The Pathfinder: April 16th, 2025
The Holy Week Special
The Three Great Days
We invite you to All Souls Episcopal Parish in Berkeley this Holy Week, as we come together for the three sacred days that make up the Triduum. For centuries upon centuries, Christians have been gathering together to retrace these last steps of the Christ. And since we believe that these last three days cannot be separated one from another, we celebrate them all as one liturgy. You will notice that from Maundy Thursday through to the Great Vigil, there are no dismissals— only pauses until we gather again. From the intimate, humble service we offer each other on Maundy Thursday, to our time spent in contemplation at the foot of the Cross on Friday, to the new light piercing the darkness at the Feast of the Resurrection on Saturday, these days stand as one. It is our hope at All Souls that within these services, we will each be able to find that still space to enter in, be present, and find ourselves transformed.
– Phil+
Maundy Thursday
Thursday’s Agape Meal is one not to miss. It is a rare church meal that is not a potluck. Instead, we eat a family style meal of fruit and nuts, smoked salmon, kale and pasta salads, wine and sparkling juice and we truly feast together.
I especially enjoy this meal because I know my kids will eat it, being that there are lots of fruit and vegetables available, and because they can move around and sing the songs, and still be part of the service. In this meal we focus on the Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples and live into the spirit of that last meal.
But as we move from the meal to the Nave for the Maundy Thursday service, the air changes. I find that I start to inhabit the story we’re in—as we delicately wash each others’ feet, and the altar is stripped bare, and as we process down to the Chapel where we cram in together to sing and pray. Something about the heat in the chapel and the bodies so close together––death now looms in the room––it’s here that I know I’m in. And at that same moment a profound sadness is felt, which is finally relieved Saturday night, for me, with the pop of a champagne cork.
A reminder: Prayer Vigil sign ups are still open. In the Chapel, we will pray with the body and blood of Christ through the night, just as the disciples were instructed to do when Jesus went into the garden to pray. We will take turns holding vigil in hour-long shifts, from 9:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. (April 17th-18th). To sign up for a shift, add your name to this spreadsheet or talk to our Vestry chaplains, Jesse Kadjo, Sarah Bakker Kellogg, or Erin Horne.
– Emily Hansen Curran, Associate for Ministry Development
Good Friday
On Good Friday, I always feel something that slightly surprises me: suspense. I know the outcome of the story we’re enacting. I know that in just another day, we’ll celebrate the Resurrection, as we do every year. And yet in spite of this knowledge, I find myself entertaining another possible ending. What if this time, life doesn’t emerge on the other side of death? What if the darkness remains, and the light is not strong enough to emerge anew?
Good Friday invites us into a liminal space of risk and uncertainty. We come face to face with our human capacity for destruction, the fact that we— acting from fear, selfishness, anger, scarcity, love of power— have crucified Christ. And we stay there, longer than it feels comfortable, long enough that we have time to really ponder a world without God.
Amid that wondering, we practice reverence, adorning the cross in gratitude that Jesus suffered for us. We practice temporary absence, a barren and stripped altar. And in a noon-3p contemplative service, we hear stories our fellow community about betrayal, loss, shame, hope, and transformation as they reflect on the themes of the Passion in their own lives.
We invite you to enter into this waiting time, and to live into the question of the Resurrection, until together we enter the next phase of our story on Saturday night.
Join us in the Nave on Friday, April 18th from noon-3 for a drop-in contemplative service, and again in the Nave at 7:30p for a solemn liturgy.
– Emily+
Holy Week for Kids
The Triduum—the Three Great Days—has for centuries upon centuries been a time for Christians to gather and retrace the last steps of Christ.
From Maundy Thursday to Good Friday to Holy Saturday, we as a community at All Souls engage each year in profound and meaningful liturgies, many of which speak to children, but which are not always accessible to them either because of their timing or length.
We encourage kids to come to our Maundy Thursday agape feast: 6pm on Thursday the 17th (see above).
And, we especially invite children and families to our Holy Week for Kids service on Good Friday (April 18th) at 4pm.
Using the framework of Godly Play, this service offers a time to slow down and get ready as we encounter this holy story of the last time Jesus came to Jerusalem. We’ll sing, listen, and wonder aloud together. Then, we’ll take turns at different interactive stations: foot-washing, watercolors, and Stations of the Cross. No need to sign up - just come! This is specially designed for kids pre-K to 5th grade, but all ages are welcome.
– Emily+
Reconciliation
One quiet and powerful way to prepare for the coming of Easter is through the Rite of Reconciliation (sometimes known as Confession).
In the Episcopal Church, the Rite of Reconciliation is a sacred practice of naming our sins before God in the presence of a priest, receiving spiritual counsel, and hearing the words of absolution. It is never about shame; it is about release, healing, and reminding ourselves of the vast, unconditional grace and love of God. One way to think about “sin” is simply a state of separation – separation from your true self, your values, or the people you care about. Reconciliation is a way to restore relationship and closeness, and to examine what gets in the way.
