Maundy Thursday 2026
MAUNDY THURSDAY
Community Communion Service
Thursday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Area churches and choirs come together for a community communion Maundy Thursday service at Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Jesus.”
Holy Week 2023
PALM SUNDAY: Worship Service Sunday, April 2 at 10:30 a.m. including a palm processional. Church followed by a picnic in the park hosted by the deacons.
MAUNDY THURSDAY: Community Communion Service Thursday, April 6 at 7:00 p.m.
GOOD FRIDAY: Service of Tenebrae Friday, April 7 at 7:00 p.m. Somber service of readings of the Seven Last Words of Christ with hymns and musical meditations
EASTER EGG HUNT: Community Easter Egg Hunt in the park* Saturday, April 8 at 9:30 a.m.
*event will be moved inside if the weather should not cooperate
EASTER SUNDAY: Festival Communion Service Sunday, April 9 at 10:30 a.m. Service of the Resurrection
ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING – For more than 70 years, this special offering has connected us in God’s healing, tending, and growing to create a world where all needs are met. One Great Hour of Sharing currently supports projects in more than 100 countries. Please give generously toward the special offering to help make a difference around the world.
Loving God, in a world that sometimes doesn’t make sense to us, open our hearts to receive your care and your joy. Amen.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”
Easter Sunday 2022
Find all Holy Week services here.
EASTER SUNDAY
Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022 livestream for 10:30 a.m. worship at Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston. Enjoy the festive service with trumpet and guest tenor soloist Dr. Robert Taylor singing Five Mystical Songs (#1,2,5) by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Prelude: Trumpet Tune (Jeremy Bankson) and Trumpet Tune (Scott Hyslop), trumpet: Grant Cordé
Choral Introit: “Easter” (Ralph Vaughan Williams), soloist: Dr. Robert Taylor
Hymn: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today! #232
Offertory Anthem: “I Got Me Flowers” (R. Vaughan Williams), soloist: Dr. Robert Taylor
Scripture: Mark 16:1-8
Sermon: "Step Up, Sign On, Sign In," Rev. Cress Darwin
Closing Hymn: Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna! #248
Choral Response/Postlude: “Antiphon” (R. Vaughan Williams)
WE WELCOME OUR GUEST MUSICIANS:
Dr. Robert Taylor, tenor soloist, is Director of Choral Activities at the College of Charleston, Founding Artistic Director and President of the Taylor Festival Choir (TFC) and Taylor Music Group (TMG), and the Director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Singers.
Grant Cordé, trumpet, is a high school freshman and studies trumpet with Sue Messersmith.
Will Royall, tenor, graduated from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. He sings with the Charleston Men’s Chorus, Opera Charleston and Taylor Festival Choir. He is store manager for Royall Ace Hardware in Mt. Pleasant.
Notes on FIVE MYSTICAL SONGS (#1,2, & 5)
by Dr. Julia Harlow
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), one of the most important English composers of the 20th century, wrote symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music and film scores. He was also an avid collector of English folk music and composed or arranged many congregational hymn tunes (including 22 in our present hymnal, Glory to God). Vaughan Williams composed the Five Mystical Songs between 1906 and 1911 and conducted the première in September of 1911. They are settings of poems by George Herbert, from his 1633 collection The Temple: Sacred Poems. All five of the Mystical Songs will be presented by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on April 28th and 29th at the Gaillard Auditorium.
George Herbert (1593-1633) was a Welsh-born English poet. He was born into a wealthy, aristocratic family; his father was Earl of Pembroke. George was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and later served in Parliament. Having become disillusioned with a career in politics, in his late thirties he became a priest in the Church of England, and was rector of a small church near Salisbury. However, this quiet existence was short-lived as he died of tuberculosis only four years later. In 1633 Herbert finished a collection of poems entitled The Temple, which imitates the architectural style of churches through both the meaning of the words and their visual layout. The themes of God and Love are treated by Herbert as much as psychological forces as metaphysical phenomena. On his deathbed Herbert reportedly gave the manuscript of The Temple to a friend, telling him to “publish the poems if he thought they might ‘turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul’, or otherwise, to burn them.” Fortunately, he did not burn them and they were published later that year.
