Area clergy to share messages of resurrection during Holy Week, Easter

Apr. 2—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — For Christians, Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the time before Easter commemorating the last days of Jesus Christ's life.

According to Scripture, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and was greeted by people who gave him a hero's welcome during the Jewish Passover celebration.

The crowd carried palm branches, a symbol of joy and victory, and spread them throughout the streets.

Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday, commemorates the Last Supper, when Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples on the night before he was crucified.

The word "maundy" is derived from the Latin word "mandatum," meaning a commandment, and refers to the commands Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper.

On Good Friday, Christians commemorate the passion of Christ, or his suffering and death on the cross.

Holy Saturday is the last day of Holy Week and ends the Lenten season. It commemorates when Jesus' body was in the tomb after his death.

As Christians prepare for Easter, some may attend an Easter vigil.

On Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Christians believe that Jesus came back to life, or was raised from the dead, three days after his crucifixion.

—The Rev. Brian Warchola, pastor of Holy Name Roman Catholic Church, 500 N. Julian St., Ebensburg, said that Holy Week is an intense time focusing on the Paschal mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"We partake in his sacrifice, but also look forward to celebrating the glory of his resurrection," he said.

Palms will be distributed at the 8, 9:15 and 10:30 a.m. Palm Sunday Masses at Holy Name.

"We reflect on Christ's entrance into Jerusalem and how he was greeted with palm branches," Warchola said. "We celebrate the beginning of this most sacred Holy Week. We're singing, 'Hosanna in the highest,' and a few days later we say, 'Crucify him' — so you see how people greet him and a few days later we're talking about how he was crucified for our sins to bring us salvation."

A Holy Thursday service will be held at 7 p.m.

"We commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the priesthood," Warchola said. "We think about Christ being with his apostles at the Last Supper and giving us the sacrament of the holy Eucharist."

On Good Friday, a service commemorating the Lord's death will be held at 1 p.m.

"We'll have the reading of the passion, and people will have the opportunity to reverence the crucifix and receive holy communion," Warchola said. "It's a solemn service, and we reflect on his passion and death."

The Easter Vigil Mass will be celebrated at 8 p.m. Holy Saturday.

"We start at night so it's dark, and we have the Easter candle lit and that represents the light of Christ," Warchola said. "We'll also bring people into the church who will become Catholic, and some will be baptized or confirmed."

He said Easter celebrates Christ's victory over sin and death.

"The grave could not hold his body down, and he rose to new life," Warchola said. "He gives us the inspiration to know that when we complete this earthly journey, we can also rise with him to new life and experience the resurrection."

Easter Sunday Masses will be celebrated at 8, 9:15 and 10:30 a.m.

—The Rev. Hyiwot Teshome, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, 309 Lincoln St., downtown Johnstown, said Holy Week is a time of sadness, but a sadness that leads to joy.

"Palm Sunday is a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, even with the foreknowledge that he is going in to be slaughtered," he said. "It was the commoners and children who received Jesus. It was as undignified as it could be, and he was on the back of a donkey, so we highlight that."

The service will be held at 10:45 a.m. and palms will be distributed.

Teshome said a Holy Thursday service will be held at 7 p.m. and include a light meal with communion and feet washing.

"We are commanded to love each other," he said. "In a humbling way, we show our love by washing the feet of others, just as Jesus did to the disciples."

Teshome said a Good Friday service will be held at 7 p.m. and the sanctuary will be stripped down to the bare minimum.

"We'll be talking about being there with Christ," he said. "Simon of Cyrene was in Jerusalem and he was an outsider, but when the time came, he took up the cross when Jesus was stumbling. There's an African American spiritual hymn that we sing called 'Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?' so we remember that and share the thought that we need always to be there for other Christians to bear their crosses."

Teshome said the 10:45 a.m. Easter service will be a celebration and an acknowledgment of the risen Christ.

"There is no Christianity without the risen Christ," he said. "The death of Christ makes us Christians, and that's when we believe we are saved. Grace was bestowed on us and the all the punishment of sin was taken away on our behalf."

—The Rev. Randy Bain, senior pastor at Oakland United Methodist Church, 1504 Bedford St., Johnstown, said Holy Week is a time to reflect on the passion of the Lord.

"From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, it's a very intense time of our Lord's passion and teaching prophecy," he said.

Palm Sunday services will be held at 8:30 and 11 a.m. and feature the cantata "Our Living Hope."

