This will be a special week.
This week we get to focus, specifically and intentionally, on the last days of Jesus’ life. In many ways, your week may seem normal. You still have to go to work. You still have to take the kids to school. The chores of cooking dinner or doing the laundry still have to be done.
I encourage you to create some reminders throughout your day that this is not just a normal week. No, this is a holy week. This is a week when we remember what Jesus went through on our behalf.
Here at Unity, we want to help you experience Holy Week. Here are a couple of ways:
Read the stories of Jesus’ last days:
I recommend that you read Luke 22 and 23 this week. Read these stories slowly and imagine yourself as a character in the narrative. Try to experience what it would have been like for Jesus to go through these events.
Attend a special service:
Maundy Thursday: On Thursday at 7:00pm we have our Maundy Thursday service at Unity. This is a moving service that studies the Last Supper. We are using the set that Carleen Prue painted for the church; it looks incredible. During this service, we will take communion as we remember Jesus’ powerful words during the Passover Meal.
Good Friday: We join our friends at Macedonia Baptist Church to experience a service that studies Jesus’ crucifixion. (1951 Stanley Lucia Rd, Mt. Holly, NC 28120). This service will be at 7 pm.
Easter Sunrise: On Easter, we have a sunrise service at Frank and Sharyn Darden’s house (down the street from the church, on the lake- 8434 Pine Lake Rd.). This service will begin at 6:30am and we will meet at the main entrance of the church at 6:15am for anyone that wants to ride the bus.
During this service we remember how Jesus’ followers went to visit his tomb just as the sun rose on Easter morning. It was during this early morning experience that they were told that the tomb was empty. It is very special to wake up early on Easter and imagine what it must have felt like for those first disciples to hear the incredible news.
Easter Morning: We will also have our 9:30 and 11:00am services on Easter. The choir will be singing at both services. We will proclaim Jesus’ resurrection with shouts of “He is risen!” These are great services to invite family and friends to attend.
I pray that this Holy Week will be a meaningful and supportive time in your faith.
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
-Luke 23:44-46
See you on Thursday!
-Pastor David
