Celebrate Jesus

Dear Friends,It’s Holy Week… tomorrow is Maundy Thursday – my absolute favorite worship service each year.  It will include beautiful music (both choral and instrumental), the reading of Jesus’ passion narrative from Matthew’s gospel, the celebration of the Last Supper, a journey to the cross, a moment of silence… and a chance to slow down and simply experience a sacred moment together.

As we talked about Sunday, slowing down to read, and meditate on the scriptures is an essential way for it to have a transformative work in our hearts and minds.  If you struggle with this, as I often do, I hope Thursday can be an opportunity to experience it together.

So far this Lent, we’ve been introduced to the practices of fasting, prayer & journaling, sabbath, service & fellowship, silence and solitude and bible meditation.  Some of these we can do on our own and some of them we do together.  Some of these is about removing something from our lives (for a time) and some are about stepping in to add or engage with something.  I hope you have been both introduced to something new and empowered and encouraged to try something or try something again as a way to grow more like Jesus, by doing something he did and believers have been doing ever since.

If you missed any Sunday, you can catch the service online on YouTube or our Facebook page and you can pick up a guide to try each practice at the sanctuary entrances.  They will eventually be online and available in a collection after we conclude the series after Easter.

For a sneak peek, on Thursday we will be looking at Confession & Submission.  Easter Sunday… Worship & Celebration.  Both seem to fit well with the themes of these services.  And then, for our final invitation, the Sunday following Easter we will look at Soul Friendship, which may be new to everyone.  I’m excited for all of them!

I’d like to leave you with two important invitations about worship.  The first is the last call to fill out our survey on our worship services.  You’re already providing great feedback by showing up, the fourth year in a row of increased attendance – 10% this year alone!  But we’d love your additional, specific feedback on how we can make our gatherings even better and prepare for the future.  The survey will close Easter Monday, so please take five minutes and fill it out here.

Second, speaking of Easter, we’re still looking for several people to serve on Easter – with an expected large crowd of excited guests, we will need extra help greeting and helping them navigate the sanctuary, fellowship hall and parking lot.  If you can serve in this specific way, we would really love your help!  Contact Pam Walker in the church office.

May God’s blessings fall on you as Holy Week continues!

Welcoming You to Grow in Jesus,

Pastor Don