Friends,

The Week of Guided Prayer winds down tomorrow and Sunday marks the beginning of Holy week for Christians around the world. With so much information coming at us from all directions, this is a week where we are invited to journey together in quieter contemplation toward the mystery of Easter.

I invite you into all the emotions of this week: the joys, the struggles, the pain, the fear, the ups and downs. These are in fact the very same emotions we have come to experience day to day in this mysterious time of uncertainty.

The Story moves us from Palm Sunday through Good Friday and on to Easter. The key word here is through: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . . . “ We are moving through this experience as a community, together.

May these words from Jan Richardson help us see God’s blessing and presence with us through it all.

Blessing of Palms
This blessing
can be heard coming
from a long way off.
This blessing
is making
its steady way
up the road
toward you.
This blessing
blooms in the throats
of women
springs from the hearts
of men
tumbles from the mouths
of children.

This blessing
is stitched into
the seams
of the cloaks
that line the road,
etched into
the branches
that trace the path,
echoes in the
breathing of the willing colt,
the click of the donkey’s hoof
against the stones.
Something is rising
beneath this blessing.
Something will try
to drown it out.
But this blessing
cannot be turned back,
cannot be made
to still its voice,
cannot cease
to sing its praise
of the one who comes
along the way
it makes.
—Jan Richardson
(paintedprayerbook.com)

The story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem invite us to explore the seven statements in answer to the questions “Who do you say that I AM?”

I look forward to having you join in worship on Sunday as we delve into these questions.