This weekend will be marked by extremes. Extreme emotion, extreme memories, extreme stories. I hope you will take the time to move slowly through these days and the emotions they call forth.
For 40 days we have travelled through the season of Lent. We have let silence and sacrifice guide our thoughts and our actions. Now, we come to the holiest weekend of the Christian Year. We will gather together on Thursday night at 6:30 pm for a Maundy Thursday/Tenebrae Service. This is a service where we will retell the story of the last hours of Jesus’ life. It is not a happy, joyous journey, but instead a very somber one. I encourage you to come and hear the story once again, as we sit in silence together as the darkness overtakes the light.
We will live in that darkness through Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and then awaken at dawn on Sunday morning. You are invited to gather in the darkness at 6:30 am for our Easter Sunrise Service. Just as the women did on the first Easter, we will meet in the darkness, only to hear the good news – Christ is risen, he is risen indeed!
And, then we will gather again for Easter Sunday worship at 11:00, where we will explore the topic, “Do Not Be Afraid of the Metaphor.” Let me also encourage you to bring blooming flowers from your yard and come a little early to help decorate the floral cross. The new buds, signifying a new life, will remind us of the good news of the resurrection.
Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed!
-Pastor Jane