The service starts joyfully as we give thanks for the Eucharist and the gift of Holy Communion instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper. As the service progresses the mood becomes more solemn and sad as we move nearer to Good Friday. There is an opportunity for the congregation to have their feet washed as the disciples had theirs washed by Jesus at the Last Supper. At the end of the service the altar frontal and other furnishings are stripped so that the church looks bare - a reminder of how Jesus was deserted and left alone in Gethsemane and stripped of his clothes at his Crucifixion. After the service is ended we keep the church open until 10.00pm so that people may sit or kneel in silence "watching with Him".