EASTER LETTER FROM REV. BEU
Dear Members and Friends of Neighborhood Congregational Church:
As the end of Lent approaches and we draw near to Holy Week and Easter, I invite you to deepen your walk with God by attending our services of worship this holy season.
Our Palm Sunday celebration, March 28, 10:00 a.m. will not only feature the jubilant procession of our children with palms and singing, but our occasional choir will perform two anthems, our bell choir will accompany the hymns, and we will witness a moving drama exploring the motivations of those who sought to bring about Jesus’ death.
It is always tempting to go from the celebration of Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem to the cheers and adulation of the crowds, to the glorious celebration of Christ’s victory over the grave a week later on Easter Sunday. It is tempting to skip or gloss over the pathos of what happen during Holy Week, but it isn’t true to our faith, and it’s not true to life. Over this past year, we have witnessed the deaths of friends and family members; we have witnessed serious illnesses, the deterioration of mental faculties in parents and loved ones; we have experienced the slow ravages of time and the sudden calamity of misfortunes. We have lived our Lent and we need the healing waters of Holy Week.
And so, I invite you to attend our Holy Week services this year. In addition to Holy Communion, our Holy Thursday service on April 1, 7:00 p.m., will feature a deeper level of healing touch and anointing than our regular services can offer. As a myriad of images of Jesus play upon the screen, experience the power of healing hands and essential oils. Let go of everything that keeps you from living with passion and purpose.
The following day, we will have the labyrinth open in Bridge Hall on Good Friday, April 2. Scripture readings and short meditative prayers will be available for those who wish to spend time in walking meditation. Healing Touch Ministers will also be present for prayer and anointing. The labyrinth will be open from 7-9 am, 12-2 pm, and 4-6 pm.
Our Good Friday Tenebrae service on April 2 at 7 p.m. moves from light to darkness as we watch the light of God leave the world. This service is about emotional loss and the death of dreams for a quick fix to solve life’s complex problems. Interwoven with reflective songs and prayer are fourteen readings depicting the final days of Jesus’ days in Jerusalem. After each reading a candle is extinguished until the sanctuary is left in darkness. Those who attended last year’s service remarked about its power to evoke a feeling of being on the journey with Christ to the cross.
We have two Easter celebrations. The first is a 6:30 a.m. sunrise service at Alta Laguna Park suffused with Native American spirituality, complete with Native flute and drumming to the four directions, whose intersection forms a cross. As the sun rises over the surrounding hills spilling light onto the Pacific Ocean, our lay ministers lead us in a service of Holy Communion and an Easter reflection. The second Easter service will be at the church at 10:00 a.m., where we will welcome Christ’s resurrection with our fully restored 1907 Mason and Hamlin piano. Steve and Beth Wood will help us celebrate this day with evocative and uplifting special music. Our liturgical dancers will help us transition from the utter loss and despair of Good Friday and Holy Saturday to the slow dawning awareness that new life is in our midst.
We are busy people with schedules that strain our energy level and our very sanity at times. It is easy to find reasons to miss services that focus on suffering and death. But if we do not watch and do not enter into the heart of God’s suffering love, we so easily lose the path, the hard road that leads to fullness of life. Please join me as we walk that road together.
Yours on the journey, Pastor B. J.