We declare our 350th Anniversary a Year of Jubilee. In our sacred texts, every 49th year the ram’s horn was sounded to signal the occasion of the Jubilee: a time of penitence, social transformation, and daring acts of ethical imagination (the release of prisoners, forgiveness of debts, redistribution of land, and relief to the poor).
This Lent, in worship and education, we undertake a season of reckoning concerning matters that haunt the world and for which white Christianity bears much shame and blame: white supremacy, patriarchy, exceptionalism, and climate change. Together we ponder the question posed by our sacred texts: whether economic power and disparities can be disrupted for the sake of God’s creation, its creatures and peoples.
March 7 & 10: Introduction & Theological Grounding
- Rev. John Edgerton preaching
- Community Hour led by Christians in Formation
March 14 & 17: White Supremacy: America’s Original Sin
- Rev. Nancy Taylor preaching
- Community Hour led by (G)RACE Speaks
March 21 & 24: Exceptionalism
- Rev. Katherine Schofield preaching
- Community Hour led by Christian Service & Outreach
March 28 & 31: Fouling our Common Home, God’s Creation
- Rev. June Cooper preaching
- Community Hour led by the Climate Change Task Force
April 4 & 7: Women, Gender, Patriarchy
- Rev. Nancy Taylor preaching
- Community Hour led by Christians in Formation
HOLY WEEK 2019
Palm Sunday and Blessing of the Athletes: April 14th, identical services at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Celebrate Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem and the start of Holy Week with Old South Church’s exuberant parade and the waving of palms. This year, Palm Sunday falls a day before the Boston Marathon. Hundreds of marathoners will join us for worship as we ask God to bless them, and pray that they may “run and not grow weary, walk and not faint” (in the words of the prophet Isaiah).
Maundy Thursday: April 18th at 6 p.m.
We tell again the story of the Last Supper and of the night Jesus was betrayed. Our full choir will join the Willie Sordillo Jazz ensemble for a unique blend of ancient and contemporary. Please note, there is a single service this year, in the Sanctuary.
Good Friday: April 19th, services at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m.
12 p.m.: A brief, contemplative service with communion, hymns, and organ accompaniment.
6 p.m.: With improvisational Jazz and chants from the Taize style, we will experience anew the most somber story in the Christian faith.
Easter Sunday: April 21st, identical services at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
The triumph of the Christian story of resurrection informs a service of worship that is characterized by thunderous celebration. Trumpet and organ, voice and timpani combine to bring us to the empty tomb, to peer inside, to see it is empty, and to give God wild thanksgiving for the hope of everlasting life.