Strictly speaking, every week is a “holy week” for God’s kids—a week set aside for God’s use however He sees fit.

But on the Christian church calendar, the annual Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday and culminates on Easter Sunday. World-wide it is celebrated by almost 3 billion people as the most important week of the year.

So how do you plan to celebrate? May I make some suggestions?

MEN, come start the week this SATURDAY morning with Men’s Connection breakfast at 9:00 a.m. as we hear from Gary Gandy about his own personal life journey and the ministry doors God has opened up to him and us here in the heart of our city.

***URGENT SERVICE NEED***--Due to a serious cancer diagnosis of one of their staff and departure of another this week, City Gate needs us to cook THIS SATURDAY’S meal. If you can either HELP or DIRECT the cooking (on Friday or Saturday) OR serving of this Saturday night’s meal (6:30-9:00), please let me know ASAP (Thursday or Friday). You may return email me or call/text 710-8026. Thanks so much.  

PRAYER & PRAISE—Saturday @ Second Space @ 7:00p.m. Led by Josh Bradford, we gather to pray and praise God for about an hour. What a wonderful way to prepare for Sunday!

PALM SUNDAY (THIS Sunday), we’ll be both bringing blessing to our own neighborhood as well as experiencing the blessing of being Christ’s body in together in this city. Entitled “If You’d Only Known”, Sunday’s worship gatherings will help us experience the heart of God for His great Kingdom as we look at Jesus’ heart for Jerusalem that launched the very first Holy Week.

Then, at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, I want to invite you to bring some blessing, joy and color to our downtown neighbors. We will have 300 pansy PLANTS to hand out in 5 different apartment buildings along with invitations to various Easter weekend events God’s people are doing downtown. (See below). So plan to grab some lunch after church and come back at 1:00 p.m. to bring Christ and some color to our neighbors.

GOOD FRIDAY, Friday April 18

• The Stations of the Cross—Mosaic is partnering with St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in observing the Stations of the Cross this year. In fact, Second Space IS one of those stations this year. Just what is this all about? The Way of the Cross is an adaptation of a custom widely observed by pilgrims to Jerusalem: the offering of prayer at a series of places in that city traditionally associated with our Lord’s passion and death. This Public Procession of the Way of the Cross is a way for us to make such a pilgrimage (without leaving town), and to connect the events and emotions of people in Spokane to those in the life of Jesus. We’ll be carrying a large wooden cross through the streets of downtown as we stop and pray at the following places from 3:00-5:00p.m.

o   Welcome and Opening Prayer (3:00 p.m.) – Rotary Fountain, Riverfront Park

o   Station 1 (Jesus is condemned) – Federal Court House

o   Station 2 (Jesus takes up his cross) – “Occupy” Triangle

o   Station 3 (Jesus meets his mother) – Our Lady of Lourdes

o   Station 4 (Jesus falls I) – Bus Transit Center

o   Station 5 (Cross is laid on Simon) – City Gate

o   Station 6 (A woman wipes Jesus’ face) – Cup of Cool Water

o   Station 7 (Jesus falls II) – Our Club

o   Station 8 (Meets women of Jerusalem) – Women’s Hearth

o   Station 9 (Jesus falls III) – Carlyle Care Center

o   Station 10 (Jesus is nailed to the cross) – Veteran’s Affairs Center/SNAP

o   Station 11(Jesus is stripped of his garments) – Mosaic Fellowship

o   Station 12 (Jesus dies) – VOA Crosswalk

o   Station 13 (Jesus is placed in the arms of his mother) – Shalom Ministries

o   Station 14 (Jesus is laid in the tomb)–Under the freeway, 4^th and Howard

Wear your walking shoes as we’ll cover about 2 miles in the course of the 2 hours. What a wonderful way to enter into the most important event in human history!

• Mosaic’s GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE: from 7:00-8:00 p.m. next Friday, we’ll be gathering together at Second Space to remember, worship, contemplate, pray, celebrate communion and prepare for Easter with lots of music and reflection.

EASTER SUNDAYwe will be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus both at 9:15 and 11:00 a.m. Why not invite a friend or relative to church and to lunch afterwards with you at your house. (Lots of people still like to celebrate Easter at church even if they don’t go any other time of the year.) Let’s make the most of every opportunity during this great season of the year.