And we are back with Nextdoor Gospel. I'm Peggy Griffith and I am so glad to be hanging out with you today. A few weeks ago, I did a short bonus episode to talk about Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. Today I wanna talk about a special journey that we have coming up in the next week that culminates in our festive Easter Sunday celebration on April 20th. Now, depending on how close you are to church traditions and calendars, and it is okay if you're not, that's why we're here to talk about these things. You may have heard what's commonly referred to as Holy Week. You see in order to get to the celebration of Easter, the beautiful dresses, decorated eggs and candy. My personal favorite is the Cadbury cream egg. Yep. Sugar upon sugar upon sugar is totally my jam. Someday I'll devote an entire episode to my love of circus peanuts too. But I digress. But in order to get to that point of celebration, there is a path to get there. And when you embark on that journey, it truly makes the celebration of Easter mean so much more. If you can imagine a week that condenses the full spectrum of human emotion into one sacred journey, it's holy week. So today I wanna walk alongside you through the significant days of Holy Week. That includes Palm Sunday, Mondy Thursday, good Friday and Easter Sunday. But I wanna talk about them not just as historical events, but as a profoundly emotional experience. And one that continues to resonate in our hearts today because when we truly enter into the story, we find that it's our story too. Now you may get to experience this week with your own congregation or maybe you don't have a church home. And if that's the case for you, I'll post some links in this episode notes and on the Nextdoor Gospel, Facebook and Instagram pages where you can experience some of these services online with me at First Church tosa. So let's start where Holy Week begins, and that's Palm Sunday, and that is coming up this weekend on Sunday, April 13th. So let's set the stage, shall we? I would like to evoke my best imitation of Sophia from the old sitcom called Golden Girls. She always liked to tell stories of growing up in Sicily, and she would always say, picture it, Sicily 1902. I say picture it Jerusalem 33 ad, but the air is electric with anticipation. The Jewish Festival of Passover is about to begin and Jerusalem is crowded with people and, and there have been rumors about this teacher. Jesus of Nazareth who heals the sick. He speaks with remarkable authority, and some have even spread this rumor that he raised a man named Lazarus from the dead. So you've come to try and capture a glimpse of this larger than life person that you've heard about. Is he the king that was spoken about through the prophets? And you expect to see him riding into Jerusalem on a, on a large warhorse, maybe wearing a crown of jewels in a coat of armor. But to your surprise, here comes this man riding on a humble donkey. And although that's not quite what you expected, the crowd erupts in pure joy and people are spreading their cloaks on the ground before him. And they're praising Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna is a shout of joy and adoration and the emotional of Palm Sunday is hope, infectious, exuberant hope. It's the kind that makes your heart race and brings you tears to your eyes. The people believed that their long awaited Messiah had finally arrived to overthrow their Roman oppressors and restore Israel to glory. Now our worship service at First Church Toa is one of jubilation we celebrate with palm branches. Those same palm branches that will be used to create the ashes for next year's Ash Wednesday. Ah. You see that connection now? And one of the celebratory traditions that we have at our church is that the men of the church wake up bright and early on Sunday morning and they make hot cross buns for the congregation. And let me tell you that walking into First Church on Palm Sunday, you are greeted with the most amazing scent of those freshly baked goods just wafting from the kitchen upstairs. But there's a bittersweetness to Palm Sunday for us as modern believers isn't there because we have the knowledge of history through the scriptures, we know what's coming. We know that many of these same voices shouting, Hosanna, will soon be crying, crucify him. So we experience that tension. That builds between celebration and apprehension, but we go on our merry way, hot cross buns, digested and all. We go to work on Monday like we always do, but now we move forward to Thursday of Holy Week and it's what we call Maundy Thursday. The word maundy comes from the Latin mandatum, which means commandment. Mandate referencing Jesus words at the Last Supper where he said, A new commandment I give to you that you love one another. So at First Church, we prepare a simple supper in our own upper room, which is our upstairs social hall. And we remember that night when Jesus was in the upper room with his disciples. The Passover meal is prepared. And there's an undercurrent of tension because Jesus has been speaking more frequently about his coming death, but yet those in the room don't fully understand it yet, and then something unexpected happens. Jesus, their teacher, their Lord, he rises from the table, wraps a towel around his waist, and begins to wash their feet. That's a task that is so out of tradition and usually reserved for lowest servants. I mean, can you feel the confusion and discomfort, the profound humility of