With plenty of sunshine, seasonable temperatures after several days of rain, we celebrated the arrival of Jesus at Passover in Jerusalem but at the same time remembered his passion as we officially began Holy Week. As the sermon explained "Trust and betrayal, joy and sorrow, triumph and tragedy, life and death—all rolled up in this one hour of worship"
Over 60 were in attendance. A great start! The bulletin is here. A photo gallery of the day’s activites can be found here.
Adult Ed studied passages from Matthew including the Passion and Resurrection from Dr. Shaia’s book the Hidden Power of the Gospels. The key question of Matthew is "How do we handle Change" with a metaphor of climbing the great mountain. The path is not linear but along the way we have to accept the need for change, the need for honesty and openess to face the pain and at the same be open to accepting gifts (Magi) and guidance (Beatitudes) from God .
The issue of betrayal is central to our feelings and in the Gospel today, Judas arrives in Gethsemane after the betrayal, ready to kiss Jesus and Jesus says “Friend, do what you are here to do.” (Matthew 26:50) Can each of us look at those who we think have betrayed us and say that ? Jesus is leading us on a journey forward to places unexplored, without and within, but always towards a larger life. At the end of Matthew on an unidentified mountain he says God gives the only thing we need, ―”I am with you.” The Adult ed materials can be found here.
The service started with the Liturgy of the Palms in the back of the church with palms donated by the Allwine family. Elizabeth Heimbach led us in procession into the Church. The Choir augmented by Paige Martindale led the congregations in "All Glory Laud and Honor".
The Choir was in fine form learning a new piece this week from Dr. Bill Roberts of Virginia Theological Seminary on our reading from Philippians.
The Gospel reading, of course, was that of the Passion Gospel of Matthew. The readings were led by narrator Linda Beck with Alex Long playing Peter, Helmut handling Jesus, Mike Newman as Pilate, Bill Wick as the high priest, Elizabeth and Terri playing servant women.
We celebrated two birthdays and looked forward to two baptisms for the Easter Vigil on Saturday.
The sermon elaborated on the suffering in holy week. "Like the crowds shouting Hosanna, we can be so caught up in joy that we refuse to see or acknowledge the underlying darkness that is a constant part of living in a world where people are still broken and full of sin. Evil in our world is alive and well. Our worship together today reminds us that holding the opposites, the paradoxes together in our lives is of the utmost importance—sometimes even a matter of life and death." The sermon provided the story of Marine Corporal Clay Hunt who was the epitomy of a war veteran but earlier this year committed suicide in his apartment. Jesus cry of his last words "was not only for himself, but for every human being on the face of this earth, throughout all of human history, who has felt forsaken…As Christians, even in our joys, we are called to remember and to do what we can to help the forsaken ones, not only those around us but all of the forsaken around the world." The complete sermon is here.