"Children will process in on the opening hymn, waving palms," he said. "My sermon will focus on the unlikely king because Jesus presents himself as king, but in an unlikely fashion."

A Holy Thursday communion service will be offered at 7 p.m.

"I will have readings surrounding the Last Supper, and we'll be singing songs intermittent through that," Bain said. "The theme is the descent and focusing on Philippians 2, where Jesus finds himself born as a man and humbled himself to death on the cross. We'll talk about holy communion, where he humbled himself to wash his disciples' feet and gave himself as the blood of the new covenant."

On Good Friday, the church will participate in the East Hills cross walk that will begin at noon at Beulah United Methodist Church and conclude at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church.

Bain said his Easter message will be "The First Day of Forever."

"The resurrection of Christ is the beginning of eternity," he said. "Anyone who believes in Christ has eternal life, and we believe that eternal life began at the resurrection of Jesus, and we join that as we put our faith in him."

Bain said if Christ is not risen, faith is worthless.

"We believe it is the foundation that Jesus is the living savior, that he did rise from the dead and there is an empty tomb," he said.

"That gives us hope of eternity, that our sins truly can be forgiven and we will live eternally with the Lord."

Easter services will be held at 8:30 and 11 a.m.

—The Rev. Nancy Threadgill, pastor of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 335 Locust St., downtown Johnstown, said Holy Week looks at Jesus' move to Jerusalem to the cross on Good Friday.

"On Palm Sunday, we commemorate his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where he's hailed as king and palms are thrown," she said. "As the week progresses, we see him moving toward the day he dies on the cross."

She said the 10 a.m. Palm Sunday service will include a reading of the passion gospel.

"Jesus was being honored and glorified, but he knew where he was headed," Threadgill said. "At the end of the service, everybody will walk out in silence."

Additional services include a penitence service at 6 p.m. Monday, a healing service at 6 p.m. Tuesday and Holy Eucharist at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The Maundy Thursday service at 6 p.m. will include Holy Eucharist, feet washing and stripping of the altar.

"Maundy means that he gave us a new commandment and changes the law from, 'Love your neighbor as yourself, to, 'Love your neighbor as I have loved you,' " Threadgill said.

She said a solemn Good Friday service will be held at noon.

"We will be reading the passion and recognize that Jesus dies on that day," Threadgill said.

A brief Holy Saturday service will be offered at 9 a.m.

"It's the day after Jesus dies and his disciples and everyone else who followed him are bereft," Threadgill said. "They don't know that he's going to rise and they are empty. The service tries to convey that he's gone."

The Easter service will be celebrated at 10 a.m.

"Easter is the day that Jesus rises from the dead, and that's the day we know that there will be eternal life when we die," Threadgill said. "Easter is a time when we celebrate Jesus' resurrection and knowing that, because of his resurrection and his triumph over death, we also will triumph over death. We will go to live with Jesus for eternal life."

—The Rev. David Streets, pastor of West Hills Community Church, 175 Woodmont Road, Upper Yoder Township, said that Holy Week is a reflective time looking at the events from Palm Sunday to Good Friday to the celebration of Christ's resurrection.

"Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem as a king and there was a lot of fanfare, but he came as a different kind of king than people were anticipating," he said. "He came in humility and came to give his life for us. He brought us victory through his death."

Palm Sunday services will be held at 8 and 10:45 a.m. and will include baptisms.

"Jesus came to give his life, and that's not what the vast majority of people were anticipating," Streets said. "They thought he would come riding a white stallion, but he came on a donkey and he came as our suffering servant."

A Good Friday service will be held at 7 p.m.

"We'll talk about Jesus fulfilling Old Testament prophecy," Streets said. "He completed God's plan of salvation by giving his life for us and paid for our sins. On the cross, he said, 'It is finished,' and what he meant was the plan of salvation was complete."

Streets said that without a resurrection, there is no hope.

"We're going to talk about the undeniable truths — the truths of Scripture, the empty tomb and the testimony of those who saw the risen Christ and how their lives were changed," Streets said. "How does the fact that Jesus is alive change how you do life? Jesus is alive and what difference does that make in your day-to-day life and your outlook on eternity?"

Easter services will be held at 8 and 10:45 a.m.

"It's uplifting and emotional services with a lot of hope," Streets said. "Because Jesus is alive, we can have eternal life, too. This world is not the end and we have a great eternity."