Holy Week Schedule & Invitation
Dear Mission Family & Friends,
This Sunday, we begin Holy Week, the climax of the Christian year. During Sunday’s opening liturgy we will pray these words together as a congregation:
“Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”
I have long been struck by the phrase “enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts by which you have given us life and immortality.
Holy Week has a lot of church services.
We will offer gatherings on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. The purpose of these gatherings is not to create religious busy work for everyone. It’s to make space to enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts by which Jesus has brought us life and immortality.
Each service of Holy Week is focused on things Jesus did during the last week of His pre-resurrection life. And these acts of Jesus are indeed MIGHTY. They are incredible to deeply consider! In this week, Jesus literally practiced what He preached His whole Earthly ministry. He loved us to the end, offered Himself as a living sacrifice so we might be saved. He embodied full humility and other-oriented service. He prayed for His followers and for the world. He remained faithful to God through suffering. At the end, He rose from the dead in history, victorious over sin, evil and death. On Easter He began a new creation Kingdom and made it possible for us to join Him in revealing that Kingdom’s shalom through our lives everywhere and all the time.
I invite you to approach Holy Week prayerfully. To consider structuring your days around the events of Jesus’s last week. I invite you to join us for our Holy Week services so that through these spaces you can come close to Jesus, remember all He’s done for you, contemplate the wonder of His final Earthly actions, and respond with joy and praise.
You can view our full service calendar below. If you plan to come to Maundy Thursday, please RSVP by no later than Wednesday 3/25 so we know the headcount for food. If you miss the sign up, you can still join us for the Tenebrae service in the sanctuary at 7 PM.
I am praying for us as a church this week: may we experience renewed joy in Christ and closeness with Him as we journey together in contemplation of those mighty acts by which Jesus has brought us life and immortality!
With love in Christ,
Fr. William
