Date: 3/28/2004
Time: 6:24:35 PM
Sorry to be off topic everyone - i have just read a liturgy about Jesus telling the disciples to go to the city and find the guy to prepare the upper room. This liturgy said the mans name is Larry... Where does that come from, do you know?
Date: 3/30/2004
Time: 6:30:52 AM
The passion story in Luke's gospel is filled with human and cosmic images of what God is doing through the death of Jesus: restoring all creation to the grace and peace of paradise.
"Why didn't you say something?" the silent bystanders of Nazi Germany are often asked. "How could you sell out so badly?" a contemporary missionary pastor is asked when, in order to be allowed to offer a Christian presence in a country still hostile toward Christianity, she voluntarily vowed not to baptize anyone. The answers to these questions are bleak at best. "What could we do?" reply the former. "I did what I could," shrugs the missionary.
"What would I have done?" the hearer of today's passion reading is compelled to ask, afraid of already knowing the answer. "What do I do in the face of world hunger, the threat of war, the plight of the homeless?" Indeed, today's reading confronts each of us with the pervasive and damning power of silence. Herod questions Jesus at some length; Jesus gives him no answer. Lots are cast to divide Jesus' clothes; "the people stood by, watching." Jesus breathes his last; "but all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things."
Indeed, "too little, too late" is the judgment when the silent bystanders, at last, take action. The damage is done already when Joseph, who at least had the courage to disagree with his fellow council members, wraps the body in grave clothes; when the bystanding centurion announces Christ's innocence; when the women who followed him from Galilee prepare spices and ointments.
Yet, we are not, like the silent crowd, sent home today "beating our breasts." For the gospel cannot be contained by human silence. The good news today has come through the stones. In our processional gospel, Jesus declares that if his disciples were silenced, "the stones would shout out." Better yet, absolution is declared even before the threefold sin of denial, when Jesus counsels Simon "the Rock" Peter: "after you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
It is both our indictment and our hope when we, today, with the crowds cry out, "Hosanna! Save us Lord!" For he has come for this very purpose.
Date: 3/30/2004
Time: 6:31:28 AM
Throughout Lent we have journeyed with Jesus, beginning with entering the wilderness and now ending with entering Jerusalem. In contrast to the quiet desolation of the wilderness, this entry is marked by not only the teeming of the city but also by disciples shouting, "Blessed is the king that comes in the name of the Lord!" So much has happened since Jesus emerged from the wilderness: teaching and healing that has given the people a vision of who Jesus will be for them. But just as Jesus revealed a purpose beyond the temptations offered to him in the wilderness, here he will keep moving beyond the jubilant crowds of followers towards the true revelation of his identity and purpose on the cross.
The gospel writer tells us that the throngs of disciples are shouting triumphantly because of the deeds of power they have witnessed along their journey with Jesus. Jesus has told them, however, that the ultimate revelation of his identity and salvation will be his betrayal, death, and resurrection (9:22). This shift towards a completely surprising revelation begins with Jesus entering Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey, recalling the messianic promise: "Your king comes to you...humble and riding on a donkey" (Zech 9:9). Kings serve by ruling, but Jesus is one who rules by serving, even to the point of suffering and death. In this gospel's account of the Last Supper, the humility of Jesus is highlighted by having him remind the disciples that "the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves" (Lk 22:26).
The writer of Luke intends readers to understand that the events of this week are part of the plan of God and that Jesus understands himself to be engaged in the fulfilment of that plan (Lk 18:31, 22:37). This plan will not be thwarted. If the disciples stop their proclamations, then even the stones will cry out.
This plan does not end with Jesus' resurrection. The second volume of this two- volume work that is Luke-Acts takes up God's plan in the life of the church. All through this final week are warnings and hints about the struggle there will be in the lives of the faithful (Lk 22:28-33, 23:28-31). Jesus' conduct during his trial becomes a model for the faithful in their trials. The promise of Jesus' resurrection becomes a promise for the survival and growth of the church.
Date: 3/30/2004
Time: 9:43:23 AM
With all the debate around "The Passion of Christ," I'm thinking that there is more of a need to read this entire passion account on Sunday. Ralph Milton's "Reader's Theatre" version is faithful to the text in Luke and can be found in his Rumors newsletter at joinhands.com. I think it'll be a part of our Sunday morning worship. Mark in NC
Date: 3/31/2004
Time: 6:42:25 AM
We read the entire passion story each year from either Matthew, Mark, or Luke (depending on the lectionary cycle) then on Good Friday we read the whole thing from John every year.
