Holy Week and Easter at Sacred Place — Three Days, One Story
Hey Sacred Place Family,
The holiest days of the Christian year begin tonight. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday—three gatherings, three texts, one arc. We have been inside John’s Gospel since September, and this weekend is where everything we’ve been imagining together arrives at its fullest expression.
You don’t have to come to all three to belong. But if you can, we’d love to have you for the whole journey.
Tonight — Maundy Thursday | 7 PM
Risky Mercy | John 19:23–30
On Maundy Thursday, we gather at the foot of the cross—not the upper room. Jesus’s last words are spoken not over bread and wine in lamplight, but in the shadow of empire’s violence: “Woman, here is your son. I am thirsty. It is finished.” “Risky Mercy” holds the weight of what love costs when it refuses to look away—and discovers that the church itself was born in the staying. We share communion together at the table mercy made.
Gathering is in-person and streaming online at yoursacredplace.org.
Tomorrow — Good Friday | 7 PM
Empire’s Shadow | John 19:31–42
On Good Friday, we sit with the aftermath. Jesus’s bones are not broken. Water flows from his side. A royal burial unfolds in the shadows of empire’s violence. On Good Friday, we walk backward through seven weeks of story—candle by candle, text by text—until only the darkness remains.
“Empire’s Shadow” asks us to stay present to what power destroys—and to trust that God’s story does not end where empire says it does.
No sermon. No resolution. Just seven readings, seven candles, and the dark. Gathering is in-person and streaming online at yoursacredplace.org.
Sunday — Easter | 11 AM
Fulfilling Imagination | John 20:1–18
On Easter morning, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb expecting grief and finds it empty. She runs. The disciples run. Everyone goes as far as they can go—and then they go home. But Mary stays. And in the staying, everything changes.
“Fulfilling Imagination” is the culmination of seven weeks inside John’s final chapters—from the raising of Lazarus through the cross and into the garden. This is where everything we have practiced together arrives at its fullest expression. The stone is already rolled away. The resurrection has already happened. Love did not wait for the right conditions.
This is not a tame Easter. It is a defiant one. We will name plainly what the resurrection is—and what it is not. And we will hear Mary’s testimony not as a creed but as a witness: “I have seen the Lord.”
After the gathering, kids are invited to an egg hunt right in our gathering space—125 eggs hidden by the congregation during worship. Bring a basket if you’ve got one.
Getting Here
All three gatherings are at 10289 25th Street, Rancho Cucamonga. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday at 7 PM. Easter Sunday at 11 AM.
I hope to see you at one of our gatherings this week.
Pastor Matthew