Dear U Park family,
It feels to me like Lent has gone fast this year. From our Shrove Tuesday Pancake supper to our upcoming Palm Sunday pretzel making Sunday School doesn’t seem like 6 weeks – but here we are and we have a lot happening!
Tomorrow morning at 10:00 in the church library, Dr. Jeremy Long and George Gramer will talk about and show slides on their service trips to Guatemala. Refreshments will be provided. Our Crosspoints United Women in Faith are sponsoring this gathering, and all are invited.
Palm Sunday is this coming weekend. Sunday morning at 10:00, we’ll have a Family Sunday School for all ages in the East Fellowship Hall downstairs. Bethany Hader Crabbs, our children’s and care minister, has planned games, stories, and other activities, including our annual pretzel baking. At 11:00, our worship service will begin with a choir processional to recall Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I hope you’ll join us for pretzels and Palm Sunday this coming weekend.
Next week is Holy Week, and we’ll have the full Easter “Triduum” of worship services. This ancient sequence of worship brings the Easter story to life in a way that Palm Sunday and Easter morning alone can’t.
Thursday the 17th at 7:00 P.M. in Wasser Chapel, we’ll join in our annual Holy Thursday worship service. Traditionally, this observance marks Jesus’ last meal with his disciples before his arrest and execution. We will celebrate communion together and participate in a ritual of hand washing, which recalls the moment in John’s Gospel when Jesus kneels to wash the feet of his followers.
On Friday the 18th, also at 7:00 P.M., we’ll gather in our Sanctuary to hear our choir present a powerful cantata entitled “The Weeping Tree,” focusing on Jesus’ crucifixion and death. Normally, we hold our cantata on Palm Sunday morning – but this composition is much better suited to Good Friday. I hope you’ll be there to hear the moving music and recall Jesus’ trial and death.
Saturday the 19th at 7:00, we’ll join in a traditional Easter Vigil. In the early church, the Saturday vigil before Easter morning was the holiest and most important service of the year. The Holy Saturday vigil is recognized as the first moment of the Easter season, because in the Biblical accounts of the resurrection those who discover the empty tomb arrive “early in the morning, while it is still dark,” and find Jesus gone. The Saturday service starts just before sundown.
Finally, on Easter Sunday, we’ll hold three worship services. Our 7:00 A.M. worship will take place in Wasser Chapel, with coffee, juice, and baked goods served afterward. At 9:00 and 11:00, we’ll hold our traditional Easter worship in the Sanctuary. And between those two times of worship, our Easter Egg hunt will take place at 10:30 in the courtyard. This year’s egg hunt is a little different than in previous years. First, it’s on Sunday morning instead of Saturday afternoon. But beyond that, the eggs the children collect will be empty – instead of picking up (sometimes melted) chocolate and other candy, children can turn their eggs into Bethany or Lauren Cowden, our Youth Director, for a gift bag of candy, toys, and activity books.
All of these events are open to everyone, so be sure to invite friends and family to Palm Sunday and Holy Week worship next week!
Grace and Peace,
Andy