The COVID-19 pandemic has presented our world with challenges that we never expected. While many of us have been relatively lucky – staying healthy, able to work from home – many others have been in the midst of a frightening crisis. But whether the quarantines and illness have left us devastated or merely a little bored, it has been an adjustment for everyone to figure out how to go about our daily lives as businesses are shutting down or limiting services. One such shut down has been area churches. The great majority have closed their doors and started streaming their services to various platforms – and as we approach Holy Week, St. Augustine’s Trinity Parish is getting ready to celebrate in the middle of chaos.
Trinity Parish’s Holy Week celebrations will take place from Palm Sunday on April 5 to Easter Sunday on April 12. There will be nightly services at 7pm hosted by eight different churches within the diocese and shared via Facebook Live and YouTube so that anyone with a desire to celebrate can join in. You can tune into any of the services through Trinity’s Facebook page. In addition to the services, Trinity streams a Wednesday evening Bible study and a 5-minute “On the Porch with the Padre” on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 10:30am. They also hosted a social distancing-friendly Palm Sunday Procession, where parishioners drove their cars past the church in a parade.
The services will stretch across the diocese, over to Tallahassee and down to Palm Coast. Encompassing cities like Jacksonville and Gainesville as well as our own, the diocese has around 25,000 parishioners (with 1500 between Trinity and its sister church, St. Cyprian’s, in Lincolnville).
Lead pastor, Reverend Matt Marino, feels that the services are a chance for local adherents to remember God’s work on their behalf and in that remembering, they will find hope, a desire to serve, and a connection to one another. Especially in a week as significant to Christianity as Holy Week, it can be easy to feel disconnected and like you’re missing out by only being able to attend an online service – but Father Matt encourages faith. “Stay connected to your church community (from your home). Stay connected to God in your own home,” he says. “The church has always been at its best in the middle of chaos and turmoil. Much of what we take for granted as ‘civilization’ (care for abandoned children in Rome, hospitals in plague-infested Europe, the university system recovering learning after barbarian invasions) were actually responses of the church to crisis. God will redeem this crisis as well. Who knows what wonderful thing will result from this horrible virus? But God knows, and we believe it will be fantastic. Until then we continue to pray Psalm 27: 13-14, ‘I know that I will live to see the Lord’s goodness in this present life. Trust in the Lord. Have faith, do not despair. Trust in the Lord.'”
SCHEDULE OF SERVICES
PALM SUNDAY
April 5 at 7pm
Jesus enters Jerusalem
St. John’s Tallahassee
www.saint-john.org/live
HOLY MONDAY
April 6 at 7pm
Jesus takes on authority
All Saints’ Jacksonville
www.allsaintsjax.org
HOLY TUESDAY
April 7 at 7pm
Jesus’ last teaching
St. John’s Cathedral
www.jaxcathedral.org/st-johns-live
HOLY WEDNESDAY
April 8 at 7pm
Jesus abandoned
Trinity St. Augustine
www.trinitysta.org/digital-worship/
MAUNDY THURSDAY
April 9 at 7pm
Last Supper
Holy Comforter Tallahassee
www.hc-ec.org
GOOD FRIDAY – NOON
April 10 at 12pm
The Cross: What?
San Jose Jacksonville
www.sanjoseepiscopal.com
GOOD FRIDAY
April 10 at 7pm
The Cross: Why?
St. Mark’s Ortega
www.stmarksjacksonville.org/virtual-worship
HOLY SATURDAY
April 11
No observance/Jesus in the Tomb
EASTER SUNDAY
April 12 at 7am
The Great Vigil of Easter
A New Dawn Breaks
Christ Church Ponte Vedra Beach
www.christepiscopalchurch.org/easter
HE IS RISEN!
April 12 at 10am
Jesus wins
Bishop Howard from St. John’s Cathedral
www.jaxcathedral.org/st-johns-live
Learn more about the Holy Week celebration by visiting www.holyweektogether.com. Join Trinity Parish in Easter celebration by visiting their Facebook page. Featured image by Mark Cubbedge.