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Between Sundays for Week of March 25, 2024

Holy Week is a week for remembering and a week to remember. It begins with waving our palms, sharing in the crowd’s excitement for Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Then we hear the rest of the story. It did not turn out as the crowds had initially hoped. It did not turn out as we had hoped. God sent Jesus to be love incarnate, and Love ended up dying on the cross. (You can watch the story as it unfolded in Bethlehem’s Sunday worship service.)

As we remember this week in worship, before making their way to the cross of Good Friday or the empty tomb of Easter Sunday, Jesus calls his followers together for a meal. A meal where he loves, cares, forgives and commands them to follow him in the same work of loving, caring, and forgiving. At the heart of our faith lies the image of Jesus calling us into community and calling us to serve one another and our neighbors everywhere.

We’ve made a shift in the worship schedule this Maundy Thursday at Bethlehem in order to experience more deeply the community Christ calls us into. Through a shared meal and around tables, we will come together to connect with one another, to hear the story of Christ and his disciples, to share in food that we all prepare, to feed one another with the bread and wine of the last supper that Christ instituted, and to ponder together what it means to follow the one who serves.

Share in worship this Holy Week on Thursday with Holy Communion at Noon in the Sanctuary (livestreamed); or at 6 pm starting with a meal in the Fellowship Hall (you can sign up to bring a dish to share) and Friday we gather at 7 pm to reflect upon the Seven Last Words of Christ (livestreamed).

We gather this week to remember that Jesus commanded his disciples and us to love one another; to remember that Jesus showed us what Love looks like on the cross; and to celebrate next Sunday that Love always has the last word!

P.S. Our staff and livestream volunteers have been working to restore our Facebook connection for several weeks and we will continue or efforts. In the meantime, you can view our festive Palm Sunday worship service via YouTube or watch the most recent Sunday worship service on our website. From there find links to previous worship videos available on Facebook and YouTube.

Embodying our Faith thru Holy Week – Abby and Amy talk about the movement of worship that unfolds beginning with Palm Sunday and continues throughout the week to Easter Sunday, including Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. You can learn more about the worship schedule of the community they serve at https://blcfairport.org/holy-week/

Ponderings

Each year during Holy Week, along with disciples of Jesus around the world, we focus our collective attention on the narrative of his final week. In worship on Sunday, we heard this story – recalling his entry into Jerusalem in a parade of glory, his final meal, the betrayal of one of his dearest friends, his trial, and his death by crucifixion. This narrative is central to our faith. This story shows us that there is nowhere God, in Christ, is not present. God will go to the depths of suffering and hell to show that God so loves the world.

This pivotal story is also filled with all too human reminders of the ways that we fall short of God’s all-encompassing love.

As you reflect on Christ’s passion narrative, we encourage you to read the full introduction that Pastor Amy shared in worship on Sunday.