Holy Week & Easter at Mars Hill
Welcome to Mars Hill United Methodist Church. Here, we welcome, affirm and celebrate every child of God. No exceptions. No exclusions.
As we prepare to observe the most joyous season of the Christian year, we welcome and invite you to join us in our observances of Holy Week and celebration of Easter.
The week of observances leading to the Christ’s death and resurrection, Holy Week, begins with Palm Sunday and continues through Maundy or Holy Thursday and Good Friday. It is from this pivotal week that the Church derives its deepest ritual, theological and missional life — everything we do in our collective worship, our doctrine, and our mission as a Church is rooted in, leads to, and springs from Holy Week.
It is during Holy Week that the life and mission of Jesus Christ meet their biggest test as Jesus stares directly into the face of the structures of sin and the powers of death and remains true to his calling and the work of his Father’s kingdom.
On Good Friday, Jesus is executed by crucifixion. And on the third day, we encounter the resurrection, where God raises Christ from death in a sure and certain pledge of raising all of us who are found in him.
In Holy Week, everything is here — life, sin, love, death, with life and love overcoming sin and death. This week remembers, enacts, and participates in the hope of the renewing of all creation, starting with our lives and loves, here and now.
We invite you to journey with us, remembering, enacting, and celebrating the hope that is ours in Christ.
Palm Sunday - April 13
9:45 am | Worship + Palm Sunday Processional
11 am | Fellowship Meal
Don’t miss our In-person or Online Worship at 9:45 am.
Also known as Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday commemorates the beginning and the end of Christ’s final week in Jerusalem. During the service, we move from a triumphal procession (with palms) and its stirring of hope as our entrance rite to hearing of a very different sort of procession, one in which Jesus was forced marched and crucified, to conclude it.
The service will be followed by our Monthly Fellowship Meal.
Maundy Thursday - April 17
6:30 pm | Worship & The Lord’s Supper
In-Person ONLY at Bright Hope Laurel United Methodist Church
📍Bright Hope Laurel United Methodist Church
271 Laurel Valley Road
Mars Hill, NC 28754
Join In-person with our sister congregation in The Ebbs Chapel community as we recall the events prior to Christ’s betrayal, arrest and crucifixion.
According to the United Methodist Church, Maundy Thursday is an alternate name for Holy Thursday, the first of the three days of solemn remembrance of the events leading up to and immediately following the crucifixion of Jesus. The English word "Maundy" comes from the Latin mandatum, which means "commandment." As recorded in John's gospel, on his last night before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and then gave them a new commandment to love one another as he had loved them (John 13:34).
Good Friday - April 20
Noon | Good Friday Service In-person + Online
Worship with us In-person or Online at Noon as we recall Christ’s final hours.
On Good Friday or Holy Friday, as it is known in nearly every non-English-speaking culture, we witness the execution of Jesus, recognize our ongoing complicity with the powers of death, and are called to enter the Great Silence of all creation in response to the death of its God and Maker.
During Daylight | Prayer Garden Reflection
Recall Christ’s final hours through a series of meditative readings, reflections and prayers.
This walk may be completed virtually within your home or in the Prayer Garden at Mars Hill United Methodist Church on Good Friday or any day during Holy Week.
Easter Sunday: The Day of Resurrection - April 20
9:45 am | In-Person & Online Worship
Join us for Easter — In-Person or Online Worship at 9:45 am.
We’ve come through the shadows of Holy Week, and Easter morning has dawned once again. Alleluia! Christ is risen! Whether 2,000 years ago or today, this is a simple, yet irrational declaration: Christ is risen! We don’t fully understand Resurrection. We can’t make logical sense of it. But it is perfect and fitting for God, whose steadfast love endures forever because even death cannot stop Love.
It is Easter — let there be light! Let there be color and music and joy. In everything, let there be joy as we worship together (in Mars Hill or online) on this day.
Live Daily Devotionals
During Holy Week
This Holy Week, we invite you to join Pastor Kelly Live on Facebook at 8am each day for a brief devotional. If you can’t join live, a recording will be available to watch at your leisure.
“Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”
Musical Meditations for Holy Week and Easter
As we prepare to observe the most joyous season of the Christian year, we welcome and invite you to join our observances of Holy Week and celebration of Easter with this playlist of sacred music, which includes online musical meditations for the days of Holy Week and Easter Sunday.
Resurrection Flower Cross
We welcome and invite you to bring flowers to adorn the Resurrection Cross outside the church, which will be available for all to see.
Join us for Holy Week & Easter Services
Join us for Holy Week services at Mars Hill United Methodist Church, available both in person and online. We welcome you to walk this sacred journey with us as we commemorate Jesus’ final days before his crucifixion and celebrate the hope of resurrection.
No matter your story, you are welcome and affirmed here just as you are. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a lifelong member, your presence enriches our worship, and we celebrate the gift of community together.
Visit Us
Mars Hill United Methodist Church
201 South Main Street
Mars Hill, N.C.
On the Crucifixion: Behold the Savior of Mankind
Found on page 293 in the United Methodist Hymnal and written by Samuel Wesley (1662-1735), Behold the Savior of Mankind is one of the few relics of his papers found after the fire which destroyed the Epworth rectory during the night of February 9, 1709, when his son young John Wesley, was rescued as a “brand plucked out of the burning.” It was first printed in John Wesley’s hymnbook A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (Charleston, 1737) un the title “On the Crucifixion.”
“Behold the Savior of mankind nailed to the shameful tree; how vast the love that him inclined to bleed and die for thee! Hark how he groans! while nature shakes, and earth’s strong pillars bend! The temple’s veil in sunder reads, the solid marbles rend. ‘This done! the precious ransom’s paid!” Receive my soul!” he cries; see where he bows his sacred head! He bows his head and dies! But soon he’ll break death’s envious chain and in full glory shine. O Lamb of God, was ever pain, was ever love like thine?”