Augsburg Fortress publishes pamphlets for congregational reading adapted from the NRSV. For instance, the Luke story has parts for Narrator, Jesus, Peter, People (the whole congregation), Centurion, Servant, Witness, Pilate, First Criminal, Second Criminal.
After a procession with palms and the dramatic reading of the passion there's really not much need of a sermon on this day. I didn't preach last year but this year I've prepared a sermon but only half the length of one of my typical sermons.
Shalom
Date: 3/31/2004
Time: 7:27:17 AM
This is a quick thought. Those who have read my posts before know I'm a perenial 3-point guy. I see - hands. There are many hands here.
1) Pilate's hands - Jesus was delivered into the hands of the soldiers (22:53) and then into the hands of Pilate. Although our text here does not say it, Pilate's hands are washed of this matter. Pilate wants no part in Jesus' death. We, however, if we are to be redeemed, must confess our hands are unwashed.
2) Jesus' hands are nailed to the cross and His hands bear my sin. If my sin is to be forgiven, I must lay my sin in His hands and realize He is there because of me.
3) The Father's hands now bear Jesus' spirit as friends' hands bear Jesus' body. William Barclay writes, "That is Psalm 31:5 with one word added--Father. That verse was the prayer every Jewish mother taught her child to say last thing at night. Just as we were taught, maybe, to say, 'This night I lay me down to sleep,' so the Jewish mother taught her child to say, before the threatening dark came down, 'Into thy hands I commit my spirit.' Jesus made it even more lovely for he began it with the word Father. Even on a cross Jesus died like a child falling asleep in his father's arms."
JG in WI
Date: 4/2/2004
Time: 8:20:42 PM
JG in WI,
Got another point for you to cement your hands theory: check out the Greek word for betray/s/ed. Nine times out of ten it is the word more accurately translated as "handed over."
RB in PA
AHOC in MA March 25, 2007 Help friends, I am feeling rather unexcited about preaching Palm Sunday and Easter. It feels flat to me this year. Anyone else in the same boat?Posted by Beth in KY March 26, 2007
I am struggling to make this most holy of weeks seem "new". How can we recapture the emotions of this special time when we have heard the story again and again? One pastor friend of mine thinks we should have Christmas and then have Easter 33 years later to make the impact of that first Easter! But short of that, how do we make this familiar story relevant and fresh for ourselves and our congregations?
Posted by Wayne in TN March 26, 2007
One way that we will make the story new in this congregation is that we are doing the passion narrative in a lessons and carols format closing with communion. We will also have both a Holy Thursday and Good Friday service (not done in this congregation for at least 7 years). This congregation has not experienced the passion story in worship in a while and they are excited about the approach that we're taking.
Posted by Sue, West Wickham March 27, 2007
It's quite sad, isn't it, when we can't get excited by Easter... I'm thinking of making it an interactive service, so things to do as they walk through the door... word searches that need to be un-muddled, codes to be broken, all containing Easter messages hidden away within them. Asking the children to design flags to wave at the passing Christ on a donkey, colouring in donkey masks, having old sheets or towels for people to lay down in front of the donkey. So a whole mess of people doing different things, with (of course) those who don't want to do anything sitting and watching. After 10 minutes calling them all together, telling them it's time... then discussing the different times of Jesus' life, healing time, time to choose disciples, time to tell a parable, time to share bread and fish etc. until eventually it's time to ride to Jerusalem. Then inviting people to cheer and wave flags, towels/sheets etc as Jesus rides on a donkey (piggy-back) around the church. Then play television interviewer asking the different people how they felt. Why the celebration, what are they expecting? Perhaps when people leave giving them a small stone to take with them, for if the stones will cry out, then why don't they? It all seems a little rough around the edges at the moment, but I'll keep working! Hope it helps someone!
Posted by Beth in KY March 27, 2007
Wayne, I like your idea of lessons and carols. I had contemplated that but I didn't think of it in time to prep the choir. This congregation struggles with Palm Sunday and Easter seeming like just another Sunday worship - the flowers in the sanctuary change but the ethos doesn't. I hate being "frozen chosen"! :-)
Posted by David from Vancouver,Canada March 27, 2007
I have a question and a comment: A) Does anyone know why we read a whole passion narrative on this Sunday? Why don't we leave the passion narrative, especially the arrest, trial, and crucifixion parts for Good Friday? Do we read this on sunday just in case people don't go to church on Friday?
