Advent Worship Series
2022-11-27 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York)

Worship Service (also streaming)
2024-01-07 11:00 - 12:00 | New Hope PC

Easter Egg Hunt
2024-03-16 11:00 - 15:00 | New Hope PC
Bring the kids for an exciting Easter Egg Hunt on the church grounds! It’s a wonderful way for the young ones to learn about the message of Easter while enjoying the hunt. The hunt will be followed by movies, entertainment and crafts. In the case of rain, the Easter Egg Hunt will move to Saturday, March 23, 2024.

Palm Sunday
2024-03-24 11:00 - 12:00 | New Hope PC
Experience the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem with a special service featuring the blessing of the palms.

Holy Monday Devotion March 25, 2024
2024-03-25
Jesus Clears the Temple
“My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are making it a den of robbers.”
(Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46)
When pilgrims arrived in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, they encountered merchants and money changers around the Jerusalem temple. Both the merchants and money changers provided key services to meet the needs of the pilgrims who traveled from great distances to offer sacrifices and to pay taxes. The merchants sold animals for their sacrifices and the money changers provided currency exchange services for the pilgrims to pay their required taxes and for doing business on the local market.
While there are different opinions as to whether or not the anger of Jesus was caused because these activities occurred inside the temple and not outside, I believe that we can at least surmise that this action by Jesus was a protest of the politicized and the unfair and unethical commercialization of the temple. Merchants took advantage of the pilgrims by charging exorbitant prices and money changers charged excessive fees for trading currency. Jesus being very knowledgeable of the political climate, as well as the unscrupulous practices of the priestly aristocrats in controlling the fiscal affairs of the temple, he directly attributed these influences on the unethical and non-religious commercial practices occurring in the temple.
The temple was intended to be a sacred place where God would reside. The temple was dedicated to the service and the worship of God. Jesus expected to see people praying and worshiping. Instead, he saw a marketplace of greed and God’s people being taken advantage of. He saw corruption and abuse of God’s intended purpose for the temple. His temple, which was meant to be a house of prayer, had become a den of thieves.
This Holy Week, we should recall and reflect that God has called all believers to be temples. 1 Corinthians 6:19, emphasizes that our bodies are temples and the Holy Spirit resides within us as believers. We are purposed for the service and the worship of God, and to be witnesses through our faithful living of God’s grace to the world. This is our purpose as temples of God.
If Jesus entered our hearts today, would Jesus find us not fulfilling our temple purpose? Would Jesus drive out the distractions and overturn the things that do not serve God’s purposes? As Christians, we are called to recognize and embrace the truth that we ourselves are temples of God and are set apart to serve God. We are to strive to live out this truth in our daily lives, honoring God and seeking to carry out his purpose for our lives.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you entered the Jerusalem Temple to clear it of corruption and abuse. Greed and disregard for worship settled into your house of prayer. As this week commences, search my heart. Drive out and overturn that which does not represent you. Remove any corruption or opposing thoughts or ways to which you purposed for my life. Lead me by your residing Holy Spirit in the way of service and everlasting life. Amen.
Contributed by Rev. Dwight O. Peace

Holy Tuesday Devotion March 26, 2024
2024-03-26
RISING TENSIONS
“Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23)
On Tuesday, following his clearing of the temple according to Mark, tension between Jesus and religious authorities began to rise, thus, setting the stage for the epilogue of God’s redemptive story told to us through the life and death of Jesus Christ. The chief priests and the elders had either observed or heard of Jesus exercising his authority in the temple the day before. Now just as a pack of wolves would surround its prey to devour it, the religious leaders gathered before Jesus to trick him so that they might discredit him and condemn him to folly. With every attempt to trick Jesus through their flawed earthly assumptions and their misunderstanding of the scriptures, the religious leaders missed the true wisdom and truth offered to them by Jesus. Though they sought to criticize and condemn Jesus, they could find no fault in him as Jesus is the source of all wisdom and truth. Proverbs 9:10 tells us that true knowledge and power comes from the fear of the Lord, as it is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. However, the religious authorities saw wisdom through their own eyes, while Jesus attempted to change their view to see true wisdom through God’s eyes.
As you reflect on the several moments of rising tension between Jesus and the religious authorities described in Matthew chapters 21 and 22, consider for your own lives what it means to seek and find truth that can only be found through Jesus Christ. Though the world might consider the ways and the teachings of Jesus to be foolishness, as believers we know the wisdom of Jesus is far from that. It is not foolishness, but it is the gospel that is the power of God, bringing salvation and eternal life to all believers.
Prayer: Dear Lord, may we always trust in your authority and in your word. You are the source of all truth which is the holy sibling of both wisdom and understanding. May we seek all truth, wisdom, and understanding through God’s eyes and not through our own eyes or the eyes of the world. In faithfulness to the reign of Christ. Amen.
Contributed by Dwight O. Peace

Holy Wednesday Devotion
2024-03-27
Comfort Jesus or Comfort the World
(Matt 26:6-13; Luke 7:36-50)
Mark 14:3-9 NRSV
3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. 4 But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
There is plenty to Google on this topic. The alabaster box can symbolize giving God our best and our all. This was the women’s “first fruits” in a way. She did not bring the least; she brought her absolute best and most expensive item to pour over a more than worthy Savior. She believed Jesus, she anointed Him even before His death and burial.
The symbolism and significance of an alabaster jar is beautiful. Luke 7 tells the story of a woman who learns that Jesus is eating at the home of a Pharisee. Specifically called out as a “sinner,” the woman displays a beautiful act of reverence and repentance when she enters the house:
“And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.” (Luke 7:37-38, ESV)
A gospel of great sacrifice. A gospel of great love. Forgetting herself, Mary broke her alabaster jar, symbolically showing that very soon the Master would do likewise. Because of His great love, Jesus’ death was the breaking of an alabaster box for us.
The disciples did not appreciate that Jesus would leave them soon and it should be important for them to spend quality time with Him rather than fuss about the selling of the oil/perfume for money for the poor.
Let us pray: Dear Lord Jesus, we pray that we will comfort and adore you and not the world around us. Let us appreciate the sacrifice you made, as an innocent being, for the sake of all our sins. This “holy” week provides an opportunity to thank you for the “great sacrifice” and for your words which will lead us to join you at the Second Coming. We pray that we will not waste the “things” of this world and bring to you our “first fruits” in prayer and in our actions. Thank you for this undeserved opportunity. Amen.
Contributed by Elder George Yanisko

Maundy Thursday
2024-03-28 19:00 - 20:00 | New Hope PC
Commemorate the Last Supper with us in a moving service of Holy Communion and reflection on the new commandment that Jesus gave his disciples.

Easter Sunrise Service
2024-03-31 06:30 - 07:30 | New Hope PC
Gather with us to celebrate the resurrection at dawn. This special service will be held outside, welcoming the sunrise as we rejoice in the light of the risen Christ.
