7 p.m. in the Sanctuary
Service of Tenebrae, or Darkness, is based on a twelfth-century late night/early morning service and is an extended meditation on the passion of Christ. The ancient practice of stripping the Lord’s table and sanctuary following communion is a vivid and dramatic way of showing the desolation and abandonment of the long night in Gethsemane and what followed. The Sanctuary will be stripped of all decorations and symbols and the Sanctuary gets darker and darker.. The church then remains bare until the Easter Sunday, when the process is reversed and the celebration begins.