We begin this Sunday with the joyful, triumphant celebration of Palm Sunday.  The children will distribute the palms as we sing “All Glory, Laud and Honor,” and the choir will sing an Alleluia and “Ride On, Ride On in Majesty.”

Then the children will go back for religious exploration of the Golden Rule and Miss Rumphius with Danette Harris and Joey Hawkins and the service will move into the final days of Jesus’ life, from the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane to the Cross.  Several readers will tell the story, interspersed with a dramatic reading and verses of “What Wondrous Love Is This,” “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”  The choir will sing “Hosanna! Hosanna!” by Cathy Townley, “Ride on, Ride on in Majesty!” and Billings’ “When Jesus Wept.”  Pianist Annemieke McLane will play pieces by Grieg, Scarlatti and J. S. Bach.

The sermon will be on what it means that Jesus’ ministry ended on the cross when it was focused on changing the hearts and minds of people so they could see, serve and establish the realm of God on earth.  How can we make sense of the Passion Story in the light of what Jesus set out to accomplish?  This is extremely important because the dire problems the world now faces can be solved only if we undergo the cultural transformation Jesus has been urging humanity to make for two thousand years.  If the Passion Story was crucial to his way forward, it must be crucial to ours as well.

This service is how we will begin Holy Week.  The next event will be the Maundy Thursday Last Supper Seder Dinner Theater on March 29th.  Please make your reservation right away if you would like to attend.  We have limited seating and could fill up soon.  You can read about it by clicking here.

You can see our Easter schedule by clicking here.