There are many metaphors for Christ that have appeared throughout history, such as The Great Physician. In Easter, Herbert also presents the image of Christ as Master Musician. He draws a parallel of the lute’s strings (made of gut) and wood, to the “stretched sinews” of Christ’s body and the wood of the cross. The imperfect, struggling music of Herbert’s lute contrasts with the perfect resonance of Christ’s music in his sacrifice. In the last stanza, “all musick is but three parts vied and multiplied” refers to the triad as the foundational sonority for music (at least in Herbert’s time it was), and is also a Trinitarian reference. Herbert’s reference to “heart and lute” is also a personal one, as he was a fine lutenist and singer.
I Got Me Flowers is actually the second part of the poem Easter, above. The imagery of the first stanza makes reference to the strewing of flowers and palm branches before Christ on Palm Sunday, then the arrival of the women at the tomb with sweet ointments. In the second stanza the Sun and the East, the origin of those sweet perfumes, provide no contest with the miracle of the Resurrection. In the third stanza, though “we count three hundred” (365) days in a year, we miss the mark. There is only one day that matters, Easter Day, and that forever. In this lyrical song the choir only hums accompaniment to the soloist for the last part, then loudly joins in proclaiming the text of the final line.
Antiphon is often performed alone as a choral anthem and its exuberant joy is the climax of today’s Easter celebration. The accompaniment uses scales and parallel fourths in joyous cascade, evoking bells and change ringing. The text, “Let All the World in Every Corner Sing” was set to a new hymn composed in 1964 by American composer Erik Routley and is in our hymnal, Glory to God, #636. One example of Vaughan-Williams’ musical illustration of the text can be heard at the end of the second stanza, when the tempo slows and the notes prolong “But above all, the heart must bear the longest part.” An ‘antiphon’ is a recurring musical theme, a section of melody, which, by means of several reappearances, serves to bind the diverse sections of a piece into a cohesive whole. The “antiphon” in this piece is the music that accompanies “Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King!” Please sit and enjoy this, today’s postlude.
SPECIAL OFFERING
Europe is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. The United Nations estimates up to 18 million people will eventually be impacted. Your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing allow for an immediate response from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) when emergencies first occur, often responding to crises that never make it into the news.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”
Good Friday 2022
Find all Holy Week services here.
GOOD FRIDAY
Service of Tenebrae: Seven Last Words
Friday, April 15 at 7:00 p.m.
Prelude: “And Can It Be” (Dan Forrest, 2014), guest musician: Elise Pickford
Hymn: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross #223
Reading 1: Luke 23:24
Anthem: “Wondrous Love” arr. Christiansen, soloist: Clarissa Rider
Reading 2: Luke 23:43
Anthem: "Jesus, Remember Me" (Taizé chant)
Reading 3: Mark 19:26
Anthem: "Jesu, Word of God Incarnate” (Mozart)
Reading 4: Mark 15:34
Hymn: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded #221
Reading 5: John 19:28
Anthem: “Christ, We Do All Adore Thee” (Th. Dubois)
Reading 6: John 19:30
Anthem: “God So Loved the World” John Stainer
Reading 7: Luke 23:46
Hymn: Were You There?
SPECIAL OFFERING
Europe is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. The United Nations estimates up to 18 million people will eventually be impacted. Your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing allow for an immediate response from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) when emergencies first occur, often responding to crises that never make it into the news.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”
Maundy Thursday 2022
Find all Holy Week services here.
MAUNDY THURSDAY
Community Communion Service
Thursday, April 14 at 7:00 p.m.
Area churches and choirs come together for a community communion Maundy Thursday service at Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston. Rev. Dr. Sidney Davis of Zion-Olivet Presbyterian will preach and the New Tabernacle Fourth Baptist and Second Presbyterian choirs will sing. Rev. Dwight Hudson (New Tabernacle Fourth Baptist) and Rev. David Washington (Old Bethel United Methodist) will participate in the service and Rev. Darwin will officiate at communion.
Hymn of Praise: I Love the Lord, Who Heard My Cry #799, soloist: Joel Dettweiler
Invocation: Rev. Hudson
Offertory Anthem: "Wondrous Love” arr. Christiansen, soloist: Clarissa Rider
Scripture: Matthew 26:6-13
Sermon: “She Showed Him Compassion”, Rev. Sidney Davis
Communion Hymn: An Upper Room #202
Circle of Atonement
Benediction: Rev. Darwin
SPECIAL OFFERING
The Maundy Thursday Special Offering was received for Star Gospel Mission, Charleston’s oldest Christian charity.
