Good Morning!
Hope you all are well and have had a wonderful week…. especially those of you on Spring Break! I pray you found ways to relax and reignite and reenergize yourself as you go into the weeks ahead. Thanks to all teachers, school staff, bus drivers and monitors, parents and students for the hard and very good work you are doing to prepare a whole new set of men and women to bring beauty to and to lead this world. It is an awesome responsibility….. and you are appreciated!
This next week is the most sacred week of the Christian year. Called Holy Week, it is a week when the church follows the footsteps of Jesus during his last days before the cross. We move out of our normal routine and move into a shared memory of the reality of what Jesus did for us. I think it is really important to take the time to reflect on this week in the life of Jesus and all that happened. For sure, it makes Easter morning so much more joyful!
So here are a few things to remember as we go into this holy experience together:
- Tomorrow is Palm/Passion Sunday when we celebrate Jesus coming into Jerusalem to the chants of hosanna! and the waving of palm branches. We will also hear the story of the Passion of Christ so that no one enters into Easter Sunday without having heard it.
- On Wednesday, we will have a Holy Week Luncheon at noon to sort of “check in with Jesus” and remember what he was up to during the middle of the week. We will share a meal and have a short program.
- On Thursday, join us for the Maundy Thursday/ Tenebrae Service at 7:00 PM. We will gather in the Fellowship Hall to remember the last meal Jeus had with his disciples, then move to the Sanctuary for the rest of the hour to join in a service of darkness as we experience the trial, sentencing, execution, death and burial of Jesus. The cross in the church yard will be changed to black so that all who pass by will remember.
- Easter Sunday will begin with the Community Sunrise Service at the Rec Center at 7:30 AM. We will not have breakfast at our church but always have a standing invitation to join the Christian Church for the meal. Our EASTER SERVICE will begin at 11:00 AM with shouts of Alleluia! He is risen!!
On Easter Sunday, the Sanctuary will be adorned with Easter lilies, all in memory or in honor of our loved ones.
It is going to be a wonderful, powerful week, and I look forward to sharing it with you. I encourage you to make these services a priority. During the week, Jesus asked his disciples more than once to stay awake and be with him in the pain and the sorrow. I invite us all to do the same. Cause Easter Sunday’s comin’!!!! And we don’t want to miss any of it!
Before I close, I want to share with you some good news!
- Alan Caldwell’s second book, The Only Verse, is out and available on Amazon! It is a wonderful collection of poems that according to Jennifer Horne, former Alabama poet laureate ….”reveal a poet who feels deeply, reads widely, and works hard to understand human life in all its variations: the unavoidable griefs and losses, the unnecessary cruelties, and, in the midst of it all, the small gifts we give each other and the natural world gives us. These poems will make you catch your breath and hold on for dear life.” Hope you will order yours today! Congratulations, Alan! We are so proud of you!
Love you all! Look forward to living out Holy Week with you! See you tomorrow!
Rev. Martha