Minnesota Church Mounts Holy Week Walk-through Event

Pease (Minn.) Christian Reformed Church, a congregation founded in 1895, has typically marked the week leading up to Easter with traditional observances including palm branches for children on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday commemoration, and a Good Friday service. This year, inspired by a suggestion for GEMS Girls Clubs leaders, the church’s ministry coordinator Carrie Luckhurst helped to create a go-at-your-own-pace walk-through experience that took participants through the biblical moments of Christ’s Passion.

Luckhurst said she saw a condensed version of what became “A Walk Through Holy Week” on a GEMS Club coordinator page. Wondering what the idea would look like in a church setting, Luckhurst enlisted the help of fellow Pease CRC member Trudy Ash, a former worship coordinator at the church. Together, they came up with eight stations where participants revisited moments of Passion Week, including Jesus in the marketplace, Jesus being anointed by Mary with perfume, Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus at the cross.

In the Garden of Gethsemane station, the place where Jesus had asked his disciples to pray, participants were invited to pray in several ways: by reading a prayer, praying silently, and also writing a prayer. At the next station, they had the opportunity to leave their written prayer at the foot of the cross.

Set up by Ash, Luckhurst, and some other volunteers, the stations were available for participants to visit over a period of two days, Thursday and Friday before Easter. Luckhurst said they had 170 participants go through the stations, including “many (who) were not members or attendees of our congregation.” Ash said she heard participants share their experiences with others, and realizing they’d missed things in their first walk-through, attended again.

Luckhurst said, “Walking through from start to finish, it was so impactful and really made you put yourself in the story and consider how much Jesus went through in his final days.” Pease CRC intends to remount the Walk Through Holy Week in 2025.