Dear Friends,
It is with mixed emotions that I approach this Holy Week before us. I am eager to share in the joys and sufferings of Christ with you, and to participate in the healing work of reconciliation one to another through sharing our stories, our fears and grief as well as our blessings.
Thank you for the thoughtful work and energy that you have poured into this Lenten season of preparation. So many of these moments, preparing the way, can feel like hollow rituals or duties to check off of a list, and so I want us to remember together what it is that we are actually preparing for. Lent means to "lengthen," and is about the lengthening of days during this winter season, and the lengthening and stretching of our hearts and minds. It is about deepening our faith, one ritual, one prayer, one blessing at a time, as we remember our baptisms, and prepare for Resurrection life. So often when life takes unexpected turns, when pain pierces our hearts without warning, when grief steals our joy, when death knocks on the door-- we need the church. We need the church to help us re-order our lives when disorder abounds, to remind us that resurrection is in our bones - in the very breath Spirit breathed upon us.
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| Photograph by Maya Cobeland |
Praying the Psalms, preparing the sacraments, sitting vigil through the darkness of Good Friday,rising early before the cock crows at Easter Vigil, and responding with our whole selves to this great story, allows our bodies to remember and our minds and hearts to experience it fully.
I invite you to participate in this week, as we welcome Jesus with loud Hosannas, and dance ourselves into belief, as we sit together at table and remember the gifts of God that sustain our lives, as we confess the sins of world which bring death and pain, as we rise together anew with the Spirit of God in Resurrection hope.
Spirit is Leading the Way,
Rev. Jenny Shultz-Thomas
You can find more information about Holy Week services and activities in the Lenten Guide as well as in the announcements and E-News this week. We invite you to join us for the following:
Palm Sunday, Mar 25, 10:30am (processional begins in Wade parking lot)
Healing Prayer, Mar 26, 1:00pm - Bradow Room
Maundy Thursday, Mar 29, Dinner, 6:00pm - Fellowship Hall; Service,7:00pm - Sanctuary
Good Friday Service, Mar 30, 12:00pm - Sanctuary
Good Friday Prayer Circle, Mar 30, 1:00pm - Bradow Room
Holy Saturday Retreat, Mar 31, 1:00pm - 3:00pm - Bradow/Hoffman Rooms