Holy week

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Holy Week, that very special eight days in the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ, when He completed the work the Father sent Him into the world to do, paying the penalty for the sin of mankind through His death upon the cross, and rising from the dead to offer forgiveness of sin and eternal life to us all.

One thing the Coronavirus has done for us all is to change our schedules.  Frankly, we are not happy about most of these changes, but let me suggest one that I believe is positive.  We all have more time to focus some of our attention upon this very special time of year and consider what all the Lord did for each of us on each of these eight days.

As a staff, we all are working together to make Holy Week this year, beginning tomorrow, the most special observance of Holy Week any of us have ever experienced.  Here is what we are going to do to partner with you and your family to still make times of contemplation, meditation, Bible study, and worship available even during a time that we cannot physically meet together.

Tomorrow, I will preach on Jesus´ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  It was the day He offered the blessing.  Be sure to join us online to see what the blessing was … and is!  You can worship with us by going to our Facebook page – St Andrew Baptist Church or to our website, sabc.org. Please plan to start your observance of Holy Week in online worship Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m.

As an extra blessing, Fox 28-1 is going to broadcast our worship service from March 22 on their TV channel from 8 to 9 a.m.  If you have friends or family you want to invite to watch, especially folks who cannot or who will not stream a service, let them know.

Then daily, beginning Monday, in this blog, I will remind us of what happened in Jesus´ life on that particular day and some of its implications for our lives today.  During this week I will offer my thoughts as a short video to watch or in print to read, whichever you prefer.

You will find this posted each morning when you get out of bed, even if you rise to greet the morning before daylight.  They will remain on the site so you can access them later in the day or later in the week if you miss one.  I hope, at least for this week, that you will access this brief devotional and use it as a help to focus your own thinking and meditation on the Lord and what He has done and is doing in your life.

On Friday, Good Friday, two things will happen.

In my morning blog where I will try to prepare us to consider the day that Jesus was crucified, I will explain why Good Friday is called good.  You may be surprised by the reason.

Secondly, at 7 p.m., we will have a Good Friday worship service online, available the same ways our Sunday morning service can be viewed.  It will be a short service, a half hour or less, but a very special time of worship.

And then of course, next Sunday, April 12, we will celebrate Jesus´ resurrection from the dead, what happened that morning, and what it means for each of us today. That of course will be during our regular worship time at 9:30 a.m. on our Facebook page, on Boxcast, or on our website, sabc.org.

Join me please in giving some time each day of Holy Week to remember what the Lord did for each of us.