Their mission is to transform lives through Jesus Christ by compassionately providing resources for people experiencing hardships. Each year, donors and volunteers help the mission serve hundreds of men facing homelessness as well as several hundred lowcountry families needing assistance with utilities, food, and other urgent household needs. Give here.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”
Palm Sunday 2022
Find all Holy Week services here.
PALM SUNDAY
Worship Service from Palm Sunday, April 10 at 10:30 a.m.
SPECIAL OFFERING
Europe is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. The United Nations estimates up to 18 million people will eventually be impacted. Your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing allow for an immediate response from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) when emergencies first occur, often responding to crises that never make it into the news.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”
Easter Sunday 2021
Find all Holy Week services here.
EASTER SUNDAY
Festival Communion Service Sunday, April 4 at 10:30 a.m.
Easter is a time when we have enjoyed record participation in our Sunday service as well as our highest giving during the offering. Please consider giving cheerfully and generously this joyous season, whether in person, online, or by mail. Download the service bulletin here.
Easter Sermon:
Easter is a time when we have enjoyed record participation in our Sunday service as well as our highest giving during the offering. Please consider giving cheerfully and generously this joyous season, whether in person, online, or by mail.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”
Good Friday 2021
Find all Holy Week services here.
GOOD FRIDAY
Service of Tenebrae: Seven Last Words
Friday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Easter is a time when we have enjoyed record participation in our Sunday service as well as our highest giving during the offering. Please consider giving cheerfully and generously this joyous season, whether in person, online, or by mail.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”
Maundy Thursday 2021
Find all Holy Week services here.
MAUNDY THURSDAY
Communion Service Thursday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m.
“What Love Looks Like -Bellies Full & Feet Clean”
John 13:33-35
Easter is a time when we have enjoyed record participation in our Sunday service as well as our highest giving during the offering. Please consider giving cheerfully and generously this joyous season, whether in person, online, or by mail.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”
Palm Sunday 2021
Find all Holy Week services here.
PALM SUNDAY
Virtual Palm Processional
Palm Sunday sermon: “The Beginning of the End”
Livestreamed Worship Service from Palm Sunday, March 28 at 10:30 a.m.
Easter is a time when we have enjoyed record participation in our Sunday service as well as our highest giving during the offering. Please consider giving cheerfully and generously this joyous season, whether in person, online, or by mail.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”
Holy Week 2021
Our usual Holy Week services will be offered in the sanctuary masked and socially distanced and also livestreamed. Join us as we journey to the cross together for services on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.
PALM SUNDAY: Worship Service Sunday, March 28 at 10:30 a.m. Watch the virtual palm processional here. Thanks to everyone who sent in photos and videos.
MAUNDY THURSDAY: Communion Service Thursday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m.
GOOD FRIDAY: Service of Tenebrae Friday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m.
EASTER: Festival Communion Service Sunday, April 4 at 10:30 a.m.
Easter is a time when we have enjoyed record participation in our Sunday service as well as our highest giving during the offering. Please consider giving cheerfully and generously this joyous season, whether in person, online, or by mail.
“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”
Easter Sunday Festival Service Online
Stripped of traditions and rituals, this Easter service may remind us that the promise at the heart of the gospel is that God is both with us and for us at all times and through all conditions. In sorrow or joy triumph of tragedy, in gain our loss, in peace or fear, in scarcity or plenty, in sickness or in health. God is present. And because of Christ’s love, all harsh realities of this life do not have the last word. God’s light is more powerful than darkness. God’s love is stronger than hate. God prevails over all things- even death. So this day, even this day, we may rejoice because Christ is risen!
He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
The sermon and children’s sermon videos are posted below.
Pastor Cress Darwin delivers a message for Easter Sunday 2020.
Stay home, stay healthy and let’s flatten the curve! Sermon videos will be posted online for 10:30 a.m. on Sundays as we worship together from home.
Sarah Craven delivers a children’s message for Easter Sunday 2020.
SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, April 12, 2020
Dr. Bill Brown of Columbia Seminary sent a lovely commentary on these times – “The Life-giving Emptiness of Easter.” The truth is that the narrative we celebrate today, and on which we hang our very lives, “began with an ‘empty tomb’ and three fearful women – a tomb emptied of death.”
Brown reminds us that we’ve shuttered our sacred spaces “not in despair, but in testimony that lives are being saved in doing so.”
We are not abandoning the gospel, but bearing witness to the fact that Christ is not constricted nor contained within the walls, but lives in the hearts of believers. And Christ calls us to join him in meeting folks where they are.
In Christ -
For over 70 years, One Great Hour of Sharing has provided Presbyterians a way to share God’s love with our neighbors in need around the world. The three programs supported by One Great Hour of Sharing - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Self-Development of People - all work in different ways to serve individuals and communities in need. From initial disaster response to ongoing community development, their work fits together to provide people with safety, sustenance, and hope.
Our session has approved the time for our congregation's giving to this offering to be during Holy Week. You can mail to the church a check marked 'OGHS' or you can go online and click on 'Give' and choose "One Great Hour".
Source: sermons
Holy Week: Easter Saturday
HOLY WEEK AT HOME
In an act of faith and solidarity, we are called to spend Holy Week without the usual presence of one another. Each day throughout this week, though, we can continue to come together in spirit with these daily devotionals as we are called to gather, reflect, pray, and act.As always, reach out! To each other, to your neighbors and friends. Gather your family around the table for a time of reflection or join with others on FaceTime or Zoom to do the same. Allow this experience to transform you in Christ and embolden you to express the love of God in new ways in this new time. While we are, in fact, all in this together, we specifically come together in manifest spirit to gather, reflect, pray, and act, as led by Christ.
GATHER
Have a member of your household lead or, if alone, read it as a silent meditation. If you connect via social media, have two or three people share the reading.
LEADER: The season of Lent can be barren and lonely,
ALL: but God goes with us through the wild wilderness.
LEADER: Our lives are lived in seasons of transitions and transformations.
ALL: Lent is a time to ponder God's providence and persistence.
LEADER: Together, we seek fruitfulness, for it has been promised to us;
ALL: the barrenness of Lent will give way to the fruitfulness of Easter.
LEADER: In this season of penitence and pondering, let us gather before God.
ALL: We come, as a family, to wait for the Lord with strength and courage.
inspired by Luke 13:6-9
REFLECT
Read the scripture below as a silent meditation, have a member of your household read aloud, or have two or three people share the reading.
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40 NIV
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28:19 ESV
PRAY
Holy Saturday has always been a strange day for me. The Messiah is in the grave, those who were closest to him where scattered, scared, and hiding. We know the ending, but they were stuck in the pain, in the darkness. Nowadays, however, in America, many community Easter egg hunts are held without much time and thought given to the actual day. I’m not saying we are doing it wrong, I’m just observing, but I can’t help but look at the similarities of this particular day and that first Holy Saturday. We are separated, many of us are scared and we don’t know the future. But, in fact, we do! The amazing thing about being a Christian is we know what is ahead. We know the ending.
Through scripture we are told that the narrow road is hard, there will be trials and tribulation… there is sickness, pain and hardship for those who follow. But then, we know that the King is to come again. We know the ending because it is written. John tells us, "But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” We read the book of Revelation and we know that our King is returning to take back the earth, to bring life and to crush death. We know that there is another Easter morning coming, we don’t need to be afraid because we walk with Christ.
So, as we observe another Holy Saturday, let us rejoice that we are not in the darkness, we know all the joy that is to come!!
Let us pray for those who do not know Jesus; those who are living in fear and don’t know the saving grace that is offered through Christ. Pray for those who are separated, scared and feel as though they are without hope. Pray that we all might be lights in the world, light that can shine into the hurt, into the pain, into the darkness.
ACT
Consider these ideas to extend acts of service, mercy, or grace to those around you and for your own well-being.
Find rays of hope in your days. It's not healthy to force yourself to feel happy or ignore difficult feelings and it's okay to feel a whole host of emotions, and Jesus meets you there. But, you can practice gratitude and find comfort by focusing on the good. We can go about our days, good or bad, with gratitude for the moments of beauty and comfort and light that can serve as a reminder that the sad times, the lonely days, the dark moments are a part of a cycle and there will be relief soon. Today is Easter Saturday, but Sunday's coming.
