Today (Palm Saturday) we experience a preview of Holy Week, the Passion and Resurrection for our families! It is awesome to see the children learn what this is all about, make pretzels, crafts etc...
Tomorrow (Palm or Passion Sunday,) we celebrate the experience of the Procession of Palms and Balloons remembering the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in John 12:
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: 15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
We continue the service after processing in with palms and balloons to the song HOSANNA, with the reading of the remainder of John 12 hearing specifically of the words:
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up[g] from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
The prayer we have for everyone as we enter into Holy Week, with the conclusion of our reading through the New Covenant (Testament) is that we have gained a much better understanding of the Covenants God has made with us in the Old Covenant as well as the New. Starting in Gen. 3:15, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to King David and today Jeremiah 31 looking at what GOD does in Covenant with us and how HE gave us these promises and now we prepare to see life through the NEW Covenant we have in CHRIST JESUS through our relationship with HIM and in our Baptism. That we would see, feel and hear JESUS!
I have the privilege of sharing this message at ALIVE! in Tecumseh at 4. But if you are not joining us there please remember:
On Palm Sunday, April 17th come celebrate our Lord at Hosanna! join with Christians for a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic but ONE LORD from 5:00 to 6:30 at the Michigan Theater for HOSANNA 2011! This promises to be a fantastic time!
This HOLY WEEK we celebrate the truth and celebrate Christ's giving of HIS NEW COMMAND on MAUNDY THURSDAY (Maundatem: meaning mandate) in the words of John 15: (During the Last Supper which we will celebrate on Thursday in the Passover Seder Meal at 6pm)
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
After we celebrate the Passover Seder we will Strip the Altar as a reminder of Jesus' journey to the Garden of Gethsemane and HIS State of Humiliation.
On Friday evening at 7 we will have a Good Friday service where we leave in silence and contemplate the BLOOD of the NEW Covenant shed on the cross of Calvary!
On Holy Saturday we will not have a Vigil this Easter, due to the Pastor's health but we will spend this time in prayer!
Sunday morning we will Celebrate a late Sonrise Service at 7:45am with Easter Breakfast from 8:15-10:15 with Resurrection DAY Service happening at 10:30! There will be no Christian Education Hour on Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday. (There will be NO 12:15 Service this year.) We are going to Celebrate "Living life through the perspective of the NEW Covenant and the Cross and Empty Tomb" It will be awesome!
Please pray for the Palm Saturday celebration, Holy Week Services, as well as the students finishing up at EMU, Washtenaw Community College, Concordia University and U of M.
Please keep the Saturday after Easter (April 30) to join us in Spring cleaning at the Church. The Saturday after Easter, April 30th, we will have a Spring Cleanup Day inside and outside the building. We will start around 9:00 and have a cookout at noon. Bring your tools, rags and cleaners and lets make our Lord's House look extra nice!
On Sunday, May 1 we will have a shortened 12:15 Service with Worship, Prayer and Testimonies then there will be the BLESSING of BIKES with a BBQ and Fellowship time at 1:10.
May God richly bless you all as we prepare for HOLY WEEK and look forward to what the Lord will do and how HE will change our lives!
Pastor Bryan
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