Lent, Holy Week, and Easter (2026)
We're just about halfway through Lent, so it seems like a good time to provide an update on our plans for Holy Week and Easter. Since this is an unusual year for us, our worship opportunities will be a little different than in recent years, but we're focused on providing meaningful ways to reflect, ponder, worship, and praise God for the gift of His Son Jesus Christ to serve as the perfect atoning sacrifice once and for all.
We will celebrate Palm Sunday at our 10 am Sunday morning worship service on March 29.
Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the fulfillment of the prophecy recorded centuries earlier in Zechariah 9:9. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the last week of Jesus' life, a period of time many Christians know as Holy Week or Passion Week.
On Thursday, April 2, we will commemorate Jesus' institution of Holy Communion (known also as The Lord's Supper or the Eucharist) at a special Maundy Thursday evening service (7 pm) in Trumbull Hall at the Etna church. Our service will focus on Scripture readings and a celebration of Communion "in remembrance of Him".
The New Testament records the basic story of Maundy Thursday in the "synoptic Gospels" (Luke 22:7-38, Matthew 26:17-35, and Mark 14:12-31). "The disciple Jesus loved" takes a deep dive into that Thursday evening. In John 13-17, the disciple named John, one of Jesus' inner circle with Peter and James, shares a moving eyewitness account of Jesus' words and actions in his "last supper" with His disciples.
On Friday, April 3, it is common for Christian churches to commemorate the sad and horrifying events leading to Jesus' death on the Cross (see Matthew 26:26 - 27:62, Mark 14:32 - 15:47, Luke 22:22 - 23:56, and/or John 18:1 - 19:42) with a special church service . Christians call the day Good Friday - not out a sense of irony but rather as a testimony to the culmination of Jesus' saving work on our behalf.
We will not have a church service on Good Friday this year, but we do plan to share a short devotional via our website to provide an opportunity to reflect on the brutal yet essential events of that long-ago Friday when Jesus suffered and "gave up His spirit" (i.e., submitted Himself to death) so that death and sin might be conquered in His resurrection in the glory of Easter morning.
On Easter Sunday, April 5, we will start the morning with our traditional Easter breakfast in Trumbull Hall, and then we'll gather to celebrate Jesus' resurrection and the empty tomb at our 10 am worship service.
Please "stay tuned" to our website for additional details! We look forward to seeing you at one or more of our special worship services this year.
We will celebrate Palm Sunday at our 10 am Sunday morning worship service on March 29.
Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the fulfillment of the prophecy recorded centuries earlier in Zechariah 9:9. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the last week of Jesus' life, a period of time many Christians know as Holy Week or Passion Week.
On Thursday, April 2, we will commemorate Jesus' institution of Holy Communion (known also as The Lord's Supper or the Eucharist) at a special Maundy Thursday evening service (7 pm) in Trumbull Hall at the Etna church. Our service will focus on Scripture readings and a celebration of Communion "in remembrance of Him".
The New Testament records the basic story of Maundy Thursday in the "synoptic Gospels" (Luke 22:7-38, Matthew 26:17-35, and Mark 14:12-31). "The disciple Jesus loved" takes a deep dive into that Thursday evening. In John 13-17, the disciple named John, one of Jesus' inner circle with Peter and James, shares a moving eyewitness account of Jesus' words and actions in his "last supper" with His disciples.
On Friday, April 3, it is common for Christian churches to commemorate the sad and horrifying events leading to Jesus' death on the Cross (see Matthew 26:26 - 27:62, Mark 14:32 - 15:47, Luke 22:22 - 23:56, and/or John 18:1 - 19:42) with a special church service . Christians call the day Good Friday - not out a sense of irony but rather as a testimony to the culmination of Jesus' saving work on our behalf.
We will not have a church service on Good Friday this year, but we do plan to share a short devotional via our website to provide an opportunity to reflect on the brutal yet essential events of that long-ago Friday when Jesus suffered and "gave up His spirit" (i.e., submitted Himself to death) so that death and sin might be conquered in His resurrection in the glory of Easter morning.
On Easter Sunday, April 5, we will start the morning with our traditional Easter breakfast in Trumbull Hall, and then we'll gather to celebrate Jesus' resurrection and the empty tomb at our 10 am worship service.
Please "stay tuned" to our website for additional details! We look forward to seeing you at one or more of our special worship services this year.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double. – Zechariah 9:9-12 (ESV)
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