B) I would prefer to focus on the palm entry theme, as well as the theme of Jesus going to the Temple. I've been intrigued by the description of Jesus going to the Temple (See in Mark 11.15 to 12.34) Jesus overturns the money changers tables. Then, he is asked : By what authority do you act? (11.27-33) A little later, he is asked: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? (12.13-17) Then he is asked about the resurrection (12.18-27), and finally he is asked "what is the greatest commandment? (12.28-34) And then it reads: AND AFTER THAT NO ONE DARED TO ASK HIM ANY QUESTIONS...... So, Jesus, the Messiah comes to the Temple, he is asked all the hot-button, emotional questions of the day, he answers (or does he?) these questions, and then there is SILENCE in the Temple.......the troubled religious mind is quietened in the presence of the Word.....isn't that amazing?????? David,Vancouver, Canada.
Posted by Nail-Bender in NC March 27, 2007
Perhaps you, like me, wonder who we really are as ones who claim to embrace this one named Jesus. Each time I think of how we often posture ourselves in the world, I find my throat sticking on his words, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven …” And I wonder what it all means when we seek to embrace Jesus, but are apparently not too keen on the things that he professes to believe. For it seems to me, when I offer a critical glance at the actions of many of us in the world, my self included, not only are we not seeking to love our enemies, but we are actively engaged in killing them with either our weapons, or for those lesser enemies, with our words. I wonder, how might the world be different if we didn’t simply say we believed in Jesus, but believed in what he believed enough to live it out? Do we believe in the things he says, or is it all just so much hyperbole?
And so we cry out, wave our palm branches, and welcome the triumphant King, welcome the one who comes victorious! Yet, we refuse to see that it is war he is done with, refuse to see that he takes the ass rather than the steed so that we will know absolutely that he is the one of peace, that he is the one who makes it possible to love, that he is the one who rejects the chariots of Ephraim and the war horses of Jerusalem. And yet we continue to shout, “peace in heaven,” perhaps because we knew, we would never tolerate peace on earth. No wonder Jesus weeps.
In a couple of weeks, so many of us will enter our halls of worship and will weep at the thought of this person, this Son of Man, this Light of the World, who was stripped, beaten, and mocked – all the while, offering no defense, and no acts or words of violence. When the degradation was complete, we hung his bloody body on a device of torture and left him with a sign meant to be the greatest irony, the ultimate hyperbole – King of the Jews.
And what did he leave with us … “Father forgive them, for they haven’t a clue what they are doing.”
I pray that one day we might … have a clue … about what we do.
Perhaps then, we can look to one another and simply love each other … children … of heaven.
Posted by Beth in KY March 28, 2007 David~
Some years I have stuck to the Triumphal Entry and allowed the rest of the week to unfold through Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services also in my previous church we had an Easter prayer vigil where from noon of Good Friday through Sunrise Service on Easter someone (or ones) were in the sanctuary reading scripture and praying. However, I also know that many in the congregation do not particiapte in these acts of worship and devotion... they go from the excitement of Palm Sunday to the joy of Easter and never pause to think what happened between the two. In other words, they go from mountain top to mountain top without delving into the valley between. Therefore, I try to transition through the Palm Sunday worship from the joy of Palm Sunday to the praying in the Garden of Gethesemne then on Thursday we begin at the Last Supper through the garden to the arrest and on Friday from the arrest to the cross. I think we read the whole Passion as a way to reiterate the importance of this week to all of humanity.
Posted by Jill in Jersey March 28, 2007
All week as I’ve been thinking about Palm Sunday and Holy Week and the sermons I have to write, there has been a song going through my head. Now this isn’t unusual, there is often a song stuck in my head on automatic rewind—--some years it’s “O Sacred Head Now Wounded with Grief and pain weighed down” other years it’s “Were You There When they Crucified My Lord?”. But this year is different somehow. The song going through my head over the last week or two is an old camp song that goes like this: Were you ever in Quebec stowing timber on a deck where there’s a king with a golden crown riding on a donkey, Hey ho way we go donkey riding, donkey riding. Hey, ho way we go, riding on a donkey!”
That is hardly the song that memorable Holy Week services are made of, I doubt that I could even get Warren, our organist, to play it for me! But there it is in my head, playing over and over- donkey riding, donkey riding, hey ho away we go riding on a donkey” There are even motions for it, making the song even sillier- with a riding motion alternating with fingers for donkey ears! But then donkey riding is rather silly, isn’t it? And the image of a great king riding on a donkey is somehow all wrong!
And yet, when we read the various gospel accounts of Jesus “triumphal” entry into Jerusalem that is exactly the image they bring to mind, the story that they tell- a king, no make that the king of kings, the Lord of Lord, the very son of God, riding into town on a donkey, an ass, a young horselike creature with big ears and a slow bumpy gate.
