Hope Blog

Palm Sunday

All ages come ready to wave palms and proclaim the truth of Jesus being the Messiah whom God promised would come – the Son of God, the King of Heaven, the Light of the World come to earth to rescue us from darkness. John 12

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey (Jewish king’s signal of peace), a small contingent of Earth gathered in the city welcomed Him as Messiah. Our reenactment – no matter how small – joins us with the larger Body of Christ on the same day – millions – in joyfully anticipating the prophetically promised Return of the King! 

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9

And we look toward the day when as – Jesus Himself – said of His final return, “And they” – the entire world – will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matthew 15.

Rejoice!

Find the Resurrection of Jesus Video on our Easter Service page.

Good Friday

This very beautiful and poignant time together includes seven friends from our community reflecting personally over the seven last phrases that Jesus spoke from the cross and is interspersed with worship and silence.

You’re encouraged to invite friends, family, and coworkers. If you’d like to send them hope.org where Good Friday is explained, please use this link.

The HopeKids Program is now closed. Parents, if you would you like your Jr.High students to help with the HopeKids’ program, please contact Joelene Michel  and let her know.

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HOW GOOD FRIDAY IS CONNECTED TO PASSOVER

Jesus shared Passover meal with His disciples after sundown the night before His death (evening is the beginning of the Jewish day). He also gave His disciples a new way to remember Him: Communion; the unleavened bread represented His broken body and the cup of wine represented His blood shed for us (John 20) just as the Passover lamb’s blood marking the enslaved Israelites’ houses caused the death of the first born to “pass – over” them safely. Jesus, the true representation of the Passover lamb, freely gave His life as a sinless sacrifice in payment for our sin (ours rightfully deserving death), freeing us from our enslavement to it, rescuing us from death – even as God freed the Israelites from Pharaoh’s slavery (Exodus 1-15). The Passover prefigured Jesus’ death – one Lamb for all humankind.

Learn more about Passover in Exodus And learn about The Last Supper, Good Friday, and Easter by reading about them in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – or by listening to the musical drama our own Dennis O’Donnell wrote partially from Exodus and John – or in this article about Passover and Jesus: Four Ways Passover Foreshadowed Easter.

Easter

Please join us at 10:00 AM as we celebrate our Risen Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God at Hope’s Easter Celebration – music and worship, celebration, Bible teaching, and the younger set has HopeKids classes (up to 5th grade).

If you are homebound and can’t join us in person, please join us by livestream.

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The Christian celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection.

From the New Testament, the Gospel (Good News) of John, Chapter 20:

“Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’

‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ 

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there…Jesus said, ‘…Go…to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.”