PALM/PASSION SUNDAY

Mark 11:1-11

or John 12:12-16 (Sermon 1: “Opportunity Knocks”)

Mark 11-11

ark 14: 1 to 15: 47 (Sermon 2: “The High Cost Of Loving”)

Philippians 2:5-11

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29

or 31:9-16

ENTRY INTO WORSHIP

Grief and joy are about to be mixed.

Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday, ushers in the most poignant week in the church calendar.

It begins with shouts of praise as Jesus of Nazareth, hero of the common people,

enters the Holy City, yet in so doing, marches inexorably towards his bloody death.

The stone which the builders rejected,

has become the keystone of the corner.

Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!

This is the day which the Lord has made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Have the mind-set which you find in Christ Jesus,

who although he was of God, did not grab for equality with God,

but emptied himself, living as a common servant;

Let your face shine on me, O loving Lord,

save me with your unwavering love.

As a human being, Jesus humbled himself,

and became obedient to the very death, even death on a cross.

Let your face shine on me, O loving Lord,

save me with your crucified love.

O Lord, unbutton our lips!

And our mouths shall declare your praise!

PRAYER OF APPROACH

Holy God, most awesome is your friendship, most wondrous is your self-giving.

We come with the sweet-sour mood of Palm Sunday in our minds and hearts.

We come not in spite of the looming shadow of the cross but because of it.

We come praising you for the grief-joy of your Christ, for the loving courage with which he fulfilled his terrible-wonderful mission to seek and save the lost.

We come adding our hosanna to the millions of voices, past and present, who have entered into the liberty which has come at such a high cost.

God of Jesus, we adore you; O give us grace to love your more! Through Christ our Saviour.

Amen!

CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE

Let us confront our sins, confessing that even our praise can become contaminated.

Let us pray.

If our songs of praise are a habit that has lost the enthusiasm of its first love;

Lord have mercy / Lord have mercy.

If our songs of praise are hampered by a multitude of small doubts and fears;

Christ have mercy / Christ have mercy.

If our songs of praise have become the hollow shells of a faith that has withered;

Lord have mercy / Lord have mercy.

God of stringent light and relentless mercy, please reveal to us the condition of our true selves. Expose the ugliness we have ignored, affirm the beauty that has not been surrendered, forgive the sins for which we have made pathetic excuses, and heal the faith which, although lame, has not surrendered to the world’s pessimism.

Encourage us to bear the pain of complete self-honesty, and to embrace the joy of rehabilitation which comes to us through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Then let us live boldly to the praise of your Holy Name.

Amen!

FORGIVENESS

Sisters and brothers in the faith, the sufferings and death of the true Son of God are indeed the ultimate condemnation of evil, but they are also the ultimate witness to the salvation of the world. Through Christ who comes to us, we are a people who have nothing to fear and everything to hope for.

Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest!

PRAYER FOR CHILDREN

You know, God, that’s really cool?

Crowds waving palm branches

and shouting “Hosanna!”

If anyone deserved that hype,

Jesus did.

Yet, God, it also makes us sad.

Sad because we know that in a few days

another crowd would get ugly

and shout, “Crucify him.”

That’s zero-cool; like disgusting!

Dear God, help as to be loyal friends of Jesus

today and everyday.

Amen!

PSALM 118:1-2, 19-29

Heh! Give thanks to God who is so good,

whose sure love flows on forever!

Let all the people join in the chorus:

God’s sure love flows on forever!

Swing open the gates of love that I may enter

and give thanks to our wonderful God.

Here is the gate that belongs to God,

believers can freely go in through it.

Thank you, God, for answering me;

you are my healing and liberation.

The stone that the builders threw aside

has become our cornerstone.

This is the day that God has made;

let us be happy and celebrate it.

Save us all, God, please save us;

and make our faith a success.

Happy are you who enter in God’s name,

in the house of God we bless you

God, our God, is the giver of light;

wave your branches right up to the altar.

You are my God and I will thank you;

you are my God I will praise you.

Sing thanks to God who is so good,

whose sure love flows on forever.

Ó B D Prewer 2001

[An alternative version is found on page 153 “More Australian Psalms”

Ó B D Prewer & Open Book Publishers

THE DONKEY

This donkey did not know;

but did he comprehend

who the rider was

who nudged him down the road

among the shouting mob

waving palm branches

through the city gates

with praise that was too brief?

