Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is often referred to as Passion Sunday or the Sunday of the passion. We start off with the Triumphal Entry and we race all the way toward Good Friday by the end of the liturgy of the Word. It is a lot to take in.
It is a lot to take in because so few are able to come to church on Good Friday to hear the Passion from St. John, so the Passion narrative was added to Palm Sunday so it can be heard by those who only are able to attend on Sundays.
And though our lectionary takes us into the passion, I want to try to stay with the focus on Palm Sunday today. For those of you who I won’t see till next week - well the Passion is for you. Contemplate and read on it this week. Embrace as the week goes on, the emotions and events of the day as Jesus may have been experiencing them, for you.
But today, the Palms.
If you asked my friends one of my annoying character traits they would tell you that my lack of being able to commit to social activities is definitely one of them. I am sure there are many reasons for this - but I am definitely a “I will let you know at 3:30 p.m. on Friday if I am able to meet you at 4:00 pm. on Friday kind of girl.” It makes it hard to plan things and my friends say I miss out on stuff because I don’t commit. It all seems reasonable to me, something could come up, I hate to cancel, and I may want to be home sitting in my chair - I won’t know until right before then, if I am up for anything else.
I don’t call it “fickleness” - though indecisiveness may play a part in it. Or exhaustion. But the tenuous nature of humans is what I want to talk about, and not my character flaws. We can “turn on a dime” as some say.
The crowd turned on a dime this week in the life of Jesus. They found a colt that had never been ridden and untied it- the explanation that was given was, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.”
The Lord needs it.
That satisfied the bystanders and they accepted what was said. They allowed the disciples to take it.
Jesus rode in to town on the back of this colt, and people spread their cloaks on the road and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. To show respect. To show adoration. They were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
The people knew who Jesus was. They readily let him take the colt. They responded when the disciples told them, “The Lord needs the colt.” They understood who they were speaking of when they said “The Lord needs it”.
And yet - they changed.
The crowds that cheered him, later cried, “Crucify!”
Betrayal is a hard pill to swallow. Anyone who has been betrayed knows the deep hurt, the cutting pain, of someone you have loved and trusted turning on you.
Jesus through this story doesn’t seem to hold it against the people. Jesus seemed to understand that this was part of it.
Jesus when he entered Jerusalem went into the temple and he we are told, “looked around at everything”.
I wonder why he “looked around at everything” and why the gospel writer chose to put that phrase in his writing. I think that it is not a minor part of the story. Each of us needs grounding. Each of us, at different parts in our lives, need to be grounded and reminded that the Lord is with us. Each of us needs to pause and “look around at eveyrthing.”
Each of us at various times in our lives will find illness, separation, betrayal, darkness and even death. What will help ground us and give us strength for these moments is knowledge that the Lord is with us. And sometimes coming to our sacred places where we can meet God help us with these things.
Jesus went to the temple and “looked around at everything”
I do that at times too. I hope you do too. I come into the sanctuary - I see the altar cloth laid on our altar by our altar guild. I see the candle sticks that are lit - the Christ candle. I see the Tabernacle where reserved sacrament is laid. I see the railing where we kneel each Sunday. I see the stained glass and I am reminded of our Lord and it settles my spirit and grounds me.
We are all aware that numbers since Covid and just societal shifts have made church numbers decrease and the common thought is that numbers will continue to decrease as society moves away from religious orientation. Going to church on Sunday morning and centering yourself for the week - acknowledging God and God’s presence in your life has become to be seen as less needful. People like to describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.”
I have never understood what that means exactly. I am spiritual. And because I am spiritual, I am religious. I attend to my spirituality. I recognize that religious practices are important to my spirituality and faith. Without it - it is just words.
Some say that religion is just a coping mechanism - an escape from reality.
I take offense at that.
My religion and faith is not an escape from reality as some may claim. I am very firmly rooted in reality. Faith draws us into the reality of this world. Jesus was one of us - Jesus who is true God, submits to the worst of what human beings can do in order to give us the grace to be the best humans we can be. In order to save us; Jesus dies.
But before he did - he looked around in the Temple. He grounded himself I think. He was reminded of who his Father was and it helped him to accept the week ahead.
The sanctuary is not just a place to worship. It is a place that grounds us. It reminds us of those who went before us and built this parish and the love and dedication and sacrifice to keep it here. Our parish grounds us in the community and in the larger world.
But even with this grounding, we are a people of Palms.
We worship our Savior and we lay down the palms. We say “Hosanna!”, but we are also a people who shift. Let us not be accused of picking up our palms by the end of the week. Let us be reminded in our daily lives and work that we vulnerable to fickleness and turning and let’s take a look at ourselves, and let’s be a people who can leave our palms where we laid them.
Let us also be a people who take time to “look around at everything”.
We never know when our Holy Week will begin for us. When our lives will change on a dime.
We are spiritual and we are religious, at least I hope so -because coming to our sanctuary and “looking around at everything” is important and helps to ground us.
I didn’t take you through the Passion in my sermon today because we aren’t there yet, though our Gospel passage took us all the way through. We are still at the beginning of the week. I encourage you to stay there today. “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!”
