It is cold! And for that reason I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the reality that this Sunday is Palm Sunday, already! Already!
And this confusion is playing into the reality of Palm Sunday also for me- just as we are experiencing the warm and cold, Palm Sunday reminds me of the shout and silence of the people who were journeying with Jesus. We continue our exploration of ‘everything in between’ this Palm Sunday, April 14th, celebrating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem with people singing, shouting and waving palm branches.
That celebration was short lived! Soon the crowd that shouted Hosanna, silences or sides with the powerful people of the day. These events we observe during the Holy Week. This space between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday is worth lingering in, now more than ever. As society becomes increasingly polarized, Holy Week challenges the dichotomies that divide humanity into categories like powerful and powerless, enemy and friend, innocent and guilty, “us” and “them.” As violence continues to be the favored tool of many nations, Good Friday exposes the injustice of punitive “justice.” And as COVID and climate change continue to wreak havoc across the planet, this sacred time lets us practice sitting with and protesting our own and others’ pain.
So this year we will have a HOLY WEEK service on Maundy Thursday, April 17th @ 7pm blending some of the traditional elements of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services into one liturgy, and engaging worshippers through Communion and prayer, meditative Taizé songs and conversation, imaginative monologues and an embodied expression of grief.
Saturday, which is also called ‘Quiet Saturday,’ is considered a time of silent anticipation and waiting, in anticipation of resurrection. If you attend the Holy Week service, we invite you to take a poem titled ‘this moment matters” to read on Saturday, but if you miss the service, you can access the poem here.
We end the waiting period and revive the “Alleluias” with the SONrise service. On Easter Sunday, April 20th we will meet @ 6am at the Chevron sculpture by the Diversey Driving Range and Bacino’s Italian Grill (248 W Diversey Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60657).
Use the QR code on the left or link above if you are walking, and the address given above if you plan on driving. You can also call/text Pastor Alka at 815-474-6721. If it rains we will be at church. For the most updated info please check our fb page.
EASTER WORSHIP service will be @ 11am at church to be reminded that grief and HOPE can both be experiences of the divine, just as God shows up in shades of gray, rainbow hues, and ‘everywhere in between,’ and may these reminders becomes beacons of hope and experiences of resurrection for us in our everyday lives, like the hyacinths, snowdrops and crocuses, peeking through the earth, remind us of the cycle of life.
Beloveds, let us remember that Jesus always addressed the injustices, exorcised evil from communities and shared love with all people and eventually it cost him his life. May we continue to commit ourselves to addressing the injustices of our world and share the love of God with all people to the best of our ability, becoming agents of hope in this world. May we be a blessing to all we meet, and I look forward to seeing you at church.
