Holy Week.

We enter Holy Week together, having spent the last 6 weeks standing in the tragic gap with Jesus where he was Broken Open in so many different ways.

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “this world is a great sculptor’s shop.  We are the statues, and there is a rumor going round the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life.”  It is in meeting singular individuals like Mother Teresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Bayard Rustin, Oscar Romero, Lorenza A. Smith and the founders of Central UMC that such a rumor is heard, for in the presence of those persons we not only witness life in all its fullness, but encounter the reality of our own deathly state. (paraphrased from Insurrection by Peter Rollins pg. 160)

Our deepest hope is that this series has enabled your life to be rooted in grace and to grow in faith as you have taken time to reflect each week on the stories and scripture.  Still, we recognize that it may be tempting this week to turn away from these final days.  You will not be alone.  We journey forward to courageously embrace the reality of forsakenness with our Holy Week worship.

The name Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin word “mandatum” which means  “commandment”, after the traditional Maundy Thursday reading from the Gospel of John:  “A new commandment I give unto you:  That you love one another even as I have loved you”.  (John 13:34).  It is the night on which Christians for centuries have remembered the last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples and recalled when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet (John 12:1-17).  Following these actions Jesus goes to the garden for prayer.  Our worship, Forsaken at The Table, will travel this story with Jesus.

What has your experience been with communion?  What is your understanding of the Lord’s Supper and the way it is celebrated at The Table or in other communities of faith?

Good Friday is traced back as the second oldest “special day” of the Christian year (pre-dated only by the Easter Vigil kept through the night until Easter sunrise.)   On Good Friday Christians remember the crucifixion of Jesus.  In our worship, Forsaken at The Cross, we will hear the story of the betrayal of Jesus and his crucifixion read aloud as we pray and remember those final hours in prayer.

Where do you go when you need to be alone and reflect or pray?  What is a time that you have felt the disappointment and sting of betrayal?  When have you called on God and felt God’s absence?  

Holy Week & Easter Worship at The Table: 

Maundy Thursday, April 5,  7 pm.  Begin in Social Hall and move to sanctuary.

Good Friday April 6, 7pm. in the sanctuary.

Easter Sunday April 8, 6:30 am gather to worship at sunrise on the lawn at Central UMC 10:30 am gather to worship in the sanctuary of Central UMC.