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Here we are halfway through Holy Week and today is April Fool’s Day. Somehow it seems appropriate to me. It reminds me of the time when Mary of Bethany did four very foolish things.

 
After Jesus had raised her brother Lazarus from the dead Jesus later returned to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. And John tells us that, “There they gave a dinner for him.”

 
Mary first, loosens her hair in a room full of men, something no respectable woman would ever do. Second, she breaks a bottle of pure nard worth about $50,000 in our money. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were not particularly wealthy. In that day nard was purchased and saved as something like a rainy-day fund. Third, she pours the expensive balm on Jesus’ feet – which wasn’t the way it was typically done. You anointed the head with balm – not the feet.

 
Then, fourth, she wipes the salve with her hair. She touches Jesus, a single woman caressing the feet of a rabbi. This was not done, not even among friends. It is totally inexplicable – this foolish, bizarre act – it is wasteful, extravagant, excessive. Mary has gone overboard, as Judas is quick to point out. Nard was reserved for the royal funerals. This ointment was too expensive for the common folk. It was used only by royalty – at a king’s coronation or at his funeral.

Mary’s foolish gesture points to the extravagances of God’s love. Jesus, it seems, is the only one in the room who understands Mary’s foolishness. He knows his time is near. He is going to the cross. He is going to his death. He is giving his life for us, giving up all pride, giving out of love for us.

 
By the power of this wasteful, foolish deed, the power of this extravagant love, you and I
have been plucked from death, restored to life. The anointed one has anointed us with his perfume.

 
So Happy April Fools, dear friends. As Paul says, we are “… fools for Christ’s sake.”

Yours in the journey,

Pastor Kristen

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                           Holy Week Worship Services

                                     April 2-5, 2026

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Maundy Thursday Come and Go Communion, April 2 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.

Come when you can, leave when you must. Holy Communion will be served. Join with
others seated around a table following a brief time of Scripture reading and prayer.

Good Friday Service, April 03, from  2:30 to 3:15 p.m.

A Tenebrae Service consisting of scripture readings with the gradual extinguishing of candles to symbolize the growing darkness of Jesus’ death on the cross.

And Join Us for Easter Sunday Worship, April 5 at 10 a.m.

A service of joy, music and song celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ

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