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!