That is no way for a king to arrive in triumph- he should be riding a fierce stallion, a white charger, all decked out with fancy saddle, tassles on it’s tail, a braided mane perhaps, accompanied by an entire regiment of knights in shining armor as the only company fit to accompany a king. That would be the proper way for a king to arrive, and would send the proper message to the people- the message of change, of liberation, of power that would relieve their oppression and set things right!
On this Palm Sunday, with our palms and cloaks scattered in the aisle, we need to think about donkey riding, we need to think about what message Jesus was sending by his arrival on that donkey…
Posted by Beth in KY March 28, 2007
Jill in Jersey~ I think you have your children's sermon, I'm sure most children would be willing to sing and do motions! :)
Posted by Beth in KY March 28, 2007
Finally some direction! (Thanks for making me really thin about it Wayne in TN!) I am going to read a segment of the Passion narrative with the congregation responding by singing a verse of "Ride On! Ride on in Majesty!". We'll work our way from Palm Sunday through the crucifixion this way and then the bell choir will play "Beneath the Cross of Jesus" and we'll have time for silent meditation. Then after some silent time we will stand and affirm our faith through the Scots Confession (Chapter IX). Yay! Finally something to work with/toward - praise God!
Posted by pb in ny March 28, 2007
Each year on Palm Sunday I resist including the Passion narrative. I am resistant to "giving in" to those who don't want to give of their time during Holy Week to relive the passion and death of our Savior. Is there anyone else out there who feels this way? I would like to just celebrate Palm Sunday and then have the folks come out for the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services so tht they might live out and journey with Jesus through this time. The Resurrection follows the Passion and death. It does not occur with just the singing of "The Palms." (Well, we know that it will, but you get my point.)
Posted by ogremtb March 28, 2007 pb in ny
My thought is that we can't let "Palm Sunday"
Posted by John near Pitts March 29, 2007
I just read the passion narrative, don't preach. Afterward, we do a few minutes of silent reflection followed by the Apostle's Creed. I've given in. Since most folks don't come out for Maundy Thrs. or Good Fri. services, I do the palm/passion emphasis. I include the passion because I don't want folks going from Palm Sunday to Easter without the passion.
Posted by TR in LA March 29, 2007
As a Lutheran, we have the Palm/Passion tension and read both texts during the service, and in our parish, preaching after the passion text. I have been noodling over the fact that this Sunday occurs on April 1st and who in these texts, if anyone felt like they were made a "fool" of? Thinking about being a "fool" for Christ and what that might look like today. The throngs welcomed Jesus as the hoped for warrior king, but this not being the case, he became a political liability and was betrayed and crucified. Do we look foolish to those who are driving by our church on Palm Sunday morning and see us waving palm branches and singing 'All Glory, Laud and Honor' loudly in an assortment of musical keys? I suspect that some of us definitely feel foolish! Will continue cogitating...TR in LA
Posted by HBNS March 29, 2007
I do the Palm/Passion liturgy in two very distinct parts. The Blessing of the Palms and joyful procession. This year we will process around the church to the hymn "Gather Us In". At the conclusion of the procession, the altar party gathers in the back of the church in preparation for the principle procession. After that the Passion story is read. I have done the reading in dramatic parts but this year I'm just reading it. Works better with different voices. I'll do a short-ish sermon...not sure of the focus yet...perhaps on "the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things."
Posted by Nightwatch March 29, 2007
I've been struggling this week too, because circumstances have me unable to offer Maundy Thursday service and Good Friday. We have these services available in 'sister' churches, but the reality is that most of the people in one of my churches will most certainly not attend, and only a limited number from the other church will get out to both, although some will get to one or the other. My title is Celebrating Sorrow, and I am going to combine the celebration of the King arriving and the sorrow of the Passion, hopefully ending with a feeling of the sacrifice with a humbling joy for the enormity of the next celebration...Easter. I really appreciate this site by the way!
Posted by MA in MA March 30, 2007
TR in LA - I always hope that folks will feel foolish parading around in front of the neighbors, because then I can preach about how foolish was the idea that Jesus was coming to be a king. I've had us wear party hats and really do the procession with a bang, then try to end worship with the feeling of dragging our feet along with Jesus carrying the cross. Thanks to everyone for much help from this site.
Posted by Rick+ in Reno, NV March 31, 2007
In my preparation for Palm Sunday, I'm tending toward asking the question, "How often do we choose the Barabbuses in our lives?" Barabbus represents the easy way. Jesus, in contrast, invites us to journey the hard way with him. It's not always the journey we expect or want, but it is the only one that will allow us to say, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."