Join us for online church in the morning to celebrate Easter Sunday together at 10:30 a.m. Whether you choose to show up to watch in your Sunday best or your pajamas, find joy in it! We are glad we get to come together in spirit with you to celebrate the great joy and hope of Easter Sunday.
Enjoy the Virtual Easter Egg Hunt this afternoon by searching #onebasket2020 on Facebook or Instagram.
Holy Week: Silence
HOLY WEEK AT HOME
In an act of faith and solidarity, we are called to spend Holy Week without the usual presence of one another. Each day throughout this week, though, we can continue to come together in spirit with these daily devotionals as we are called to gather, reflect, pray, and act.As always, reach out! To each other, to your neighbors and friends. Gather your family around the table for a time of reflection or join with others on FaceTime or Zoom to do the same. Allow this experience to transform you in Christ and embolden you to express the love of God in new ways in this new time. While we are, in fact, all in this together, we specifically come together in manifest spirit to gather, reflect, pray, and act, as led by Christ.
GATHER
Have a member of your household lead or, if alone, read it as a silent meditation. If you connect via social media, have two or three people share the reading.
LEADER: On this day we gather to remember Jesus our Savior who loved us and gave himself for us. Let us draw near in full assurance of God's endless love and mercy.
ALL: We give our thanks and praise to Jesus Christ who carries our sorrows, heals our wounds, and redeems us from sin and death.
written by Marlene Kropf, in Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross: Good Friday Service
REFLECT
Read the scripture below as a silent meditation, have a member of your household read aloud, or have two or three people share the reading.
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:6 NIV
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Romans 8:26 NIV
PRAY
Silence. There is so little of it in these times. Children have been raised with so much noise around them that many feel more comfortable with music playing while they study because they can’t handle the quiet. We have added more and more noise and distraction into our lives that when we are placed in silence we tend to become uncomfortable.
I often think of Jesus during his 40 days in the desert. As a mom, the thought of 40 days of silence sounds miraculous, but could I really be silent? We all have things in our lives that pull at us and keep us from any form of silence. But, in reality, if we take more than a few minutes of silence, we start to stress and get anxious, left wandering through our thoughts certain that there must be something more that we have to get done.
Throughout scripture we are called to become silent in the presence of our God. It’s in the silence that we can really hear, can really sense, can really connect with our God. Scripture even tells us that if we are unable to pray in that silence the Holy Spirit will intercede in our prayers for us.
I think of Daniel, praying every day in secret. I think of Esther who was forced to keep her religion hidden and silent. And I think of Jesus who begged his disciples to be quiet and pray in the garden with Him. In the silence, in the still, we can connect on a deeper level than we could ever imagine
Pray that the Lord brings times of silence today. Time to reflect on the immeasurable sacrifice He made on the cross. And when we receive those times of silence may we stop, may we listen, and may we endure the silence for something more. Our world has had to slow down, take this time to slow down too. Press into the Lord. Pray for his path, His wisdom, His grace. Pray that you will be uplifted throughout this time and that silence may become more sacred to you.
ACT
Consider these ideas to extend acts of service, mercy, or grace to those around you and for your own well-being.
Are you slowing down enough to allow for growth and transformation? Make a time for meditation each day. Start with a deep breath.
Join us for the virtual Good Friday Tenebrae service tonight at 7:00 p.m. This somber Good Friday service is characterized by gradually diminishing light to symbolize the darkness of Jesus' death and the hopelessness in a world without God.
Gather seven candles today so that you can take part in the dimming light of the service this evening by extinguishing a candle at the end of each prayer.
Tag your #onebasket2020 photos for the Virtual Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow. Re-read the Easter story then post a picture that includes an Easter egg along with what Easter means to you and the hashtag. Tag #2ndpc too or email your picture to Jordyn to be included in the hunt.
NOTE: Make sure we can see your posts! An individual Facebook posts can be set to public. On Instagram, your account must be public for us to see your photo. And, as always, use discretion on social media and supervise your children as you would with any other time on the internet.