The common motto for Reconciliation is "All may, some should, none must." In our Church, it is’t required, but rather offered as an open invitation for those who feel called. Information shared in Reconciliation is kept in the strictest confidence. Clergy will never share what you’ve shared, or approach you about it later, unless you give direct permission.
Phil+ and Emily+ will both be offering times for Reconciliation on Good Friday in the Chapel:
10:00-11:00 - Emily
3:30-4:30 - Phil
No need to sign up; enter through the glass doors by the chapel and wait in the hallway. We’ll call you in turns.
– Emily+
Saison of Hope
Don’t miss the Easter brew from the Ale Souls brew makers! A few cans will be available on Holy Saturday at the Vigil.
This season’s brew is a Saison (French, "season," French pronunciation: [sɛzɔ̃]) which is a pale-colored ale that is highly carbonated, dry, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned.[1][2] It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high levels of alcohol. Along with several other varieties, it is generally classified as a farmhouse ale.
– Ale Souls
Holy Saturday
In the language of our Godly Play stories, Holy Saturday is the day when all of Creation holds its breath. Our day begins with a simple, spare service with readings and a short reflection in the Chapel of the Nativity at 9:30am. Then the day is spent in preparation, for what will unfold that night with the Easter Vigil and into the next day for Easter Sunday.
My first experience with an Easter Vigil happened almost twenty years ago this month. I was in my first year as a priest, serving as an Associate Rector in a church that at the time did not practice the Easter Vigil. So I reached out to a friend and colleague who served at St. Gregory of Nyssa in San Francisco to see if I could be part of their Vigil.
I had never been part of an Easter Vigil––sunrise services and Easter Sundays with brass and flowers, yes, but not a Vigil. Many of those Easter morning services were beautiful and moving. But I think that I understood the resurrection of the Christ in an embodied, fundamentally different way that first Vigil 20 years ago. There is something about telling story after story after story from the arc of salvation, hearing poems and midrash in response, singing to the saints to “Come, rejoice with us!”, entering into the Easter proclamation, and the Resurrection Gospel and Communion anew that is profound and often brings me to tears.
If you have yet to experience an Easter Vigil be sure to dress warmly, as the first part of the service is outside in the courtyard. Come rejoice with us, starting at 8p this Saturday, April 19th!
Join us on Saturday in the Chapel at 9:30a, and the courtyard at 8p.
Note: The Easter Vigil service will include incense.
– Phil+
Easter Sunday
He is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
As one of the most anticipated and exciting celebrations of the entire Church year, Easter fills us and thrills us with the ultimate triumph.
I imagine the actual Easter day was much different - women in mourning going to visit Jesus’ tomb while the disciples were hiding out in a locked room, terrified of what the future might hold. No trumpets, no timpani, no pipe organ, no choir, no children with baskets of Easter eggs.
But maybe some of the things we experience on Easter today were also true then - Although it seemed like all hope was lost, Jesus’ followers gathered together and found strength in each other. They retold the stories of when Jesus walked among them and shared a meal. When the women returned from the empty tomb, the disciples believed them and rushed to tell their friends.
As the church fills with our friends, families, and visitors at two Easter Sunday services: 9:00 am and 11:15 am - or even as children run around gleefully at the Parish Easter Egg hunt at 10:150 am - remember the joy of community, the bursting forth of new life, and the miracle of the Resurrection!
Note: The 11:15 service will include incense.
– Matt Wolka, Associate for Music
Holy Week 2025 Schedule
Here is the full schedule for the week. Live-streamed services are indicated with *.
Maundy Thursday
6p Agape Meal, featuring feasting, prayer and song.
7:30p Eucharist, with the Washing of Feet, Stripping of the Altar, and Procession to the Altar of Repose*
9p-9a Overnight vigil (April 17th-18th)
Good Friday
10-11a Drop-In Rite of Reconciliation with the Rev. Emily B, in the Chapel. Enter through the glass doors next to the Chapel of the Nativity, and wait in the chairs in the hall
12-3 Contemplative Service (with poetry, silence, song, and prayers)
3:30-4:30p Drop-In Rite of Reconciliation with the Rev. Phil, in the Chapel. Enter through the glass doors next to the Chapel of the Nativity, and wait in the chairs in the hall
4-5p Holy Week for Kids (interactive service with prayer stations)
7:30p Good Friday Liturgy with reading of the Passion Gospel, and Veneration of the Cross*
Holy Saturday
9:30a Holy Saturday liturgy
8p The Great Vigil of Easter, with lighting of the New Fire, and the First Eucharist of Easter* (don’t forget to bring your bells!)
Easter Sunday
9:00a Sung Eucharist
10:15a Easter egg hunt for children, 5th grade and younger
11:15a Sung Eucharist
Note: There will be no 8a Chapel service on Easter Sunday. Reading Between the Lines Bible Study will be taking place at 8am.
– The All Souls Staff
Watch this video for a preview of the sounds and sights of Holy Week. We hope to see you here!
