Holy Week starts this Sunday with Palm/Passion Sunday. As we have done for the past few Holy Weeks, we are going to do a sermon series that stretches throughout Holy Week – a bigger picture look at the powerful services that happen during this zenith of the church year. This year our series will be “Shouts, Silence, and Songs” and will especially look at the powerful hymns we sing during Holy Week.
We will start on Palm Sunday by considering “All Glory, Laud, and Honor,” the hymn that we normally sing as we are processing back into the sanctuary. We will follow that with the “hymns” of the Psalms that are used in the “Last Supper Experience” as we consider what it might have been like to have been at the Passover table with Jesus and His disciples. Next we will consider “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” on Good Friday as we consider the suffering and death of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Finally, on Easter, we will sing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today,” the triumphant song that celebrates our Lord’s victory over sin and the tomb.
As we walk through the Passion this Sunday (this year from the Gospel of Matthew), we will hear times when Jesus was celebrated with shouts of Hosanna, times when there were eerie silences such as at His death and when He was laid in the tomb, and moments of singing when we consider what it must have been like to join with Jesus in those moments. We will consider the shouts, the silences, and the songs of Jesus’ passion for us together.
Consider joining us for this entire Holy Week celebration this year as we shout, have times of silence, and join in songs together.