Jesus as he serves those who quite frankly should be serving him and then taking bread and wine? Jesus gives them and us a precious gift of remembrance. This is my body given for you. This cup is the new promise in my blood and for me, the experience of a simple supper shared with my neighbors and friends. It comes with some emotional poignancy. There's a sweetness and tenderness to this meal, to being reminded that above all else, we should love one another. But again, we have the history of knowing that this meal is the last peaceful moment before the storm. And we've all kind of experienced meals like this, haven't we? Bittersweet gatherings where. Love is expressed most deeply because of an impending separation. Maybe it's a last dinner out, uh, with pizza before a child leaves for college, a holiday celebration with an aging parent. These moments where time seem to slow down because we want to treasure them every second. And then after the meal, Jesus takes his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he experiences such anguish that Luke tells us his sweat fell like drops of blood, and Jesus prayed. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done. And we go home. Our belly's full. We sleep in our warm beds and we awaken to Friday. Good Friday, and many people question why It's called Good Friday. There seems to be nothing good about it at first Church. This is probably the most emotional, and even though I know what's going to happen, I'm caught off guard by it every year for the past few years. Again, this year we start our service with a vocal performance of Gethsemane from Jesus Christ Superstar. Now, I know that might sound strange, but I would invite you to look up those lyrics because in Gethsemane, we witness Jesus experiencing profound emotional distress, fear, anxiety, sorrow. Yet in his humanness, he shows us what perfect surrender looks like. And we read from the gospel story of Jesus's suffering, and with each reading extinguishing a candle that gradually darkens the room we're in. The emotional landscape of this service is harsh and it's jagged. I mean, we have the shock and confusion of Jesus arrest. The bitter sting of betrayal. Peter denies even knowing Jesus. Not once but three times, and there's a grotesque mockery of justice. There's a fickle crowd shouting at him and the horror of the crucifixion itself. It is painful and humiliating and. It confronts us with suffering in its rawest form. Jesus literally bore the absolute worst that humanity had to offer, and I think that's the part that affects me the most. It forces me to sit with discomfort. I'm a positive rose colored glasses kind of person. But it just, it always takes my breath away to recognize the brokenness in this world. And then silence. Jesus is dead. His breath is last. His body is taken down, and it's placed in a borrowed tomb. Followers scatter, hiding in fear. Overwhelmed with grief and disillusionment over what just happened, and I'll never forget the first time I attended Good Friday at First Church, after all the readings, when the candles are extinguished and darkness fills the room, the choir, I'm not quite sure what they do, but they take the hymnals and they just loud crack against the pews. And it makes this loud, startling noise. The tomb is closed and we walk out of the church to our cars in silence. I mean, John and I hardly say a word to each other on the drive home. It is just so powerful that we have to process it. And Saturday, what we sometimes call Holy Saturday. It's often overlooked in holy week observances. But it's important I think, to sit with this day of silence, this day of waiting, because you know, we all have our Holy Saturdays, those periods of waiting, not knowing if or how things are gonna turn out. But then Sunday Dawns. Easter Sunday, early in the morning, women come to the tomb and they find the stone rolled away and an empty tomb. He's not here. He has risen, just as he said. And the emotion of Easter Sunday is joy, but it's not just any joy because you see, if you have traveled this season of Lent. And the emotional rollercoaster that is holy week. It is a joy that has traveled through grief, a joy that has overcome despair, joy, that is mingled with astonishment and wonder, and maybe even a touch of holy fear that is resurrection joy. This is the miracle. And the mystery of Holy Week, and it takes us through the entire emotional spectrum of the human experience in one week. So friends, as we walk through our Holy Weeks, whether it's in a, in the church calendar, or maybe it's in the season of our lives, I invite you to feel it deeply. Don't rush past the uncomfortable emotions. Don't skip from Palm Sunday straight to Easter because there's grace to be found in every part of the journey because this is not just a story that we remember. It's a reality that we live. The one who rode into Jerusalem, who washed feet, who died, and rose again walks with us still today. And nothing, not betrayal, not suffering, not even death itself can separate us from that love. So may we live as Easter people in a good Friday world. Thank you so much for joining me on Nextdoor Gospel today. May this holy week be a time of rich spiritual connection and renewal for each of you. And again, I'll post some links on how you can participate in Holy Week at First Church Toa if you'd like to join me in person or online. And until then, may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and bring you peace. Amen.