March 31, 2023
Dear Congregation,
Grace and peace to each of you as we approach Palm Sunday and Holy Week. I hope you’ll plan to be present this Sunday as we worship in the Garden Chapel, waving our palm branches and having them blessed. I also invite you to take your worship bulletin home and use the daily short prayers on the back of the bulletin cover. As written there, “Be mindful of this Holy Week, even as you go about your life.”
Following worship during the Fellowship Hour, I’ll be leading a conversation around the topic “WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE PROPERTY SALE IS FINALIZED ON APRIL 21ST?” This long anticipated event, as positive as it is for many reasons, will be a big change for us all. It will be good to share our questions and feelings with our church family.
I hope to see you again on MAUNDY THURSDAY, April 6th at 6:30 p.m. when we will share a Mediterranean-inspired meal, participate in the Rite of Foot Washing, and celebrate Holy Communion around a table in Kelsey Hall. A sign-up sheet is available at the back of the Sanctuary with suggested items that you may bring for the meal.
We will then move to the Garden Chapel for a Tenebrae Service of Shadows. Scripture will be read by volunteers as the twelve candles representing the disciples and the Christ candle are extinguished one by one. We will then leave the Garden Chapel in silence. I encourage you to five yourself the Spiritual gift of participating in this very meaningful time.
In recognition of the beginning of the Holy Week journey on which we are about to embark, I share with you this poem by Ann Weems from her book “Kneeling in Jerusalem”.
THE FEAR AND FEEDING OF THE SHEEP
We have nothing against Jerusalem;
In fact, it’s the place to be
On a sunny Easter morning.
It’s Golgotha that we fear;
and yet, we’ve been to church enough
to know that the way to Jerusalem
leads through Good Friday.
Keeping covenant
means keeping covenant under a cross
as well as by an empty garden tomb.
What we’d like to do, of course,
is wave palms and shout Hosanna
and then rest up for the Hallelujah Chorus.
We dismiss the others as religious fanatics,
who wallow in the woe of Holy Week!
O Lamb of God, Lamb of God, Lamb of God,
feed us!
A blessed Palm Sunday and meaningful Holy Week to you.
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Candy
