Between Sundays: News from King's Chapel

A Message from Joy

Easter tells this truth: Love wins. Nothing – not even death – can separate us from God’s love.

Is that astonishing to you? It is to me.

How Jesus is treated this week makes me amazed that God didn’t throw in the towel on us humans. Just give up. Or at least swoop in and force us to change, threaten us with the worst punishment imaginable if we didn’t shape up. The strategy of God inviting us to be compassionate, to care about all people and all life, hasn’t worked well.

Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are painful. The story unfolds relentlessly like a film on the screen: the people whose feet Jesus knelt to wash, within hours forget all that and claim they never met him. Religious leaders who should be thrilled with Jesus’ thoughtful teaching on God, are jealous and nervous about his impact, so they decide the end justifies the means: kill Jesus so the Romans don’t rock the boat for other Jews. What’s one life worth anyway?

On Friday night and Saturday this week, we think we got what we deserved: Jesus erased, his teaching about God’s compassion rendered pitiful. Jesus said that he came not to condemn the world, but so we could have abundant life. Nope. We chose life narrow and competitive, lived just for ourselves. If I don’t take care of myself, who will?

Then Easter morning comes and God says: I’ll take care of you. Not like a magician making everything sunshine, but in the deepest way imaginable. Your life may have sorrow, but it also will have meaning. God’s view is the future – who you were meant to be, what this whole earth can be, that together we can make the vision true. The hungry can be fed. The lonely can find friends. The wars can cease. The earth can be saved. The holes in your heart can be filled. You can be forgiven. You are never, ever alone.

God’s strategy of inviting us into a different life hasn’t worked out well, except when it’s utterly changed people, and they’ve drenched us with bits of startling love that entice us. We’ve glimpsed just enough to wonder: Could I also be transformed like that?

Dear friends, what do these days of Holy Week raise for you? What questions, feelings? Fears, hopes? Whoever you are, and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome at King’s Chapel. Believer or doubter, seeker or skeptic, we’re all on this journey together.

Join us for the ongoing journey.

With love always,

Joy

Join us for Holy Week

Palm Sunday Service

Did you miss last Sunday's Reading of the Passion on Zoom? Click here to watch the recording!

Maundy Thursday Service

Thursday, April 1 | 6:00 PM | Pre-Recorded Service on YouTube

On the night of Jesus’ Last Supper, Jesus knows his death is near and chooses in those final hours to do three things: to bend on his knees and wash the disciples’ feet; to share with them a meal of bread and wine; and to teach them a new, great commandment: “Love one another, as I have loved you.”

The name “Maundy” Thursday is taken from the Latin for “commandment.” As Jesus took the posture of a servant to wash feet, we are commanded to serve others. As Jesus shared the food and drink he had with everyone present, so should we. As Jesus loved his disciples “to the end,” though they would betray him, so we are called to love and forgive. As the service ends, we remove all our treasures and trappings from the sanctuary leaving the table bare, symbolizing the way Jesus was left alone by the very friends for whom he had tenderly cared that night. This pre-recorded, candlelit service includes prayers, foot washing and communion. Led by clergy, with cantor and organ.

This pre-recorded service will be available to watch starting at 6:00 PM on Thursday, April 1 via our website, YouTube channel, and Facebook page. We'll also send an email reminder with a direct link to the service video that day.

Good Friday Tenebrae Service

Friday, April 2 | 6:00 PM | Pre-Recorded Service on YouTube

On Good Friday, the day of Christ’s crucifixion, we hold our annual evening Tenebrae service during which we read the story of Christ’s Passion and death. Tenebrae, meaning “darkness,” refers to the darkening of the sky at the time of the crucifixion, and the darkening of our church sanctuary as we blow out more and more candles. We end in hushed silence and mourning. This pre-recorded, candlelit service is led by clergy, readers, a choir quartet, and organ.

This pre-recorded service will be available to watch starting at 6:00 PM on Friday, April 2 via our website, YouTube channel, and Facebook page. We'll also send an email reminder with a direct link to the service video that day.

Easter Sunday Service

Sunday, April 4 | Pre-Recorded Service on YouTube, available all day

Celebrate the astonishing news that God never abandons us, even if we abandon God. With trumpet fanfare, a full choir and flowers blooming, we will surround ourselves with the great story of the resurrection, sung and said.

The pre-recorded service features our Morning Prayer service from the King’s Chapel prayerbook, a full virtual choir singing all of our traditional hymns, and the spoken word.

This pre-recorded service will be available to watch starting at 7:00 AM on Sunday, April 4 via our website, YouTube channel, and Facebook page. We'll also send an email reminder with a direct link to the service video that day.

Please note there will be no Morning Light Service on Easter Sunday.

Musical Notes from the Bench:

For the Easter Sunday Morning Prayer service, we will try to recreate most of the music you would expect to hear if you were in church in person. An added bonus is trumpeter Robinson Pyle - as you can imagine, brass players are normally in high demand on Easter morning, so one of the few benefits of virtual Easter is that this year Robin can play in 3 churches at the same time.

We will open and close with a Handel concerto arranged for trumpet and organ. Our good friend Graham Ramsay has written a new Introit on Psalm 118, This Is The Day. The choir will also sing Dan Pinkham’s Now is the Hour of Darkness Past, and of course Randall Thompson’s Alleluia. We will all sing the Easter Anthem canticle from the propers in the King’s Chapel Prayerbook, and the three traditional hymns. We encourage you to raise the roof and sing along lustily from home!

Easter Sunday Coffee Hour

Sunday, April 4 | 11:00 AM

Join with others in a virtual coffee hour at 11 AM on Easter Sunday, a chance to see one another in a large group and small break-out sessions, from all of our locations across the country. Hosted by the King's Chapel clergy.

Of Note

The offices will be closed NEXT WEEK following Easter, and all staff will be taking a much-needed vacation break. If a pastoral emergency arises, you may contact Joy. For any other emergency you may contact Gretchen.

Changes and postponements for the week include:

There will be NO Coffee with the Clergy held on Thursday April 8.

There will be NO Morning Prayer service on Sunday April 11.

Anyone wishing for a service that morning is welcome to the Morning Light service via Zoom.

Joy will be out of office through April 18.

Thank you for your understanding and Happy Easter!

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