This week, we walk with Jesus from the crowds shouting “Hosanna!” as he enters Jerusalem to the voices crying “Crucify him.” We move from palms to the cross. From celebration to suffering. From hope to heartbreak.

If we’re honest, life can feel like that sometimes. Our expectations rise. Hope begins to take shape. And then something shifts, and what we thought would be turns into something we never imagined.

In many ways, we are not so different from the crowds in Jerusalem.

When Jesus rode into the city on that first Palm Sunday, the people weren’t just welcoming a teacher. They were welcoming a king. They waved branches, laid down their cloaks, and shouted the ancient words of Psalm 118: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 19:38). After generations of waiting and longing, they believed their moment had finally come. Their deliverer had arrived.

But then the week began to unfold, the mood shifted and the tension grew. The disciples struggled to understand. And by Friday, the same city that shouted “Hosanna” was shouting something else entirely: “Crucify him.”

How does that happen? It happens when Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations. When the story doesn’t go the way we hoped. When the miracle we were counting on doesn’t come. The crowd didn’t stop wanting a savior. They just stopped believing Jesus was the one they wanted. And so they turned.

There is something deeply human in that. And something uncomfortably familiar.

But here is the good news to hold onto this week: Jesus walked straight into it all. He knew what was coming. He knew the betrayal, the suffering, the cross. And still, he went. Not because the story would end on Friday, but because Sunday was always coming.

At the empty tomb, the angel asks a question that still echoes today: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” (Luke 24:5–6). It is a question for us as well. How often do we look for life in places that cannot give it? In control, in certainty, in the plans we create for ourselves?

Easter interrupts us with a better story. A truer story. A living hope. And this week, we are invited to walk that story together.

Tonight, we will gather for Stations of the Cross from 6:00–8:00 PM. This is a quiet, reflective experience that allows you to move through the story of Jesus’ suffering at your own pace. It is a powerful way to prepare your heart for Easter.

Tomorrow evening at 6:00 PM, we will share in a Good Friday Tenebrae Service. Tenebrae means “darkness,” and this service invites us to sit honestly with the weight of the cross. Don’t skip Good Friday. Easter shines brighter when we have walked through the shadows.

Then on Easter Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection together:
7:00 AM – Sunrise Service
Come greet the resurrection as the sun rises. Following the service, we will share breakfast together in the Student Center.
9:00 AM – Contemporary Worship
A joyful, energetic celebration. Bring your family and invite a friend.
11:00 AM – Traditional Worship
A full and beautiful celebration of the risen Christ in the richness of our liturgy.
We will celebrate Holy Communion at each service, gathering at the table where grace meets us again and again.

On Sunday morning, you’ll also find a flowering cross between the fellowship hall and mainstreet. Bring a flower or pick one up when you arrive and place it on the cross as a living reminder that death does not have the final word.

Friends, Holy Week is more than a schedule of services. It is an invitation. It is an invitation to be honest about the places in our own lives that feel like Good Friday, and to trust, against all appearances, that Sunday is coming.
God bless,

Jonathan Smith
For Jesus. For People. For Community.