Blessed are you. Blessed are we. Forgive us Lord for our fickleness. Help us to take the time to look around. To ground ourselves. To be aware.
Amen.
It is a lot to take in because so few are able to come to church on Good Friday to hear the Passion from St. John, so the Passion narrative was added to Palm Sunday so it can be heard by those who only are able to attend on Sundays.
And though our lectionary takes us into the passion, I want to try to stay with the focus on Palm Sunday today. For those of you who I won’t see till next week - well the Passion is for you. Contemplate and read on it this week. Embrace as the week goes on, the emotions and events of the day as Jesus may have been experiencing them, for you.
But today, the Palms.
If you asked my friends one of my annoying character traits they would tell you that my lack of being able to commit to social activities is definitely one of them. I am sure there are many reasons for this - but I am definitely a “I will let you know at 3:30 p.m. on Friday if I am able to meet you at 4:00 pm. on Friday kind of girl.” It makes it hard to plan things and my friends say I miss out on stuff because I don’t commit. It all seems reasonable to me, something could come up, I hate to cancel, and I may want to be home sitting in my chair - I won’t know until right before then, if I am up for anything else.
I don’t call it “fickleness” - though indecisiveness may play a part in it. Or exhaustion. But the tenuous nature of humans is what I want to talk about, and not my character flaws. We can “turn on a dime” as some say.
The crowd turned on a dime this week in the life of Jesus. They found a colt that had never been ridden and untied it- the explanation that was given was, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.”
The Lord needs it.
That satisfied the bystanders and they accepted what was said. They allowed the disciples to take it.
Jesus rode in to town on the back of this colt, and people spread their cloaks on the road and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. To show respect. To show adoration. They were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
The people knew who Jesus was. They readily let him take the colt. They responded when the disciples told them, “The Lord needs the colt.” They understood who they were speaking of when they said “The Lord needs it”.
And yet - they changed.
The crowds that cheered him, later cried, “Crucify!”
Betrayal is a hard pill to swallow. Anyone who has been betrayed knows the deep hurt, the cutting pain, of someone you have loved and trusted turning on you.
Jesus through this story doesn’t seem to hold it against the people. Jesus seemed to understand that this was part of it.
Jesus when he entered Jerusalem went into the temple and he we are told, “looked around at everything”.
I wonder why he “looked around at everything” and why the gospel writer chose to put that phrase in his writing. I think that it is not a minor part of the story. Each of us needs grounding. Each of us, at different parts in our lives, need to be grounded and reminded that the Lord is with us. Each of us needs to pause and “look around at eveyrthing.”
Each of us at various times in our lives will find illness, separation, betrayal, darkness and even death. What will help ground us and give us strength for these moments is knowledge that the Lord is with us. And sometimes coming to our sacred places where we can meet God help us with these things.
Jesus went to the temple and “looked around at everything”
I do that at times too. I hope you do too. I come into the sanctuary - I see the altar cloth laid on our altar by our altar guild. I see the candle sticks that are lit - the Christ candle. I see the Tabernacle where reserved sacrament is laid. I see the railing where we kneel each Sunday. I see the stained glass and I am reminded of our Lord and it settles my spirit and grounds me.
We are all aware that numbers since Covid and just societal shifts have made church numbers decrease and the common thought is that numbers will continue to decrease as society moves away from religious orientation. Going to church on Sunday morning and centering yourself for the week - acknowledging God and God’s presence in your life has become to be seen as less needful. People like to describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.”
I have never understood what that means exactly. I am spiritual. And because I am spiritual, I am religious. I attend to my spirituality. I recognize that religious practices are important to my spirituality and faith. Without it - it is just words.
Some say that religion is just a coping mechanism - an escape from reality.
I take offense at that.
My religion and faith is not an escape from reality as some may claim. I am very firmly rooted in reality. Faith draws us into the reality of this world. Jesus was one of us - Jesus who is true God, submits to the worst of what human beings can do in order to give us the grace to be the best humans we can be. In order to save us; Jesus dies.
But before he did - he looked around in the Temple. He grounded himself I think. He was reminded of who his Father was and it helped him to accept the week ahead.
The sanctuary is not just a place to worship. It is a place that grounds us. It reminds us of those who went before us and built this parish and the love and dedication and sacrifice to keep it here. Our parish grounds us in the community and in the larger world.
But even with this grounding, we are a people of Palms.
We worship our Savior and we lay down the palms. We say “Hosanna!”, but we are also a people who shift. Let us not be accused of picking up our palms by the end of the week. Let us be reminded in our daily lives and work that we vulnerable to fickleness and turning and let’s take a look at ourselves, and let’s be a people who can leave our palms where we laid them.
Let us also be a people who take time to “look around at everything”.
We never know when our Holy Week will begin for us. When our lives will change on a dime.
We are spiritual and we are religious, at least I hope so -because coming to our sanctuary and “looking around at everything” is important and helps to ground us.
I didn’t take you through the Passion in my sermon today because we aren’t there yet, though our Gospel passage took us all the way through. We are still at the beginning of the week. I encourage you to stay there today. “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!”
Blessed are you. Blessed are we. Forgive us Lord for our fickleness. Help us to take the time to look around. To ground ourselves. To be aware.
Amen.