Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Tomorrow, Palm Sunday, is the beginning of Holy Week. Holy Week is a very special time when the Church invites us into the passion of our Lord. Lent leads us to this holy moment. It is my prayer for us that we embrace this Holy Week together--even if we cannot gather together for worship.
To that end, we will have the online stream of our Palm Sunday service at 9:30 am tomorrow. We’ll also have a chat room with others who are watching and staff from Grace. If you would like to join us for Bible class from 11 am until noon, click here. Otherwise, to join by phone dial +1 347-779-2118 and enter this PIN: 826 559462#.
We will also have the online stream of our Holy Week and Easter services:
In addition to our regular services, Grace will also offer a few more opportunities to worship this Holy Week. First, I will provide a brief video of Morning Prayer for each day of Holy Week. These videos will be posted on Facebook and Youtube.
On Good Friday, we will host a Tre Ore service on Good Friday from noon until 3 pm. The Tre Ore (latin for “Three Hours”) is a service held on Good Friday from noon until 3 o'clock to commemorate the Passion of Christ. Specifically, it refers to the three hours that Jesus hung on the Cross and includes a series of homilies on the seven last words spoken by Christ. We will host this online at YouTube and Facebook. Feel free to join us for as much or as little of the Tre Ore service as you can.
Also, as we will all be spending Holy Week at home, we've uploaded a useful resource for you and your family on our website called “Holy Week at Home”. It offers worship to do at home during Holy Week, whether for a whole household in family prayers, or for individual Holy Week devotions.
Finally, don’t forget to make your palm branches this year (click here for instructions or use the attached .pdf). Take a picture (or pictures) of you and your family with your palm branches, post your picture(s) on Facebook, tag “Grace Lutheran Church” or Brian Pike in your post, and we will use them in our virtual palm procession for tomorrow’s service! Please do this by 5 pm today so that we have time to include your pictures.
This will certainly be a Holy Week to remember. However, let’s not forget the most important thing: Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!
In Christ,
Pastor Eggold
