Today we have the privilege of our small but mighty youth group leading us in worship. A couple youth will participate in the music. They will serve as readers. And our three graduating seniors will be preaching. The theme of this service is ACCEPTANCE:
Acceptance of Self (Jess Jacklitch)
Acceptance of Others (Ketzel Barbour)
Acceptance of Circumstances (Casey Gish)
This is always a Sunday not to miss. Hope you can join us or watch!
It is the Sunday after Easter. We have heard the trumpets and alleluias. The lilies may be starting to wilt. Everything is back to “normal”. Or is it? We believe the Resurrection was just the beginning of God’s work bringing new life into the world. Now Christ is alive in us as a faith community, and every one is a part of that. Who are we as a people after the Easter event? What does it mean to live as resurrection people? We will consider the story in Acts 4 about the radical mutuality between people of the new Christian faith, and wonder about how our faith translates into our public life in the world. It is also communion Sunday, and we get to remember that the Last Supper too was just the beginning!
No doubt the journey to the tomb was heavy. Perhaps the women approached with heads lowered in defeat and grief. But then they looked up and it changed their lives. The barrier that they thought would be there was gone and what they discovered instead was life.
Will we look up? Will we look up from our complacency, apathy, fear and depression about “the way things are” and be filled with the promise of new life and hope yet again?
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!!!
Tonight is one of our most significant services of the year, spending time reflecting on Jesus’ execution on the cross and the hours leading up to it. This year, we will be focusing our attention on Jesus’ commandment to love one another by washing feet. Pastor Jessie will be washing the feet of one of our parishioners (Thank you Tom D!) and we will also remember the Last Supper together.
This is the day we remember Jesus’ strange parade into the city of Jerusalem as “Palm Sunday”.
Make no mistake–the powers-that-be in that city sat up and took notice at the actions of Jesus and his motley crew of palm-waving followers on that morning. It was a show of the “power” of love and injustice for the “least of these,” in stark juxtaposition to the military might of the Roman rulers. It was a non-violent action featuring a man sitting on a donkey — an action that has offered hope throughout the ages. Will we sit up and take notice of the injustice of this world and work to eradicate it in ways that honor that first Palm Sunday parade?
This is also the beginning of Holy Week. See this page for more info: https://www.christouranchorpc.org/2024lent/