new life. Death has been defeated and Christ is risen. Alleluia!

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!