What is a Vigil?
To be on a vigil is to be wakeful for a purpose. To the ancient Romans, that could be to stand guard, spy on the activities of a possible enemy, or prepare for a holy occasion. Originally, the desire to take part in the holy occasion is so strong that you can’t wait for it to happen, which means you’re so full of determination that waiting and getting ready is all you can do, to the neglect of sleep or food. You don’t want to miss a second of it, you want to be there even for the preludes or the first sunbeams.

Many congregations, following their Maundy Thursday liturgy hold a vigil, a watch until the start of the Good Friday Service. This can occur at the church or in people’s homes.  This sign up is to vigil at our Chapel.  It is a time of no talking, the lights of the chapel interior will be dimmed.

The Words of Jesus
Whatever vehicle is chosen to focus our prayer, the Gethsemane watch presents us with a superb opportunity to teach faithfulness in prayer and discipleship. “Could you not keep awake one hour?” were the words of Jesus in reproach to his hapless followers in the first Gethsemane.

The Altar of Repose
Our ‘altar of repose,’ will be set up in the Chapel.  We are intentionally moving from the main sanctuary, where the Maundy Thursday sacred meal had just been celebrated to recapture a sense of the journey by the disciples from the upper room to the place called Gethesemane.

The simple altar of the chapel will form the centerpiece of the ‘garden,’ on which a cloth (corporal) will be spread, with enough candles on either side to produce light with simplicity. On the cloth are placed the ‘reserved sacrament’ to be used at the Good Friday service (at the Good Friday Service all of our reserved sacrament will be consumed. There is no Eucharist available after Good Friday until Jesus rises again from the grave on Easter Sunday.