Sunday Stretch: Palm Sunday 2023

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True confession here. I consider myself a fairly easygoing person most of the time, especially when it comes to things like the liturgical calendar. I’m not necessarily picky about which candles to light on which days, which color to use on optional weeks, or specifically which Bible passages to preach on each Sunday.

I am not so easy going when it comes to the final Sunday before Easter.

I’ll just lay out my cards here: I’m a fan of Palm Sunday; not so much a fan of Passion Sunday.

Holy Week is a journey, my friends - a fact not entirely negated by the frustrating truth that my children’s school district Spring Break falls over Holy Week this year, meaning we will be traveling over Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday and I’m not sure I’ll make it to the services … but I will try!

I digress. Holy Week is a journey, the culmination of the journey of Lent. And if you think that journey is quite possibly a word that’s overused in the Church during this season of Lent - well, you too would also be correct.

Nonetheless, I think it’s an important point. Resurrection is impossible if death doesn’t come first. And I think so much of modern Christian culture in America is all about glory and resurrection and power (think Christian Nationalism and flashy Easter signs and even the church I read about who’s hiring jugglers and circus actors for their Easter Sunday children’s sermon) and not enough about the ways in which God works through pain, suffering, and the Cross — and about the truth that God dwells most deeply in solidarity with those who, like Jesus, are poor, oppressed, marginalized, and treated unjustly, even arrested, imprisoned, and killed for their truth-telling.

Aha! You might say. Why then do you prefer Palm Sunday to Passion Sunday? Passion Sunday is all about the Cross.

Well, OK, here’s where I get out the part of me that has always been a bit of traditionalist and a stickler for rote practice and procedure (I know, I surprise myself sometimes, too). Passion Sunday misses it. It feels like an unnecessary concession to a world that insists the Church (and Jesus himself) fits into boxes the world prescribes for us, without bleeding into uncomfortable parts of our lives where we think the Church or Jesus might not belong (like Thursday and Fridays). This is a Holy Week. Each part of it is critical, though admittedly I do typically skip the lengthy Easter Vigil. (Feel free to make your own choices about where you’re spiritually fed this Holy Week as well).

But still. There’s something about moving from the triumphant, yet humble, riding on a donkey (or maybe a colt) journey into Jerusalem - to the quietude and humility of the Last Supper bread, wine, and washing of feet - to the ignominy, injustice, and tyranny of the Cross and crowd on Good Friday - to the surprising delight of the resurrection on Easter morning.

After this drama-filled week, replete with betrayals and proclamations and rock-bottom grief, I’m so ready for Easter. I read about the disciples running toward the tomb after the witness of the women, and I feel like I want to run, too.

Jesus Christ is risen today! Alleluia!

I’m so ready.

But not yet. Not yet.

I wrote last week about the invitation God gives us each Lent, and I’m going to issue it again to you at the start of this Holy Week. You’re invited on the journey (there’s that word again). You’re invited to experience the story anew this year. Because Jesus always shows me something different, each and every single year.

There’s the Palm Sundays when my male pastoral colleagues indulged my children sermon idea to have my fellow Pastor pretend to be a donkey and have a young child ride on their back into the sanctuary.

There’s those memories from childhood, with dirty spring snow on the ground in Minnesota and the improbable palm branches in our hands, waving them frenetically, until parents whispered in the pew: “That’s enough!” And then you turn the palm fronds into swords and fight with your brother until it’s time to come up for Children’s Church.

There’s the Palm Sunday of 2020, during COVID, when one of my parishioners in rural Minnesota took it upon himself to actually ride his donkey, complete with First-Century Middle Eastern costume-approximation, with his wife videotaping and narrating, and the poor donkey doing its best impression of the grand entrance into Jerusalem.

I always preach against the theology of glory, for the ways it which it reinforces an idolatrous idea that we are meant to be God - and that God is only God insofar as God increases our own worldly power and esteem.

But each Palm Sunday, I sing anyway:

All glory laud and honor, to you redeemer king

To whom the lips of children made sweet Hosannas ring

You are the King of Israel and David’s royal son

now in the Lord’s name coming the King and Blessed One.

A recent movement has suggested we change references in the Church from Kingdom to Kin-dom, to move away from this Christian Nationalist and theology of glory sense that Jesus has come to create a monarchy of power for Christians here on earth, and to recognize that earthly kings have left nothing but bloodshed and suffering in their wake.

