RHEINGAU – video devotions, church services online, celebrating dinner together at home, Easter candles that are put on the doorstep, cards, greetings and impulses: The parishes offer a variety of analogue and digital ideas for the Easter days. Easter takes place – just different.
In all churches of the Catholic parish of Heilig Kreuz Rheingau, blessed palm branches are available to take away. On Good Friday, April 10th, the cross will be in the chancel for worship, and flowers can be placed in front of it. As of Easter Sunday, April 12, the consecrated Easter candle will be lit as a sign of hope. Consecrated small Easter candles and Easter pictures can be taken for a donation. All Easter and Easter services are broadcast on the diocese website http://www.bistum limburg.de. Also, there are the devotions of the parish at http://www.heilig-kreuz-rheingau.de or www. youtube.com under “Heilig Kreuz Rheingau”.
The services of the Evangelical Church Geisenheim are cancelled due to Corona. The church is open during Holy Week on Maundy Thursday, April 9, from 4 to 6 p.m. and on Good Friday and Easter Sunday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon for silent prayer. On the homepage http://www.evangelische-Kirche-gei senheim.de, there is further information, the “church letter – with a difference” and “service at the kitchen table” for Good Friday and Easter at home. The community office is closed until Friday, April 17th. In urgent cases, Pastor Ulla Schneider and Pastor Ralf Janisch can be reached on 06722-99 63 14. The Bethel collection does not take place this year.
The Protestant parish in Oestrich-Winkel sends digitally and displays analogous thoughts on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. There is also a weekly newsletter, on request in paper form. On Good Friday and Easter Sunday, there will be a video on the community’s homepage. Further information is available on the Internet at http://www.ekow.de. At the moment there are also Easter stones to discover on a walk.
On Good Friday, Rev. Christina Roepke-Keidel (phone: 06722-937 25 02) and two members of the church council (phone: 06722-26 79) of the Protestant parish of Rudesheim are available for a personal conversation from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. On the homepage http://www.evan gelischruedesheim.de, there are organ pieces by organist Frank Weber-Labonte in addition to prayers and beliefs.
In the front of the Rheingau, all children are called to paint Easter motifs, which are to be distributed to people in the elderly and nursing homes of the city of Eltville. The parishes work together for the “Young helps old” project. The pastors take the pictures of the children on Easter Sunday to the Wilhelmine house, the Fransecky monastery and the St. Hildegard house. If you want to participate, Pastor Bianca Schamp, Pastor Lothar Breidenstein and Pastor Robert Nandkisore can tell you the Easter story in the video from the Johanneskirche. You can find the link at http://www.trian gelis.de or http://www.peterund paul-rheingau.de. The children’s works can be thrown into the parish offices’ mailboxes until Saturday, April 11, at noon.
Furthermore, all services and events of the Catholic parish of St. Peter and Paul are cancelled until Sunday, April 19. On Easter days all churches are open, blessed palm branches and Easter candles are ready to take away. The special parish letter for Easter and the Easter pictures are also on display. On Good Friday in the Evangelical parish of Triangel is there is a prayer as a podcast to listen to on the homepage http://www.triangelis.de, on Easter Sunday there is an ecumenical video prayer with organ and trumpet music. If you want, you can listen to the audio devotions on the phone at 06123-925 89 86. In front of the Protestant churches in Eltville, Erbach and Kiedrich, greeting cards are hung on a clothesline, designed by the community’s confines. You can leave your greetings and wishes and take a personal Easter greeting with you. Further information is available online or from Pastor Schamp, phone: 06123-934 89 18, or Pastor Breidenstein, phone: 06123-60 54 41.
The Evangelical Heilandsgemeinde in Walluf packed “Holy Week Bags” – with Easter candles, palm branches and a brochure with devotions and services for the home. There are also QR codes that combine music from the Heilandskirche with pictures from and around the church. For Easter Sunday there is a spiritual walk in the exercise book that you can do alone or with your family. If you would like to have a bag, send an email to pfarrerin @ heilandsgemeinde.com or call 06123-714 20.
Church bells and trumpets
For Easter Sunday, Pastor Nandkisore, Pastor Schamp and Pastor Breidenstein recorded an ecumenical Easter devotion for the first time as a video, which will be online on the websites of the two congregations in the morning. Of course, the chorus “Christ has risen!” Is also heard. The chorale also ends the ZDF television service at 10.15 am and is said to sound from balconies, gardens and houses throughout Germany.
“Easter from the balcony” is the name of the protestant trombone campaign, in which the Protestant trombone choir Eltville takes part. At 10 a.m. the bells of the Protestant and Catholic churches will ring together to celebrate the Easter bells.
