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Weekly Update

Bethesda UCC

March 27, 2024

Last Sunday's Worship

Palm Sunday

"Sit Up and Take Notice"

Sunday was Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. We began by welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem, singing and waving palm branches. Later in the service, we read scriptures about the betrayal, arrest, trials, and crucifixion of Jesus.

When Jesus comes into Jerusalem, four groups sit up and take notice. The crowds, the religious leaders, the Roman authorities, and his disciples.

Jesus pointedly asks his disciples to get him a donkey to ride. He sits up and rides into Jerusalem. The crowd goes wild, shouting "save us!" Why? Perhaps it is because they know that King David rode a donkey and that when David sent his son Solomon to be anointed king, he sent him on another lowly beast, a mule. So, they may have interpreted Jesus' ride as that of the new king come to save them from their oppressors.

The religious leaders sit up and take notice. Jesus continues to do and say things that threaten their status-quo. They've had enough.

The Roman authorities notice anyone and anything that might stir up Jewish rebellion.

The disciples sit up and take notice, obeying Jesus - getting the donkey, preparing the Passover meal - until Jesus upends everything they know. Judas will betray him, Peter will deny that he knows Jesus, and they will all run and hide after Jesus' arrest.

What do we sit up and take notice of when we look at this Holy week? Let us consider everything that happens in this week and be open to what comes up for us.

Don't forget to bring flowers on Easter Sunday to

Flower the Cross

Flowers, flowering branches, greenery

Pastor's Message

Making Maundy Thursday Matter

Years ago, I began trying to make Maundy Thursday different that our usual "Last Supper" services. I think it should look and feel different than Communion Sunday. We experience Communion as a remembrance, something we see through Easter eyes. We know how it all works out and we remember with this in mind.

But Maundy Thursday is different. We come together during Holy Week - in that time between Palm Sunday hosannas and Easter alleluias. Shouldn't our Last Supper on this one evening feel different? I hope that I've been able to create an environment that helps us experience that night in a relevant way.

We begin with the room set. A dinner table, set with heavy linens, patterned cloth, and candles. Carafes hold "wine"(grape juice) and pita bread is on platters. We eat together, sharing hummus, feta, olives, grapes, dates, and grape leaves. There is conversation around the dinner table. I envision that the disciples sat at a similar table; ate and talked. They poured wine for one another, handed each other bowls and plates of food, and perhaps shared stories from their journey up until that point.

Here at church, our dinner will be interrupted, as I envision the disciples' dinner was interrupted. We will again hear Jesus' words: "this is my body," "this is the cup," remember me. I have to wonder what Jesus' followers thought he was talking about. Then they get up from the table to go pray in the garden.

We will do the same. Hopefully, the garden I create will help you feel the change in atmosphere - from dinner, to Jesus' words, and now to a quiet place where Jesus asks them (and us) to pray. Here we will remember what happens next, snuffing out candles to demonstrate the light of the world being dimmed.

At the end, one candle will remain. I will move it behind the cross. The symbolism is that even though at that point the crowds, the religious leaders, the Roman authorities, and the disciples all thought the light was extinguished. But we know that it was merely in the tomb. And that on Easter morning that light will be revealed once again.

I hope that you all will consider coming to share this experience with us on Thursday. It is a special time and a special service. It marks the end of Holy Week and the beginning of the journey to Easter morning.

Bethesda UCC