This donkey did not know;

but did he comprehend

these gentle hands

that guided him on a journey

which pilgrims would recall

for thousands of years

with gratitude and praise

mixed with adoring grief?

This donkey did not know;

but did he comprehend

that angels and archangels

held their breath with awe

as the source of galaxies

rode on in humble majesty

to a holy mystery

that beggars all belief?

Ó B D Prewer 2002

COLLECT

Most loving God, with wondrous compassion you sent your Son to wear our flesh, suffer our temptations, hear our shallow praise, and endure cruel death upon a cross.

Please give us the spirit of Jesus, that we who follow his sufferings through this week, may learn the way of true love, and embody it to the end of our days.

Through the same Christ Jesus who lives and loves with you in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Amen!

SERMON 1: OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

John 1 11

He came unto his own people, but his own did not welcome him John 1:11

I have chosen a text from John rather than Mark, for the reason that is succinctly sums up the tragedy of the rejection which Jesus received at the hands of many of his own people. An unequalled opportunity knocked on their door, but most took one look at him through a window and kept the front door locked.

Opportunity is an unpredictable visitor. It sometimes knocks; but not every day, not every week, maybe not even a couple of times each year. Opportune moments are rare. The story of many mediocre or miserable lives is the story of missed opportunities. That is acutely true in their response to the God of Christ Jesus. He came unto his own people, but his own did not welcome him.

-------THE HOLY CITY THAT MISSED OUT-----------------------------------------------------------

Jerusalem, the holy city, missed it biggest opportunity. That is one ingredient in the sad irony of Palm Sunday. It was the rejection of a remarkable opening. Jesus, the noblest of all the sons of Israel, came to the city of a billion Hebrew prayers, but most of its inhabitants did not welcome him.

The crowd that shouted “Hosanna!” contained mainly pilgrims from Galilee, arriving for the Festival of Passover. Their enthusiasm may have stirred some of the citizens of Jerusalem to come out and watch; maybe a few joined the shouts of praise. But the majority in the Holy City missed the opportunity to welcome the Messiah for whom their people had prayed for hundreds of years. The priests were not out there waving palm branches. The city councillors were not shouting “Hosanna”. The lawyers and learned rabbis were not opening their minds and hearts to this most wonderful opportunity that had ever come their way. The Messiah was there but they recognised him not. The true Son of God was in their streets but they welcomed him not. They lost their big chance.

Never again would that moment be repeated. The opportunity went by. They were too set in their ways, too protective of their position and power, too busy with the common affairs of life, too absorbed in their religious duties, to welcome the true Son of God to the Holy City.

They missed the opportunity. He came unto his own people, but his own did not welcome him. That is one of the tragedies of Palm Sunday.

KAIROS EVENTS

The New Testament uses a key word God’s times of special opportunity. Times when God is doing something decisive in which we can choose to participate or refuse.

There are two Greek words for time: cronos and kairos. Chronos in time in general; as we record 24 hours in a day, 52 weeks in a year. It is time without any particular quality. But kairos is a critical time, when God is active in a special way and presents us with a window of opportunity. (In Luke’s account of Palm Sunday, he actually uses the word kairos to describe the opportunity which the Holy City was offered, yet did not take.)

Kairos time demands a decision from us. Deferring the decision is the same result as rejection, because we miss out on the unique moment. This opportunity may never again present itself to us. Millions of boring or wasted lives are a testimony to such missed opportunities.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on that little donkey, or a colt as Mark tells us, there was a kairos moment. A few took the opportunity to welcome him with much love and commitment, but most either ignored him, wished he would just go away, or plotted to remove his discomforting presence from their midst.

TRIVIAL CAUSES

One of the saddest things about lost opportunities is that sometimes they are ignored for very trivial reasons. I say sometimes. There are, on the other hand, the occasions when people refuse to enter God’s door of opportunity for very strong reasons: powerful fears maybe, or because pride is at stake, or because of their selfishness, or because to seize the opportunity will mean they must give up something to which they are most attached. However in numerous cases the reasons are indeed trivial.

We become caught up in petty joys, worries or plans. We are blinded by second-rate wants and wishes. We cling to tiddly-wink pleasures. We hang on to positions of petty status that are no more important than a child’s game of hop-scotch. We adhere to the opinions of a peer group, some of whose values we may secretly despise. With such trivia we miss God’s times of wonderful opportunity. So when God in Christ arrives in our street with majestic purposes more lofty that mountain peaks, we turn our backs and scuttle away to our little, familiar ant hills. He came unto his own people, but his own did not welcome him

PALM SUNDAY IN OUR TIME

A few years ago I tried to express this sense of lost opportunity in a modern setting of Palm Sunday. Five people dealing with the arrival of Jesus into their community: a farmer in town buying a new car, a young woman busy in an office, a real estate agent, a bored wealthy woman at home, and a university professor.

THE ARRIVAL

On the day

when Jesus the prophet

arrived in our town,

Joe Farmer was very busy

choosing a new car.

He heard the distant cheering:

“Hosanna! Blessed is he

who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Mentally he made a note

and promised himself

hear the prophet;

some day,

not now.

Joes was far too occupied

with trade-in price,

fuel consumption,

and the virtues of the ST

or the LJ model,

and whether either car

was better

than his neighbour’s.

At coffee break

22 year old Esther Romantic

also heard the uproar

coming from High Street.

She felt an impulse

to go and join the crowd

with those who welcomed

the prophet,

for stories about him

had strangely

shaken and encouraged her.

But Esther’s wedding day

was only seven weeks off

and she still had thinking to do

about the flowers,

shade of eye shadow,

or whether on the tables

she wanted with every place card

a wishbone.

For Jim Smiley

the real estate agent

it was infuriating:

Time was money!

Here he was stuck in a traffic jam

in the middle of town,

thanks to these idiots

with grins, slogans and palm branches,

supporting this new fool

Jesus

who had said some rotten things

about real estate.

Jim was due in four minutes

at Toorak Place

to meet with a wealthy client.

Jim yelled at a policeman

patrolling the edge of the procession:

“How about some law and order!”

Some did not even hear

the cheering

nor cared.

Beth Goldsmith

with fingers covered with rings

was watching “Days of our lives”

when the prophet

walked within one block

of her residence.

They interrupted the programme

for an eyewitness report

on the progress

of the street demo.

Beth took the opportunity

to fetch another pot of coffee

and two aspirin.

Professor Nicodemus

was lecturing at the Uni.

He noted the small number

who had turned up today,

and even they were restless.

He asked the reason.

They gave him the news

that the prophet Jesus

was leading a demo

to the Central Mall.

On an impulse Nicodemus

dismissed the surprised students

and hurried off down High Street

where, somewhat embarrassed,

he joined the crowd and found

himself shouting “Hosanna!”

At the sound of his own voice,

the Prof felt his own soul-

as if a birth was about to take place-

leap for joy within!

And it seemed as if all things

were becoming new.

Opportunity knocks.

Sometimes.

SERMON 2: THE HIGH COST OF LOVING (Very long version)

Mark 11-1-11

Mark 14: 1 to 15:47

Some of them began to spit on Jesus. Others blindfolded him and struck him, jeering: “Guess who hit you”. And then the guards took him away and beat him up.” Mark 14: 65

What does it mean to be a truly loving person in a place like Bagdad in Iraq, or Khartoum in the Sudan, or in Bethlehem in the hills of Israel? Or to be a loving person in a crowded city like Medallion in the drug-dominated country of Colombia?

What does it mean to be an agent of reconciliation and goodwill in such places? Where bombs can explode among mourners at a funeral, or within the playground of a school? Where ethnic and religions conflicts fuel continual brutality? What does it mean to lovingly stand up for truth and justice in a city like Medallion where in the last 25 years 120 judges and top-level cops have been assassinated?

Those brave souls have much in common with Jesus? And then the guards took him away and beat him up.”

In such violent communities, to be a truly loving person means the likelihood of at least being misunderstood, no matter how genuine you are. It means to risk being rejected, hated, forced to move from place to place without putting down roots, to have your name placed on a hit list, and maybe to die by the assassins knife, bullet or bomb.

There is a high cost of loving for people in grim situations. That is why some citizens, maybe most of them, just keep their heads down and try not to be involved in any outward works of charity or justice.

Yet, praise God, there are others who insist on loving no matter what the risks.

I keep using that word “risk.” Has it ever dawned upon us that high risk is always present whenever we try to genuinely love our neighbours and enemies? That there is always a risk, even in outwardly sleepy country towns, or in the upper-middle class suburbs of Australian cities? Risk is real. To love others is one of the most dangerous things one can do in the world.

That is why, my friends, many are so scared of really caring about the welfare of others. Dead scared in fact.

TWO GOSPEL LESSONS; TWO THEMES

Let’s look at what the New Testament offers us for today.

On this Sunday with which we begin Holy Week, this special day which some name “Palm Sunday” and others “Passion Sunday,” the Lectionary readings are particularly generous. There are three offered. They seem to cater for two different moods: enthusiastic praise or sombre contemplation. The 2 Gospel readings from Mark highlight two facets of loving.

The first Gospel Reading, from Mark 11, features the triumphant Palm Sunday entry of Jesus astride that donkey, surrounded by pilgrims waving their branches and shouting “Hosanna!”

In this story the great lover of humanity is applauded.

The second Gospel reading, the long one from Mark 14 and 15, takes us through the misery of the betrayal, arrest, trials, foul abuse, death sentence, scourging, and the military execution on the hill of Golgotha.

In this story the great lover of humanity is given a cruel death.

That first reading, featuring the Palm Sunday celebrations, appeals to the child that is always within each of us.

There is much about that child in us which is precious, and needs nurturing even into old age. But there is also the silly side of our inner child. Our inner child wants, and expects, loving deeds to be always rewarded; and very quickly. It wants goodness to be appreciated, cheered, and honoured. Therefore we enjoy the scene when our great Prince of Love is surrounded by cheering crowds from the descent down from the Mt. of Olives into the holy city of Jerusalem. This, according to the child in us, is how true loving should always turn out. It should be praised and rewarded.

The second reading resonates with the mature, Christian adult in us.

It features the betrayed and crucified One, “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” The perfect love that is despised and rejected. He is deserted even by most of his best friends. And that the end he even feels forsaken by his God. As mature adults we face the truth that this is a hard world, where love is often mocked and rejected, and where goodness does not always lead to success and painless happiness. The mature Christian understands that redemption, in any situation, usually comes at a high cost. In one way or another, good people can get beaten up.

Some of them began to spit on Jesus. Others blindfolded him and struck him, jeering: “Guess who hit you”. And then the guards took him away and beat him up.” Mark 14: 65

Yet as mature Christian adults we know that Palm Sunday events can still happen. Although they are few and far between. We take the chance to celebrate them whenever they occur. Hosannas do happen sometimes. Love and goodness are sometimes honoured. We are grateful. And so we should be: Hosanna!

However, worldwide, the more common symbol of the truly loving person may well be the lonely, forsaken Christ. That choice soul who goes out on a limb for God. The Lover of humanity who is not always appreciated, not always welcomed, rarely applauded. The best deeds, done with the best of motives, can result in rejection and pain. The true Christian love stories of this world do not always ascend to a neat, pretty culmination.

Yet even as I say this, the child within me pouts and rebels. It fights against the realistic, adult perception. A part of us clings feverishly to the notion that if we get it right, then loving must bring success in this world.

We are inclined to clutch at this childish expectation, and even try to put our own slant on events to make it seem an authentic view. When we try something for Christ and it’s a flop, what goes on in our thoughts? If we listen to our inner child, we may well hear it recite the familiar mantra: “No, but.”

“No but, if only we had more faith, we would have tasted success.

No but, if only we had been wiser, if only we had prayed harder things would be okay.

..No but, if only we had chosen a better time or a better way, then such love would have

prospered.

What is perhaps more insidious, is that we may find ourselves projecting the same childish mantra on other people whose attempts at loving have not worked out well.

“No but, if only they had been more sensitive.

No but, if only they had been more patient.

No but, if only they had been more persistent, or more humble.

No but, if they had been better church members, or studied the Bible more devoutly,

then things would have turned out better.”

We even fall into the childish trap of thinking the same success formula applies to congregations. We expect that those churches which are most faithful, very prayerful and loving communities, must inevitably prosper. We would like to think that faithfulness will result in a church bulging at the seams, a hive of activity, well honoured by the wider community and patronised by the occasional pop singer or soapie star.

In an interview between a radio personality and the author of a book about the decline of church influence in Australia, the interviewer asked: “But what about the people who say that if we get our belief right, then success will always follow?” To which the author replied: “One could say that if we get our belief right, we might end up on a cross.”

Just replace the word belief with love, and the unpalatable truth stands: “Get our loving totally right and we might end up on a cross.” Metaphorically speaking, of course. We don’t publicly butcher people any more. Not physically. Our citizens are much too “cultured” for that. But mentally, emotionally they certainly do crucify people. Viciously at times.

Not for one moment am I knocking Palm Sunday occasions. When they come, let us embrace them with enthusiasm. It is a time for the adult within us to listen to the child and celebrate with joy and thanksgiving.

But we need to also hear the mature adult within us. If we ever we leap to the hasty conclusion that Christian love will automatically bring favour and honour, listen to the adult voice within. The cross remains a far more potent symbol of genuine loving than do palm branches.

PAYING THE COST OF VULNERABILITY

In spite of the painful results in some situations, all over the world love continues to be poured out by choice souls. Sometimes their efforts are welcomed, but often they are ignored or rejected; or much worse. Some of them began to spit on Jesus. Others blindfolded him and struck him, jeering: “Guess who hit you”. And then the guards took him away and beat him up.”

Let s rejoice that thousands are prepared to pay the cost. To pay the cost of loving within families, in communities, in nations. Some of the friends of Christ are paying the price all over the world this very day. They have made themselves vulnerable and a ready to suffer because of it.

Whenever you and I truly practice the love of Christ we make ourselves vulnerable. We put ourselves on the line. We risk misunderstanding, pain, rejection or even worse.

Take one example: A teenager at secondary college may well lose some friends if she dares to take the plunge and becomes, humbly yet firmly, a Christian. If she does not make her confirmation merely a respectable ritual, but enters it as a life long commitment to Christ, she will at times pay for her sincerity. If she stands up for some kid at school who is being picked on, or dares to argue a case of some harried, touchy teacher, she will not win the popularity contest on campus. At least metaphorically, some will “beat her up.”

Loving makes us vulnerable.

Take another example. Whenever we lovingly edge nearer to our brothers and sisters of indigenous communities, we will pay a cost. Most people may be willing to be sentimental about the rights and needs of these first Australians who inhabited loved this land for at least 40,000 years, maybe for 60,000 years. A few saccharine sentiments are okay towards the aborigines. If, in an arms’ length kind of way, we argue for the land rights of our native people, that also is counted as permissible.

But closely associating with them (especially with those dilapidated souls who are found drunk in city squares or brawling behind country pubs) will lead you into trouble. Stand beside them in their struggle for justice (applied with compassion) and there will be a price to pay.

Loving is not only dangerous in present day Bethlehem or Colombia or Bagdad. It is dangerous here in Oz. Those who stand with indigenous people, pay a price. At the very least you will be treated by many people with disdain as another of those “weak-minded do-gooders.” At worst, especially if you live in some rural communities, it may result in you becoming socially ostracised, or finding stones shattering the windows of your house, or being pushed off the road by a truck. Or, if you are not a long established “local,” you may be physically run out of town like one pastor I knew. “They beat him up.”

Loving makes us vulnerable.

PLAYING IT SAFE

As a result, many Christians have decided to play it safe. Be cautious. They will tell you that religion is a private matter. That faith is what happens in the privacy of their own homes. That public Christianity is what we do at the church, the Bible study group or the prayer meeting, or through the money we sent off to missionaries in far away places.

We are all tempted by the devil to be cautious; to put up fences between ourselves and other raw needs of the world around us. We allow others to get near but never close. Our conversation remains superficial. We are tempted to limit our charity to respectable causes. Even within family life, some folk have an invisible curtain, behind which they hide their true beliefs and convictions. And some even have a heavy emotional shutter that clamps down should anyone dare push aside the curtain.

WE don't want to be hurt. But loving does make us vulnerable. They beat him up. Some one is waiting to beat us up, verbally or financially or even physically. Inside the churches there are a number who have given up. They tried to give love a go; they got hurt once, maybe twice, and that was it. No more. Safety first begins to dominate and curtail their lives. I say “their lives.” I am not convinced that any one of us, from pulpit to pew, is entirely innocent of the sin of “playing it safe.”

