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Dear Friends,
We’re quickly approaching the holiest week of the Christian year. While it is possible to jump
ahead and hear only the proclamation of grace and resurrection power that comes on Easter
morning, the meaning and impact of our observance will be deeper if we walk faithfully with
Christ through his final days.
Join us on Palm Sunday as we commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and be
astonished at how quickly the story turns to tragedy. Thorns take the shape of a crown. Popular
acclaim turns to public execution. Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Life ends and begins
anew. Jesus, the humble king, forever redefines the true nature of power and authority.
On Maundy Thursday, we remember Jesus’ great commandment to love one another as he loved
us, through humble, self-giving acts of care and kindness. We join with Jesus this night, as if in
the upper room, to celebrate the Last Supper and the institution of the sacred mysteries of
communion, and to participate in the ‘mandatum’ of washing feet. At the conclusion of the
service, the altar is stripped, and a holy vigil is begun. The church is left bare and darkened and
the congregation leaves in quiet prayer.
On Good Friday, the most solemn day of the Christian year, our prayers and observances call us
to follow in the way of Jesus’ passion and death. And even as we acknowledge our share in the
pain and brokenness of the world, we give thanks for wonder of God’s love revealed fully on the
hard wood of the cross: A perfect sacrifice for the whole world, so that all might come within the
reach of our Lord’s saving embrace.
On Easter morning, Jesus takes us through the experience we call death and shows us beyond it.
God goes, in an all-encompassing sweep of mercy, to the darkest places, to undo the powers of
sin that hold us captive, and to remake us in his image. Resurrection life breaks into this broken
and distracted world, and God's new creation begins to take shape.
Take a look at our schedule for Holy Week and find your own path through these important days.
This story, when lived in its fullness, explores the extraordinary depth and beauty of God’s love
for us, and helps us receive in hope and gratitude Ezekiel’s prophetic promise: “A new heart I
will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.”
Yours in Christ,
Jody+
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