Letter from Lindy March 28

Pilgrims,
This week we celebrate Palm/Passion Sunday. Not knowing which to emphasize on this first Sunday leading into Holy Week, it might be best to confess that the word “celebrate” gets complicated. Sunday is the day that kicks off the Holiest of Weeks, what with that last meal on Thursday and crucifixion on Friday and everything else. Let’s admit our feelings about journeying through are mixed.

Whether we observe palms or passion or both, the beginning event that precipitates the rest of the week is specially marked. As we gather, we receive palm fronds and participate in a procession so as to join those first disciples as they followed Jesus into Jerusalem...if we weren’t virtual. Hard to be a parade over Zoom! Yet, an interesting tone still gets set. It begins celebratory and exciting, and then quickly turns foreboding, the looming shadow of what is to come.

After a year of physical distancing, concern for our community, and joining together in new ways, we arrive at Jerusalem this year with an entirely different set of eyes. Our arrival makes the journey of the past year feel exhausting. Coupled, no doubt, with our eagerness to sing hosannas together spilling over!

As we move toward Sunday, and the week to come, let our Holy Week gatherings help us prepare for the already and the not yet--that in-between space in which we reside, not only now, but always. Here we have much to ponder. Let our worship experiences draw you in….into contemplation about how the passion story is re-lived over and again. ….into in-person community (if it feels safe to do so), so that we begin learning anew how to gather together.

Our Palm/Passion liturgy will ground us in story and song. Let the voices and faces of our fellow Pilgrims feed us in and through God’s word. Then, I invite you to sign up to walk through our Stations of the Cross on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, hosted by Pilgrim’s Board of Deacons. In this space we will be invited to hold Jesus’ story against our current reality as imagined by some Pilgrim visual and tactile artists under the creative guidance of Sanctified Art. (Link to sign up below).

Finally, if you feel called to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection in-person, on campus, we are currently holding 2 “Sunrise” Services (8am and 9am) where we will pray, sing, break bread and share the cup of covenant and bless each other---following our COVID safety protocols (masks/physically distanced/limited number of people). If our demand outpaces our numbers limitation (15pp), we will add a third service at 7am (closer to sunrise :).

Again you will find the links below. Finally, we will celebrate Easter for the second time virtually with Holy Communion at 10:30. Come in person, come on line. The more we connect through worship, the better we will be.

I can’t wait to see, truly see you, my beloved Pilgrims.
Pastor Lindy