In our church we had the Maundy Thursday evening Eucharist (with handwashing) 7:30-9pm, followed by a 1 hour vigil, after which we (the Choir) sang Compline. Nice end to the day.
Good Friday there is a children's service in the morning (with hot cross buns), and then we have the Good Friday Liturgy/Service of the Cross, 1:30pm-3pm. We usually sing Stainer's "God so loved the world", and some Bach chorales. This year we sang Archer's "My Song is Love Unknown", with my eldest son doing the first verse solo
Tonight (Saturday) we have our Easter Vigil service, which I totally love. First half is solomn, where we remember our Lord's sufferring, the lights go out, and the Choir sings Allegri's "Miserere Mei" - my son and I get to do the Sop 2 and Alto in the
Concertina quartet - we process to the Baptistry, then the priest lights a fire in the font, and all the candles are lit from it as we renew our Baptismal vows. We process back to the choir, and after the Gospel reading of the resurrection we celebrate by ringing handbells that everyone has brought with them, and the organ sounds really loudly - it's such a joyful occasion - and we sing the first Gloria of Easter.
After the service we always have a Parish party, with Simnel cake!
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes