April 6, 2020 11:00 am Facebook Live

Passion Palm Sunday is an interesting day in the church year, it has a kind of double vision. On the one hand, the day celebrates Jesus triumphant into Jerusalem with the people waving palm branches and cheering. Traditionally, palm branches are blessed on this day and distributed among the people. Then the service takes a darker turn with the reading of the Passion Gospel, that account of the death of Jesus and people leave the service in silence. The day goes from joyful acclamation to death and silence.

This year we will bless the Palms but we will not be able to distribute them until later in the year when we can gather in person. Palm branches were used because they were native in the area where the people lived. In order to feel more a part of Palm Sunday, gather branches of local trees, bundle them together and hang them on the front door or put then in your “worship” space in the home. All this by way of remembering our own changeable nature and our need for the salvation and grace of the cross.
Lessons: Blessings of the Palms: Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29 Matthew 21:1-11; Morning Prayer: Isaiah 50: 4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16, Philippians 2:5-11, Matthew 26:14-27:66