Holy Week’s events are meant to provoke profound questions. Why would God elect to meet us in our own flesh and why was 1st-century Palestine the right setting for this redemptive encounter? Why would God choose to live and move among powerless country peasants rather than infiltrate the Jerusalem power brokers and 1%, overturn the Roman occupation, and seize power as Israel’s long-awaited king of kings? Why would Jesus’s friends prove so fickle that not one of them rushed to his defense? Why would Jesus go to such extremes to prove what psalmists and prophets had been saying for centuries: God’s love for us defies all description and measure? We ask these kinds of questions every year. And even when we can tease out some theological significance, the answers exceed our comprehension.
Yet there is a second set of “whys” that should also interest us. Why does this story hold meaning for each of us—in equally real but often radically different ways? Why does the account of Jesus’s last hours stirs so many different emotions in us? What do we gain in telling this story again and again?
This week Gather will meet for a Maundy Thursday Zoom service that makes room for personal reflection. Plan to be with us at 7:30pm CDT as we recall the fateful Thursday evening that began with a Passover dinner party (complete with singing!) and ended with what surely looked like the end of the Jesus movement. As we recall the specific events of that evening, we’ll hear testimony and song to deepen our appreciation of just how personal this story gets.
On Sunday April 25 we will come together to rejoice as life slowly returns to “normal.” But what will that really look like? The pandemic has surely changed us in many ways. How we meet this moment will be of major importance in the future we co-create with God and one another. Join us for a special service of exuberant joy and thoughtful challenge.
We need your help!
As we think about the future of Gather, please let us know what gifts you bring and would like to share with the community. There are many roles that have to come together to make Gather happen every week. This includes setup, technical support, worship, managing handouts and information, coordinating drinks, and teardown. We need your help. Please let us know what type of service you’d be interested in!
Watch God Work,
Tim & Shea
As we prepare to become a vibrant worshipping community, we invite you to enjoy a Spotify playlist that captures the kind of worship we hope to embrace. Give it a spin while you’re driving. Make it your workout jam. Add it to your devotional time. Most of all, feel yourself becoming part of a sacred village of believers who love their God and one another!
Check out the Gather Worship Playlist here.
