Services, Performances Mark Holy Week

Catholic and Protestant churches on Sunday begin Holy Week services--the ritual retelling of Jesus’ last days as told by the Gospels. Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday, rites strike a joyous note, recalling the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem amid cheers from supporters.

In that vein, actor Dan Aykroyd will be narrating from Scripture that triumphant entry and other events in Jerusalem during a special Palm Sunday program at 7:30 p.m. at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church. The choir and orchestra will perform classical works and the U.S. premiere of “Three Hymns for Communion.” $10 donation. (310) 271-5194.

Also on Palm Sunday, the Los Angeles Philharmonic with the Holman United Methodist Choir will perform Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony--and Easter music by Beethoven and Handel--at 6 p.m. at the host church, 3320 W. Adams Blvd. The free concert will be conducted by Grant Gershon.

In addition, a contemporary Passion play, “And That’s the Way It Was!” by actress-author Marion Dugan, will premiere at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Congregational Church of Northridge, 9659 Balboa Blvd. Free. (818) 349-2400.

Holy Week leads to Easter on March 30 (four weeks ahead of Eastern Orthodox Easter this year). Along the way, Maundy Thursday services will memorialize Jesus’ last supper with disciples, and Good Friday rites will recall the crucifixion.

Those New Testament accounts are compressed in plays continuing their runs next week at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove and Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch as well as the dramatic “Easter Celebration,” staged by a cast of 140 at Echoes of Faith Christian Center in Ontario, 11255 Central Ave. The latter’s 10th annual production includes performances at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. today and at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The drama will continue through Easter. Free. (909) 627-0927.

On Maundy Thursday, the Santa Clarita United Methodist Church and the Valencia United Methodist Church will hold a joint Communion service at 7:30 p.m., hosted by the Valencia church, 25718 McBean Parkway. . . . The Covenant Players of Saint James Episcopal Church, 3209 Via Lido, Newport Beach, will present a short drama before a Eucharistic rite. . . . The 7 p.m. Communion service at Covina United Methodist Church, 437 W. San Bernardino Road, will include the performance of Gabriel Faure’s “Requiem Mass.”

Good Friday services abound, some of them joining together clergy of more than one congregation. The Rev. Dan Clark of North Hollywood First Presbyterian Church will be the featured speaker for area churches beginning at noon at Toluca Lake United Methodist Church, 4301 Cahuenga Blvd.

Father Vivian Ben Lima, associate pastor, will give the homily at the Good Friday noontime service at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, 870 W. 8th St., San Pedro. Soloists, including tenor Agostino Castagnola, will provide musical interludes.

In Garden Grove, the public is invited on Good Friday to “walk the way of the cross” by attending short services at four churches on a 2 1/2-mile route, starting at noon at St. Anselm’s of Canterbury Episcopal Church, 13091 Galway St. The next stop is at 1 p.m. at St. Columban’s Catholic Church, 10801 Stanford Ave.; then at 2 p.m. at Garden Grove United Methodist Church, 12741 Main St.; and at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 11832 Euclid St. (714) 534-1070.

The Easter portions of Handel’s “Messiah” will be presented twice on Good Friday at the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, 2801 N. Brea Blvd. The performances at 6:15 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. will feature a baroque-style chamber orchestra and soloists. Admission is free. (714) 529-5544.

PEOPLE

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The Rev. A. Stephen Pieters, described as one of the longest surviving people with AIDS, will resign at year’s end as director of HIV/AIDS ministry in the West Hollywood-based Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.

“After 10 years as UFMCC field director and 15 years of living with AIDS, it is time to explore new avenues of ministry and service to the community at large,” Pieters said.

The Rev. Troy D. Perry, founder-moderator of the predominantly gay church body, said that Pieters has held policy discussions with President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore and has represented the denomination on TV talk shows. “In 1984, he was given eight months to live due to AIDS, and I helped his mother and father plan his funeral,” Perry said.

* Father Nicholas J. Reina, 48, president of Don Bosco Technical Institute in Rosemead, has been selected to head the western state region of the Salesian order of Catholic priests. Reina, who currently heads a 40-acre high school and junior college campus for 850 students, will begin his six-year term July 1.

DATES

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Religion professor Karen King of Occidental College will discuss accounts of Jesus’ resurrection in Gnostic Christian apocryphal texts discovered in Egypt a half-century ago. The talk is at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles. Donation $5. (213) 663-2167.

* A slide lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls will be given Thursday night at the University of Judaism by Jacob Milgrom, professor emeritus of biblical studies at UC Berkeley. The 8:15 p.m. talk will include an illustrated account of the discovery and unrolling of the Temple Scroll. Admission $18. (310) 476-9777, ext. 246.

* Faure’s “Requiem Mass” will be performed at 2:30 p.m. Sunday by the choirs of St. Therese and St. Thomas More Catholic parishes with an orchestra under the direction of Robert Prichard at St. Therese, 510 N. El Molino St., Alhambra. (818) 282-2744.

* MIMEistry International, an interdenominational Christian performing arts company, will present a “mimes and miracles” concert today at 7 p.m. in the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena. Directed by founders Todd and Marilyn Farley and based in Pasadena, the troupe has performed with the Miami Ballet, Ballet Magnificat and the Young Messiah Tour. Free. (818) 298-2300.

FINALLY

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In time for Easter, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is selling the video of the 1966 movie “The Bible” starring George C. Scott, Ava Gardner, Peter O’Toole and Richard Harris. Despite the title, the movie covered only the first 22 chapters of Genesis.

Although the John Huston-directed film was described as “an awesomely absorbing film” by Life magazine, according to studio publicity, Leonard Maltin’s “TV Movies and Video Guide” called it a “bomb.” The video price is $19.95.

“Only Huston himself as Noah escapes heavy-handedness,” wrote Maltin. “Definitely one time you should read the book instead.”

An alternate biblical movie from the past?

Director Cecil B. DeMille’s 1927 silent film “King of Kings” will be shown free Friday night at Claremont School of Theology’s Mudd Theater. The 7 p.m. screening is open to the public for a $3 donation.

Notices may be mailed to Southern California File, c/o John Dart, L.A. Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, CA 91311, or faxed to Religion desk (818) 772-3385. Items should arrive about three weeks before the event and should include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date and time.

HOLLYWOOD

The Gothic facade of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles’ Wilshire district was transformed this week in preparation for the filming on Palm Sunday of a scene for “Mouse Hunt,” a comedy for DreamWorks SKG starring Nathan Lane.

The studio needed to close off a block of busy Wilshire Boulevard--easier to do on a Sunday than a weekday.

Of course, this is Palm Sunday, the start of the Christian Holy Week.

Not to worry, said church leaders. More than 250 people are expected at 9:30 a.m. for the first joint service of the English-speaking congregation and a Spanish-speaking congregation launched at the church last fall. In an outdoor procession preceding the service, worshipers will leave the sanctuary from a side door into the neighborhood behind the church and return by another side entrance.

Everyone at the church has been accommodating, said a spokesman. Film crews like the location: Scenes for “Picture Perfect” were shot there in January, and the church was used last year for the Arnold Schwarzenegger film “Eraser.”