Rev. Heidi Heath

Holy Week Resources on Antisemitism

The NH Council of Churches is committed to undoing antisemitism and standing with our Jewish neighbors in love. Last year, the Council supported SB727, which required Holocaust and genocide education in our schools. The Council named a clergy representative to the Governor’s committee which will implement the bill. At the end of 2020, many denominational representatives wrote a letter following several antisemitic attacks:

“When others threaten the well-being of Jews, the well-being of Christians is also threatened. In the spirit of our shared well-being, we encourage all our congregations to express love, support and solidarity with their Jewish neighbors in their words and actions.”

In this spirit, we host the materials below to support churches in their observance of Holy Week and especially Good Friday. Historically, Holy Week has been a time when Christian misuse of their own Scriptures and traditions led to violent attacks on Jews. To this day, Holy Week remains a tense time for the Jewish community in anticipation of antisemitic attacks.

Because of this, we offer the resources below with worship resources, articles and books for churches to shape their own Holy Week observances. All of them are created with a spirit of eliminating antisemitism in Christian observances. While much work remains to be done, this is a step toward the “love, support and solidarity” that our denominational leaders expressed last year.

Do you have resources to share? Email info@nhchurches.org to let us know and we can post them!

Churches Uniting in Christ has also share these teaching and preaching resources for Lent and Easter.

Episcopal Church

  • Good Friday liturgy: This is a proposed alternate rite to the Good Friday liturgy found in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church. Feedback on this proposal may be sent to the Rev. Dr. Dan Joslyn-Siemiatkoski of Seminary of the Southwest at dan.joslyn-siemiatkoski@ssw.edu.
  • Passion Gospel Annotated: Translation with illustrative notes of John 18-19 by the Rev. Dr. Jane L. Patterson of Seminary of the Southwest. This can be used during the Good Friday liturgy above or as a resource for preaching on the day.

United Church of Christ