Overlooking Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives
By Michael Wilson Pastoral Letters March 27, 2026

Watch this week’s service on YouTube by clicking:

March 29 Worship Service Video

 

 

Join us for Sunday morning worship at CUC is at 10:00 AM with the He/SheBrews Café following in the Van Roon Community Hall

 

  • Holy Week Services
    • Palm Sunday
      • Sunday, March 29
    • Good Friday
      • Friday, April 3, 11:00 AM – featuring the cantata “The Rose of Calvary” with 10-piece orchestral ensemble
    • Easter Sunday
      • April 5, 10:00 AM – with communion, trumpet, organ, flute (and the usual cast of characters!)

 

  • Giving Thanks for the Trees – Surveying for the development beside the church could begin in the next few weeks. As we release the care of that land to others we might pause to give thanks for the land, tress, and creatures that we have been blessed to steward for the last 70 years. On Sunday, March 29, after worship, those who wish to gather for a brief ceremony will do so on the east side of the parking lot, along the wooded area. Join John Oldham and friends for a moment of drumming, prayer, silence, and song. Everyone is welcome.

 

 

 

 

Dear Friends

 

Welcome to worship for Sunday, March 29, 2026.

 

Jerusalem was always the destination. Though Jesus went many places, met many people, over the course of many, many months, Jerusalem was always the destination.

 

There’s not much to which we can compare this inevitability. It is a very specific context the likes of which we are hardly familiar. Though the Gospel of John has some variety, Matthew, Mark, and Luke write the story of Jesus’ ministry as a three-year travelogue that culminates in his one and only visit to Jerusalem (which is not to say that he wasn’t familiar with the city or had never been there before. Luke in particular mentions that he had been taken there by his parents as a boy). The momentum in the gospels propel Jesus to Jerusalem. There are a few reasons for that.

 

Judea and Galilee were/are relatively small places. And the only means of transportation were your own two feet. In other words, we are talking about a part of the world where there was bound to be only one major canter. That was Jerusalem.

 

Secondly, Jerusalem was not merely a local capital it was a major urban centre of the region. It was beautiful too. Major construction works under Herod the Great had left Jerusalem as a city of much envy in the ancient middle east. While perhaps 40,000 people lived there, at Passover, when Jesus arrives, there might have been 200,000 within.

 

Finally, and most importantly it was the centre of Judaism. The temple on top of Mount Mariah was surrounded by a four-acre plateau, the so-called Temple Mount. It had been a place of significance for a thousand years, ever since Solomon chose the site as the home of the first temple in the 10th century BCE. Though that temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and there were long periods when Persian and Hellenistic empires had claimed it for their own use, in the first century CE the temple rebuilt by Herod was undeniably the north star and foundation stone of Judaism. Here was where chief priests, scribes, and pharisees administered Judaism. Here was where it was believed God dwelt on earth. And here was where authority was vested.

 

If Jesus, who was Jewish and loved Judaism, wanted to reform the spiritual, social, and even political life of his people, then Jerusalem was the place to be. So sets the stage for his triumphal entry. A planned, dramatic, and meaningful approach from the east. Rehearsed to embody the prophesy of Zechariah of a humble ride on a beast of burden. Timed to coincide with the most important festival, the greatest number of people, and the attention of the empire that kept abundant life at bay. Matthew says “the whole city was in turmoil” (NRSV) or “the whole city went wild with excitement” (REB). The people shouted “Hosanna” a word meaning “save us” but they had no idea the salvation they would know or the love they would witness.

 

Join us at Charleswood United Church this Holy Week, Palm Sunday at 10 AM, Good Friday at 11 AM, and Easter at 10 AM as we worship the One who had to come to Jerusalem. It was where our life together began.

 

Grace and peace,

Michael

 

 

 

 

  • For news and events, please have a look at Life & Work on our website: Life and Work

 

 

  • Did you know you can support this ministry by e-transfer, automatic withdrawal (PAR), and gifted securities, in addition to weekly or monthly cheques? For Offering Information please visit: https://charleswoodunited.org/support/   Thank you for your generous support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Wilson / About Author
Michael’s involvement in the wider church has included ministry with children and youth, membership on the National Division of World Outreach, supervision of campus ministry, and the Ten Days for Global Justice National Committee. He has been blessed by the opportunity to represent the United Church of Canada in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Africa on different occasions. Michael has taught at the University of Winnipeg – Faculty of Theology and is past President of the Conference of Manitoba and North Western Ontario.
More posts by Michael Wilson