Holy Week stands at the heart of our Christian story. Jesus, a religious radical, spoke for the poor and the oppressed, and called for a revolution of love and justice. The event we mark on Palm Sunday was essentially a protest march, a caricature of the Roman prefect's entry into Jerusalem with his Legions. Jesus spent the next four days challenging the corruption of Hebrew religious leaders and denying that Caesar was the ultimate authority. At the height of the tension, he shared a meal with his disciples, and taught them about servant leadership and sacrificial love.
Then power did what power always tries to do, and crushed him, an unjust public execution as a brutal warning to others. And yet love won. Easter Sunday is both a celebration that his disciples experienced him as resurrected and a reminder that love is powerful.
Each moment in that week is important. The additional time we spend in prayer, reflection, and song is a reminder of our story, a reminder of our call, the ground of our faith in a God that is good.
This year, we have re-added one service to the week to help us live into the rhythms of the story. We will worship on Maundy Thursday using the Agape Meal format. Gathering at table in Beecher Hall, we will share light snacks, tell the story of the Last Supper, and break the loaf and share the cup. We will have a loaf and grape juice at every table, but invite you to bring wine if you are so moved. We'll conclude the night with the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Friday will be a day of individual reflection, before the glory of Easter Sunday.
I hope you will join me in the full cycle of our story, highs and lows, moments of rage and of despair, for this is a story as meaningful today as it was two thousand years ago.
Palm Sunday, April 10 @ 10:00am in the Sanctuary
Maundy Thursday, April 14 @ 7:00pm in Beecher Hall (You may bring wine to this service.)
Good Friday, April 15 – A Day of Reflection
Easter Sunday, April 17 @ 10:00am in the Sanctuary – Service of the Resurrection