Palm Sunday: A Road Paved with Expectations

ALOHA kākou! Throughout Lent, we’ve been learning to walk more honestly with God through wilderness places, questions at night, and moments of deeper truth and healing. Now our journey turns. This week, we follow Jesus as he enters Jerusalem—not quietly, but with a shouting crowd, with waving branches, with voices raised in hope. The road that stretches before him will lead through joy and tension, through love and loss, and ultimately toward the mystery at the heart of our faith. Palm
Sunday is not the end of Lent, but its threshold. It invites us to step fully into the story we have been approaching all along.

THIS SUNDAY we’ll begin our Holy Week sermon series, “WITNESSES ON THE WAY” (see more about this below), as we hear the events recorded in Matthew 21:1-11. Seen through the eyes of one who stood along that road, we can imagine the energy and hope of that moment, along with the deeper question it raises. The crowd believes they understand what kind of king is arriving. But Jesus enters in a way that quietly challenges those expectations. As the week unfolds, we’ll see that the road ahead will lead somewhere very different than anyone imagined. This Sunday, we take our place among the witnesses and ask: what are we expecting? And are we ready to follow where this road leads? Please join us Sunday at 9 a.m. in the Chapel, or on Facebook Live.

LAST SUNDAY the Gospel lesson from John 11 told the story of Jesus standing before the tomb of his friend Lazarus and calling him back to life. We reflected on what it means for Christ to call us out of the places of darkness, grief, fear, and silence that can hold us captive. We saw that God’s power is not only about life after death, but about new life breaking into the present moment, as we listen again for the voice that calls each of us to step forward into the light of God’s grace. Have you heard that voice this week?

ST. TIMOTHY’S HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE: I hope you can join us throughout the week as we journey with Jesus to the cross, the tomb, and beyond.

• On Thursday, April 2 at 6:00, we’ll have our Maundy Thursday service.
• On Good Friday, April 3, our services are at 12 noon and 6 p.m., and after the

noon service, Rev. David Ota will lead the liturgy of the Stations of the Cross.

• On Saturday, April 4, our Easter Vigil service is at 6:00 p.m., a glorious liturgy

with Holy Baptism.

• And our Easter Day service is at 9 a.m., followed by fellowship and the Keikis'

Easter Egg Hunt!

​I look forward to our journey together to the most important day of the church year: the
Resurrection of our Lord.

COMING SOON: CONFIRMATION CLASS! I’m planning a Confirmation Class for anyone interested in being confirmed in The Episcopal Church, or anyone who is simply interested in understanding more about the faith from an Episcopal point of view. We’ll meet after worship in the Vicar’s Office on most Sundays from April 19 through June 28 (subject to change). And we’ll be using the book Faith Confirmed by Peter Jackson and Chris Wright (Forward Movement Publishers). See the announcement below for more information. Everyone is welcome! I hope you will join us.

Beloved brothers and sisters, I hold you in my prayers in this most meaningful season of the church year. I ask your faithful prayers for St. Timothy’s Church, for those who lead and serve, for every member of our ‘ohana, and for your vicar. May the blessing of Almighty God be upon you and remain with you always. 

Aloha Ke Akua!
Rev. Pete+

Witnesses on the Way: A Holy Week Invitation

As we enter Holy Week, we step into the heart of the Christian story: the final days ofJesus’ life, his suffering, his death, and his resurrection. This year at St. Timothy’s, I’ll be sharing a sermon series titled “Witnesses on the Way.”

Each sermon will be told from the perspective of someone who was an eyewitness. None of them fully understood what they were seeing at the time. But together, their voices will help us walk the story as it unfolds.

We’ll begin with the crowd welcoming Jesus into the city with palms and shouts of Hosanna. On Maundy Thursday, we’ll kneel with the disciples as Jesus takes a towel and basin in his hands. On Good Friday, we’ll stand at the foot of the cross and witness a love unlike anything the world expects. Then, in the stillness before dawn at the Easter Vigil, and again on Easter Day, we’ll encounter the mystery of the empty tomb and the beginning of new life from the perspective of one who was there.

Holy Week is not only something we remember; it is something we enter. Like those first witnesses, we come with our questions, our hopes, and our need to see more clearly. I hope you will join us as we walk this road together.

—Rev. Peter+