Holy Week begins this weekend on Palm Sunday (though we are starting a bit early with Saturday’s Egg Hunt), and as we enter this time of prayer and reflection, several staff and church members have shared their thoughts with us.
Pastor John Fullerton, FPC Senior Pastor
For me, it is the Holy Week experience as a whole. The triumphal entry of Palm Sunday which leads to the upper room moment where Jesus issues the command (mandatum…maundy) to love on Thursday which then leads to the heaviness of the cross on Friday.
All of that is followed by the waiting on Saturday, which makes Sunday morning so powerful and moving. The pageantry and joy, the family and friends, the victory and glory make Easter like no other day.
I love it all.
Susan Stephens, FPC Member
“My daughter, Laura, was seven years old, and we were at the Maundy Thursday services. When the portion of scripture was read about the Garden of Gethsemane, she cried out in tears, ‘I don’t want them to kill my Jesus.’ I knew then that she would always have a heart Jesus.”
Pastor Zac McGowen, FPC Outreach Pastor
“Holy Week is a microcosm of all the life of faith, and that’s because it’s the centerpiece of Jesus’ own ministry. The week shows us that just as our Lord experienced extreme hardship before the resurrection, our journeys will be no different.
The week walks through the misunderstanding of Jesus’ purpose by the crowds at Palm Sunday. It walks through a demonstration of his heart of love during Maundy Thursday and the rejection by his closest friends at Good Friday.
There is nothing recorded for Saturday, but even that helps us understand the season when we feel God is silent (though he is always working for our good and glory [Romans 8:28]. Finally, the opening of Easter Sunday carries with it a mixture of confusion and joy.
I feel those rises and falls in my journey with Jesus, and I’m grateful FPC takes the Holy Week journey so seriously. It’s why we come back to this rhythm every year and why I encourage people to carve out the time for this observance.”
Anna Butler, FPC Director of Children’s Ministries
“Holy Week is a time I get to slow down and remember the cost of the grace I receive daily. It allows me to reflect on the amount of love shown to me through Jesus.”
Sam Carlton, FPC Classic Worship Arts Director
“Holy Week is a reminder for all of us to live into hope. I think about the people surrounding Jesus and how they must have felt at his death. Grief. Grief at the loss of a mentor, friend, family member, son, co-worker; that thing we all experience during our time on this Earth. It is not something we wish for; indeed, grief has an uncanny ability to steal our hope.
On Thursday, we explore our own naivety; we are reminded that we take the gift of Jesus for granted. Other than Judas, who would have thought that would be their last meal with him? How many people in our own lives do we take for granted? We need that reminder that nothing is given in this life, so we must cherish every moment. In the summer of 2021, Kate and I visited her cousin in D.C. They were the best of friends. Her cousin died a week later at the age of 33. The grief is something we both share, and we are grateful to know that our last words to each other were ‘I love you.’
On Friday, we are reminded of a world without hope, a world in which those nearest to Jesus must have felt to be so real. For me, holy week is a time to reflect deeply on a hopeless mortality, while living in a society that grows increasingly nihilistic by the day. I pray nobody experiences hopelessness, but as someone who has lost friends and family, I would be lying if I said I did not have my doubts in those moments.
When Bri passed, both Kate and I experienced that level of grief. It never truly leaves you once you experience it, you just learn how to cope better. We need this time, this ritual we partake in called Holy Week to practice for when we really do feel hopeless. We must practice listening for God’s voice, so that we hear his voice in those moments when we want nothing more than to shut down and curl up into a ball.
On Sunday, we get to experience the jubilation of Christ’s triumph over the grave. Death takes on a new meaning through Christ. After the resurrection, there were those who doubted. I think of Thomas who needed to see hope with his eyes to be reminded of it in his present moment of need. He needed to be reminded that hope is real. We need to be reminded that hope is real.
To me, that is what this week is about; the reminder that while we live in a world that at times feels completely hopeless, hope is always there beside us because of what Christ did on the cross.
Join Us
We invite you to join us for all of our Holy Week activities. You can find more information here: Easter at FPC.