Dear Spirit of Grace Congregation and friends,

As just about everyone connected with Spirit of Grace knows, this year’s Lenten season theme and focus plus the capital appeal theme and focus was Leap of Faith. For our own growth in faith, I think it profound when- ever we spend time becoming more aware of how God’s grace impacts our lives and how we respond to God’s grace with our whole lives.  Our response is most evident when we live out the 6 Marks of Discipleship: (that was the Lenten Wednesday study through the book Real Faith for Real Life by Rev. Mike Foss) Daily Prayer, Weekly Worship, Regular    Bible Study, Service both in & beyond the congregation, Caring Relationships, and Generosity.

Given the frame of reference described above as our Lenten journey together, when Palm Sunday came, which is the beginning of Holy Week and this year was also the Commitment Sunday for our Leap of Faith appeal, I hope you were as captivated by the palms and the purple at the altar as I was.  This year our Palm Sunday was just that, Palm Sunday with its focus on the triumphant entry of      Jesus into the city.  Followers of Jesus have been doing the procession with palms as far back as the 4^th century!  This tradition connects us with generations of faithful followers – yet another living example of the ‘great cloud of witnesses’.  There was the procession with palms, then the procession with coins from the children, and then the procession with our commitment cards for the caretaking of God’s houses of worship – so we lived out that century’s long tradition quite well!

As so often is the case with God’s ways, I received quite an unexpected surprise the first time I went behind the altar.  Don’t know how much you can tell from the picture, but the flowing purple chiffon material draped from the cross was all one fluid piece as it lay across the altar and swaged onto the small table with the basket to receive the commitment cards, and then spilled onto the floor.  That combined with the grand palm branch behind the cross, created a different and unique feel behind the altar.  The newly defined spatial reality had the feeling of a holy embrace behind the North altar that really stayed with me. 

I perceived this holy embrace as spiritual encouragement for our Leap of Faith together as a congregation and for the Holy Week ahead.  It remains my prayer for you that you have also received      spiritual encouragement through the Lenten journey and study, through Holy Week, and the profound celebration of Easter in which 582 people worshipped at one of the four worship services/locations offered through Spirit of Grace.

Thanks be to God for God’s deep wellspring of spiritual encouragement!

Easter Joy be yours,

Pr. Rita Gardner Tweed, Lead Pastor, Spirit of Grace