PALM SUNDAY

March 28

HOLY WEEK WORKSHOP FOR FAMILIES
10 am, Fellowship Hall
Rather than go to regular Church School classes on Palm Sunday, children and parents are invited to come to the Fellowship Hall to deepen their understanding of the story of Holy Week by rotating through a series of experiential learning centers, which include folding palms into crosses, foot washing, making cross necklaces, designing Easter cards for prisoners, and creating colorful butterflies.  Please join us.

PALM SUNDAY WORSHIP
8:45 & 11 am - Jill Edens to preach.    
We will begin outside under the canopy (weather permitting), bless the palms and process into the sanctuary.  The Road Home Band will provide music at 8:45. The Chancel Choir, with bells and brass, will sing at the 11 am service.  There is ASL interpretation for the 11 am worship. 

This year, we celebrate Palm Sunday with Eco-Palms!
This project encourages congregations to purchase responsibly harvested Eco-Palm branches for Palm Sunday. The palms come from communities in Mexico and Guatemala where workers are paid fairly and engage in sustainable harvesting in order to protect the local ecosystem.

HOLY WEEK

MAUNDY THURSDAY
April 1, 7:30 pm
Jill Edens to preach.
Chamber Singers to sing.  Organist, Bea Price

On Maundy Thursday we remember the new covenant (Latin: mandatum) that Jesus gave his disciples -- “that you love one another.”  On this night, the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Jesus. 
 
GOOD FRIDAY NOONDAY SERVICE
April 2, 12 Noon

(led by Susan Steinberg)
Organist, Bea Price
This will be an interactive, contemplative service, journeying along various stations around the church to remember the last days of Jesus’s life.  Along our journey we will hear from characters, sing songs, pray and remember.   This Good Friday service is accessible for all ages.

GOOD FRIDAY EVENING SERVICE
April 2, 7:30 pm
The Good Friday service will be quiet and meditative, organized around congregational singing from the liturgies of the Taizé Christian Community, an international and interdenominational community based in the village of Taizé in southern France.   This year, Dick Ryder and other woodwind instrumentalists will join the regular Taizé musicians for a rich, musical worship service.

EASTER SUNDAY

April 4

7 AM SUNRISE SERVICE IN MEMORIAL GARDEN 

“In the sure and certain hope of  resurrection, …”
Susan Steinberg will preach at this outdoor gathering. 
One of the prayers as a person’s ashes are interred into the ground proclaims that we do so in the sure and certain hope of resurrection.  On Easter morning come and hear the echoes of that assurance as we sing and pray and hear God’s Word of “the sure and certain hope of resurrection.”  Bea Price will play the keyboard.

7:30 EASTER BREAKFAST
 Join us in the Fellowship Hall for a wonderful breakfast provided by the Fellowship Board.

8:45 WORSHIP SERVICE OF WORD & SACRAMENT
Richard Edens will preach. 
United Voices of Praise, the Brass Ensemble and the Handbell Choir will play. 

10:00 EASTER BRUNCH
Between the two morning services, worshippers are invited to bring an Easter bread, coffee cake, fruit, or brunch-type finger foods to share.  We are also longing for hard, boiled, decorated Easter eggs.  There will be tables with coffee and tea.

11:00 WORSHIP SERVICE OF WORD & SACRAMENT
Richard Edens will preach. 
Chancel Choir and Chamber Singers will sing.  The Brass Ensemble and the Handbell Choir will play.  There will be ASL interpretation for the 11 am service.

ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have,” says the writer of Hebrews to the community of faith. The call was personal, a reminder that our actions as Christians speak as loudly as our words and worship services.

As each of us gives to One Great Hour of Sharing® we help families and villages around the world to build lives and communities that are healthy, safe and sustainable. Sharing our resources really changes lives!
    
Nine Christian church bodies work alongside Church World Service, transforming lives in this country and around the world. 
    
Our gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing®:

• create sustainable sources of income for rural villages
• provide micro-credit to women to start poverty-escaping businesses
• teach trades and job skills to people maimed by landmines
• offer children a chance to survive past the age of 5 and go to school
• help rebuild communities ravaged by natural disasters
• resettle refugees into new lives
• ...and much more!

On Easter Sunday, we will dedicate each person's offering during worship.  Please use the enclosed envelope to make your gift.  We will also collect the children's One Great Hour of Sharing boxes!  Look for the OGHS collection baskets in the Narthex.  Thank you to all the families who are participating in this ecumenical offering to help the world's most vulnerable communities.

In Christ's Love,
Board of Justice, Outreach & Service

We'll take up a "One Great Hour of Sharing" offering on Easter Sunday. 
For more information on OGHS, go to http://www.ucc.org/oghs.