By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – The pastor of St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church wants his congregation to have a meaningful Easter season.

The church will offer services beginning Wednesday evening and will continue through Easter Sunday. The services will focus on the last days of Jesus’ life, his death and resurrection.

“Anyone I’ve talked to who has been through that process is amazed at how much more meaningful Easter is than just coming to the Easter morning service and hunting Easter eggs,” said Rev. John Mark Ford of the services.

Following a Palm Sunday service on April 1, the April 4 service will take the congregation through the Stations of the Cross.

“The group actually moves around, and we read the story and we say a prayer and move to the next story,” Ford said. “We move around the church and move around the altar.

We have the church dark and do it with flashlights. It’s very dramatic.”

Maundy Thursday marks the final holy Eucharist of the season. At the end of the service, church leaders will “strip the altar” by silently removing all decorative pieces in the sanctuary.

“At the end of the time of doing that, we’re down to a bare altar with no cross or anything,” Ford said. “People just stay and pray. The symbolism is that we’re where Jesus died on the cross. It’s an incredibly meaningful service.”