Dear Forest Hill United Friends, 

I am very much looking forward to sharing this year’s Holy Week Services with all of you. 

On March 29, during our Palm Sunday service we will make a palm parade followed by readings, reflections, songs and prayers.  During our time together, we will explore the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, we will witness his sorrow over Jerusalem, and we will wonder at his boldness as he drives the money-changes from the Temple precincts. 

On April 3, during  our Good Friday service we will hear and reflect on Jesus Seven ‘Words’ from the cross.  Again, the service will be a weave of readings, reflections, songs and prayers as we ponder the spiritual depths of Jesus' final hours. 

Finally, on Easter Sunday we will gather in a joyous celebration of Christ's resurrection.  We will lift our hearts and voices in songs of wonder and praise as we remember the tenancious and surprising hope to which we have all been called.  We will lovingly adorn the cross with the beauty of blossoms and share in our Sacred Meal.  We will remember the living Christ on whom our hearts rely.    

For those of us who have been long a part of the Christian tradition, these ancient stories are familiar and formative ones.  We repeat them year after year because they are meant to shape our lives and inform the ways we live them out.  The stories resonate with us because we too experience moments of grand hope and fierce expectation only to see our hopes dashed and expectations turned to ash.  The good news is that we also know something about resurrection—about fresh beginnings-- even in those long moments when it has seemed that all was lost. 

As Christ followers, we are called to be a people of hope and possibility… even when, and perhaps especially when the future looks uncertain… which, of course, it always does! 

Come, let us walk through this Holy Week together! 

Warmest Blessings,

Rev. Debra Schneider