Some of our congregation rolling eggs last Easter Sunday
Our Holy Week and Easter celebrations start with our Palm Sunday service on Sunday 25th. March at 10.30 a.m., continue with a service each evening of Holy Week, from Monday to Friday, at 6 p.m. and reach their climax with our Easter Sunday morning celebration of Easter Communion at 10.30 a.m.
The evening services will last about half an hour and will be based firmly on the events of that day in Holy Week as together we remind ourselves about what happened and what it means for us today.
Palm Sunday 25th. March at 10.30 a.m.
On Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey while fellow pilgrims waved palm branches, spread their coats on the road and shouted ‘Hosanna!’
On one level it was a triumphant entry to the city at the heart of the faith of his people, but was it a welcome for an itinerant Jewish preacher or was it a welcome for the long-awaited Messiah? And what message was Jesus trying to proclaim as he made his way into the Holy City?
There is a lot to understand not only about the events of the day but about what they say to us in Fogo in 2018.
The service is contained within an hour and refreshments are served afterwards. You will be made very welcome.
Monday 26th. March at 6 p.m.
On Monday Jesus returned to Jerusalem from Bethany where he had spent the night at the home of Mary and Martha. Mark records that on his way he cursed a fig tree because it had no fruit. It is a strange incident because he also records that it was not the season for figs!
In Jerusalem Jesus makes his way to the Temple where he proceeds to clear out the money changers and those who were selling birds and animals for sacrifice, declaring that ‘My Father’s House will be a house of prayer for the people of all nations’. It is little wonder that the religious leaders met and planned how they could get rid of him.
Tuesday 27th. March at 6 p.m.
On Tuesday we find Jesus once more in the Temple. It is a day of teaching, of disputes and of questions. Some of the best known of Jesus’ parables come from this day — the story of the two sons, the vineyard, the marriage supper, the ten bridesmaids and the parable of the three servants. Jesus debates with the Pharisees and the Sadduccees and discusses with a teacher of the Law which is the greatest commandment of all.
It is hard to think that so much of what we know of Jesus’ teaching comes from this one day when Jesus returned to the Temple after the dramatic events of yesterday.
There will be a great deal to think about in our short service this evening.
Wednesday 28th. March at 6 p.m.
After the dramatic events of the last three days, today Jesus remains in quiet in Bethany just outside Jerusalem, preparing himself for all that lies ahead.
While he is in the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreadful skin disease, he is anointed with oil by a woman. Although she is not named, Jesus says to his disciples, ‘Wherever the gospel is preached all over the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her’.
Meanwhile Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples, is bargaining to betray Jesus with the chief priests, who were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death.
Thursday 29th. March at 6 p.m. Maundy Thursday
Today is dominated by Jesus’ last meal with his disciples, held in an upper room in the city of Jerusalem. First Jesus washes his disciples’ feet and then he celebrates what has become for us the Sacrament of Holy Communion in which, of course, we shall share this evening.
After the meal and after Jesus’ farewell words to his disciples, together they make their way to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prays that what lies ahead might be taken from him. ‘Yet not what I want, but what you want.’
In the garden he is arrested by an armed crowd brought there by Judas. Jesus is led away to face trial and his disciples scatter. Shortly Peter will deny three times that he even knew who Jesus was.
Friday 30th. March at 6 p.m. ‘Good’ Friday
This is Good Friday but that is not how it seems as we start to read of all that Jesus went through on this day: tried by the High Priests, then by Pilate, thereafter by Herod, and then by Pilate again; scourged, mocked and condemned to death; taken to Calvary, crucified and killed.
At our service today we shall read the account of this unbelievable day and see how even at this dreadful time the lives of several people were changed as they interacted with Jesus.
As we meditate on the events of this day we will come face to face once again with the depth of God’s love for the whole of humanity and for each one of us individually.
Sunday 1st. April at 10.30 a.m. Easter Day
If there is only one Sunday when you feel that you need to come to Church it is probably Easter Sunday morning so that you can listen to the Easter story and discover, as did the first disciples all those years ago, that Jesus who had been brutally executed was now alive and that as a result life for us is different both in its quality now and in its hope for the future.
Our Easter Sunday morning will include a celebration of Holy Communion as we join with Christians all around the world as well as all over our own country in singing favourite Easter hymns, reading the gospel story and offering our own Easter prayers.
Everyone from our community and beyond will be made extremely welcome. If you haven’t been in the habit of coming to church then this might be a good opportunity to come along for the first time. Or if you haven’t been in church for a while but feel that just perhaps you might have been missing something, you can count on a genuine welcome.
“You are always welcome
at
Fogo Parish Church”
