This Sunday we'll begin Holy Week; the seven days preceding Easter when we try to imagine what it must have been like for Jesus the week he chose to die on the cross.  At All Saints' we offer worship services every day of this upcoming week.  Each day, each worship service invites us to enter into a different aspect of Jesus' life.

On Palm Sunday (8,9,11am) we will remember Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an entrance that was viewed by the ruling religious and political authorities of the day with great fear and dismay.

On Monday (7pm) we'll have plenty of quiet meditative time to reflect on those times in our own life when we have felt alone or forgotten.

On Tuesday (7pm) we'll have the opportunity to ask for anointing and prayers for healing.

On Wednesday (7pm), through a series of contemporary readings we'll be invited to reflect on our complicity in such systemic sins as war, environmental degradation, and consumerism.

On Thursday we'll gather at 6:00 pm in the parish hall to share a simple soup supper and remember the night before Jesus died.  Following our dinner we'll wash one another's hands or feet and then move to the sanctuary to pray as some of us strip away all of the ornaments and decorations of our sacred space. We will end our time in complete darkness.

Following the service you may sign up for confession or conversation with me from 9 to 11 that evening.  Or for confession or conversation with Fran from 1 to 3 on Friday afternoon.  We'll also have the option of staying, praying all night long in either the sanctuary or the Reading Room.

On Good Friday morning, we will begin this most solemn day with Morning Prayer at 7:00.  At noon we'll have the Stations of the Cross.  From 1 to 3 the sanctuary will be open for prayer and meditation and at 8:00 in the Evening our young people will lead our evening Remembrance of Christ's Death.

On Saturday morning we'll have a simple service at 9:00.  Then we'll jump ahead for just a moment with our Community Easter Egg Hunt (rain or shine) from 10:00 am to Noon.  At 8:00 on Saturday evening we will gather around the sacred flame to begin our Easter Vigil.  This amazing worship service will offer each of us a glimpse into our Holy Scriptures and God's saving works in a most memorable fashion.  (Bring Bells to ring.)

Then on Easter Sunday morning at 8,9 and 11 o'clock we'll remember and celebrate Christ's life-giving resurrection from the grave (Again bring those bells to ring).

So there is much to take in, many worship services to choose from.  Mostly it is a time for us to take seriously how we are complicit in the ills of this world AND to take equally seriously how through Christ's death and resurrection we now, need never settle for anything less than life and life in abundance.

I look forward to seeing all of you this week.  We'll have child care throughout the evening on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

All my best,

Bonnie