Pastor Devin Strong
Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church
We are about to enter the heart of the Christian year. Holy week begins with Palm Sunday on April 2 and concludes the Easter Sunday on April 9. Christianity is more on the fringes of our society than ever before. Golf fans may be far more aware of the coming week as the week of the Masters than any religious celebration. But for Christians, the stories that we will rehearse and the rituals that we will share remind us of our core beliefs.
Palm Sunday is the day that we recognize as Jesus’ return to the capital city of Jerusalem for the last time. The day is so named because the crowds took palm branches from the trees and waved them in front of Jesus and cheered him on as he entered the holy city. Palm branches were the makeshift Jewish flag in the occupied Roman territory, so this was as much a political rally as a religious event. The day is filled with joy and hope, as the people expect Jesus to raise up an army and install a new government in their capital city.
For the last number of years, mainline pastors have been encouraged to celebrate this as the Sunday of the Passion, telling the story up through Jesus’ crucifixion on this Sunday, so that worshipers who do not appear in church until Easter will not miss out on the key points of the story.
Whatever we call it, the Sunday before Easter describes us Jesus-followers very well. We can be ecstatic in our celebration of the Lord and also quite fickle.
Maundy Thursday, from the Latin, meaning commandment, takes us to a private celebration of Jesus’ Last Supper with his closest disciples. It is this event that gives Christians both the command to love one another and the sacrament of Holy Communion.
Good Friday takes us back out into public as a we watch Jesus in his last hours of life and his excruciating death on the cross. The day is called good because it is good for you and me that the Lord of Love gave his life to take away our sins. We can also not help but notice that many of the people who were cheering Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem the previous Sunday are now the same ones who are jeering for his death by the end of the week.
In this Holy week, we learn who we are in our yearning and in our disappointments, and we learn who God is in God’s faithfulness. After the world has thrown all that it can at Jesus, this week ends with Resurrection. Death does not win the day. The public is cordially invited to share this special week of worship services with us as we, at Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church, share it with our friends at St Elizabeth Episcopal Church.
Palm Sunday worship service will be at 10 a.m. on April 2 at Spirit of Peace at 15985 GA Hwy 144 in Richmond Hill.
Spirit of Peace will celebrate Maundy Thursday on April 6 with dinner and worship at table 6 p.m.
Spirit of Peace will celebrate Good Friday, April 7, by joining our friends at St Elizabeth Episcopal Church at 16491 GA Hwy 144 in Richmond Hill for their Good Friday worship service at 7 p.m.
All are welcome to join us for the sacred gatherings. With all due respect to golf fans, I hope that more people take note of Holy week this year than the Masters Tournament.
God Loves You, and So Do I!