I generally agree with the sentiment of this movement.

Still here today, again, I sing these words. Maybe it’s the traditionalist in me. Or maybe it’s the hope of Holy Week, that God can transform even our basest instincts into something altogether different. That this Messiah, this (King) if you will, is going to change forever the hope and meaning of King of Israel. He comes to the holy city of Jerusalem on a lowly donkey. Those who cheer his coming are not generally the rich and powerful, or the religious leaders and government officials, but the ones who have to remove their cloaks to create a makeshift royal path, because they don’t just have spare cloth sitting around. On this morning, Jesus enters Jerusalem and begins to usher in an entirely new way of being human in the world.

The end is coming. Jesus knows its pain, and so do we, all too well. But the journey is just beginning. Happy Holy Week.

Love,

Angela

Palm Sunday by Evans Yegon

This special edition of the Sunday Stretch for Palm Sunday is offered to all subscribers free-of-charge. To receive the Sunday Stretch each week in your inbox, please prayerfully consider a paid subscription. Additionally, because this is a special edition, I won’t do our usual in-depth study of each of the Lectionary Bible passages. Instead, I’m going to share below - in entirety - the text for Palm Sunday. Then, I’ll include our prayer and prayer requests. Thank you (all!) for being a part of this community, whether you subscribe, or you read occasionally, or you got this newsletter from a friend. I’m grateful to be on this journey (there’s that word again! Lent is almost over) with you.

Palm Sunday Gospel

Matthew 21:1-10

Matt. 21:1    When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,  ² saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.  ³ If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.”  ⁴ This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

⁵ “Tell the daughter of Zion,

Look, your king is coming to you,

humble, and mounted on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them;  ⁷ they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.  ⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  ⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹⁰ When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?”  ¹¹ The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

PRAYER

Dear God,

I want to imagine that I would have been there - with the crowd - having heard you were coming and laying down my cloak to meet you, riding on a donkey. I want to think I would have shouted Hosanna! and known that you were the Messiah. But then I read verse 10 about the turmoil of the city, and about the many who still did not know who you were. There will always be many who are ready to stand up for your name and your justice, and also many who shy away from your existence, or claim you are not where you have told us you will always be: on the margins. This Palm Sunday, God, help me to lay down my cloak - and then await your presence. Help me to be unafraid to shout with joy and confidence when I know You are here.

In Jesus’ name we pray,

AMEN

An Invitation

A Community that prays for one another is transformed by the power of the Spirit. We’ve been praying for and with each other now for about six months! For the new year, and about once a quarter, I will re-start this space for prayer requests and praises. Please email with your own requests and I will share here with your permission!

1. We continue to pray for a cessation of violence and war in Ukraine, and for refugees and migrants around the world who are without a safe place to call home.

2. We pray for all people experiencing extreme weather, and those without safe shelter or a warm/cool place to sleep at night. For all those in need of food. For all those looking for work.

3. We pray for the people of Holy Land, for Israelis and Palestinians, Christians, Jews, and Muslims - that all will be treated with justice and be given equal rights before the government, to live, work, and practice their faith. We pray for an end to violence and protection of the vulnerable, especially children and the elderly.

4. We pray for the people of Syria and Turkey, where a devastating earthquake took the lives of tens of thousands last month.

5. We pray for all churches, church leaders, and volunteers as they lead congregations in the season of Lent. Help many to receive the gift of repentance and forgiveness that’s made evident in these 40 days, and open our lives to this season of spiritual practice, contemplation, and renewal.

6. We pray for the people of Mississippi who were impacted by tornadoes last week, and for all those in the path of extreme spring weather in the American South. May they receive resources to rebuild and find safe shelter in the storm.

7. We pray for the victims and all who were impacted by the shooting at a church-based school in Nashville last week. May God bring an end to American worship of guns, especially as they take the lives of vulnerable children.

8. This Holy Week, God, be with all who lead congregations and serve in churches around the world. Help them to see your presence and find ways to lift up your justice, grace, and truth - while shunning all those who would proclaim hatred in your name.

From Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday to Good Friday, dear God, we pray for our awareness of your presence, and for our patience as we await resurrection,

AMEN

P.S. …

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