I imagine many of you are getting ready for Easter dinner. You have probably invited family and guests. You are planning a menu and getting the house clean and ready. Preparations are normal for such a special day.

I want to encourage you to do the same thing for your Holy Week and Easter services and activities.

• You wouldn't expect someone to just show up at your dinner table; you invite them. So I would like to challenge each and every reader to pray about and invite at least one guest to your Holy Week celebrations.
• When you are expecting guests at your home, you keep watch for their arrival and greet them when they arrive. For Holy Week, have someone out in your parking lot watching for guests, helping them find a place to park and pointing them to the entrance.
• When guests come to your home front door, you greet them warmly. You would never think of looking at your phone right then, or ignore the guest while you talked with a family member. Be sure you do the same thing at church with greeters who are outgoing and focused on guests.
• At your dinner table you make sure guests feel comfortable and have everything they need. The same holds true for our Holy Week guests. Sit with them; make sure they know where to hang up a coat, find the bathrooms and introduce them to teachers if children are involved. Make sure the worship service is easy to follow and understandable for people who are new.
• After Easter dinner, we often send a note or text to our friends, saying how much we enjoyed the day and we hope to see them soon. We similarly need to send a note or text to our Holy Week guests and invite them back to something that is happening in our church in April.

Make every church guest feel as welcome as if they were in your home; which they are-your church home. This may be the first church experience for a Holy Week guest. If we only have one opportunity to make a good first impression and show the love of Christ, let's put our best foot forward!