~All Things New~
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here but has risen.”
~Luke 24:5
Dear Members and Friends,
A blessed Holy Week and a very joyous Easter to you! It’s been my practice for many years, in the Easter newsletter, to spare you my ramblings and instead give you a poem on the theme of resurrection. I do this in part because it’s hard to come up with new thoughts for the Easter sermon each year, and I certainly don’t want to expend those thoughts on a newsletter article that relatively few people will read! But I mainly give you poetry because there are some truths that only art can express—like the mystery of new life. This year we have a long-forgotten poem, in the public domain, written by Samuel Longfellow—the lesser-known brother of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
O Life that maketh all things new,
the blooming earth, our thoughts within,
our pilgrim feet, wet with thy dew,
in gladness hither turn again.
From hand to hand the greeting flows,
from eye to eye the signals run,
from heart to heart the bright hope glows,
the seekers of the light are one:
One in the freedom of the truth,
one in the joy of paths untrod,
one in the soul’s perennial youth,
one in the larger thought of God;
The freer step, the fuller breath,
the wide horizon’s grander view,
the sense of life that knows no death,
the Life that maketh all things new.
~Samuel Longfellow
Please be sure to join us as we observe the holiest season of the Christian year. On Palm Sunday, April 2, we celebrate Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and then move to the stirring account of his passion and death. On Maundy Thursday, April 6, at 7 p.m. we gather around tables in Fellowship Hall to reenact another Thursday night so long ago on which Jesus was betrayed. This event includes the Lord’s Supper and a reminder of Christ’s Great Commandment to love one another as he has loved us. Returning to Bower Hill Church for the first time since 2015 is a Good Friday service on April 7, at 7:00 p.m. Do not miss this solemn and powerful service! Our musicians are preparing something truly extraordinary, and the choir will sing selected pieces from Gabriel Fauré’s “Messe Basse.” This service will be broadcast live just like our Sunday morning services. On Holy Saturday, April 8, the church will be open for private prayers from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. - handicap entrance. And on Easter Sunday, April 9, we proclaim the joy of resurrection. Our celebration begins with a free breakfast in Fellowship Hall at 8:30 a.m.
Easter Blessings to You,
~Brian
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