THANK GOD FOR THOSE WHO PERSIST.

But thank God there are numerous faithful, loving souls who refuse to draw back. Even the most cautious of us have our better moments. A few become famous. Some become notorious. But many brave souls just quietly go about the business of loving and paying the cost without complaint.

These folk understand that sooner of later, in some way large or small, it will happen. “They beat him up”

Thank God thousands of ordinary Christians are mature enough to still do the Christ thing, focus on the truly loving way, and they willingly pay the cost. These will risk betrayal by a friend, desertion by others, denial by a workmate, in the cause of Christ. Other go further and risk being disowned by family, or maybe risk stagnation in their career, or demotion or sacking, because they are up-front about being committed to the way of love that was launched by Christ Jesus. Palm Sundays are rare, precious but rare. The later events of Holy Week, from the garden of sorrows to the abuse, misjudgements, and rejection; “and they beat him up,” These consequences are not only possible but likely.

Thank God for the number of tenacious followers of Christ who count the cost yet go ahead anyway. Those who entrust themselves to love, love and more love. Not just in word but in attitude and action.

These beautiful characters become inducted into the glorious paradox of Christ: That in losing life they find it. It has been said that love is the only think that when we give it away we have much more of it.

THE LOVE OF JESUS.

That distinctive love of Jesus, persisting through the torturous hours of his trials and dying, is the most powerful redeeming force in history. There is a dynamic in love which cannot be kept down. It is like yeast.

There is a victory and hope inherent in that cross. Love itself seems to have within it a kind of resurrection power. Out of loss comes gain, out of defeat comes a different kind of success, and out of a dying comes resurrection. Love is itself an Easter force.

The willingness today, by vulnerable followers of Jesus, to pay whatever cost asked of them, holds bright hope for our world. As little christs, we share the redemptive activity of our Lord in this world.

SUMMARY?

Palm Sunday is okay. When it arrives, by all means wave the Palm Branches and shout Hosanna. But I reckon the glitter of Palm Sunday is like tinsel compared with the cross, and a pre-good Friday faith is fairy floss compared with the hard-won celebration which erupts at dawn on Easter morning.

In the child’s view (and in the view of a childish adult) goodness and love should bring immediate and visible rewards. They don't want to know about that phrase “and they beat him up.”

In the mature adult’s understanding, there is many a cross between now and the ultimate triumph of a faithful life. The mature, costly loving of Jesus is our inspiration, our guide and our destiny.

SERMON 2: THE HIGH COST OF LOVING (Shorter version)

Mark 11-1-11

Mark 14: 1 to 15:47

Some of them began to spit on Jesus. Others blindfolded him and struck him, jeering: “Guess who hit you”. And then the guards took him away and beat him up.” Mark 14: 65

GOSPEL LESSONS; TWO THEMES

Let’s look at what the New Testament offers us for today.

On this Sunday with which we begin Holy Week, this special day which some name “Palm Sunday” and others “Passion Sunday,” the Lectionary readings are particularly generous. There are three offered. They seem to cater for two different moods: exuberant praise or sombre contemplation. The Gospel readings from Mark highlight two facets of loving.

The first Gospel Reading, from Mark 11, features the triumphant Palm Sunday entry of Jesus astride that donkey, surrounded by pilgrims waving their branches and shouting “Hosanna!”

In this story the great lover of humanity is applauded.

In this story the great lover of humanity is given a cruel death.

That first reading, featuring the Palm Sunday celebrations, appeals to the child that is always within each of us.

The second reading resonates with the mature, Christian adult in us.

Some of them began to spit on Jesus. Others blindfolded him and struck him, jeering: “Guess who hit you”. And then the guards took him away and beat him up.” Mark 14: 65

Yet as mature Christian adults we know that sometimes the happy side of Palm Sunday events can still happen. We take the chance to celebrate them whenever they occur. Hosannas do happen sometimes. Love and goodness are sometimes honoured. We are grateful. And so we should be: Hosanna!

However, worldwide, the more common symbol of the truly loving person may well be the lonely, forsaken Christ. The Lover of humanity who is not always appreciated, not always welcomed, rarely applauded. The best deeds, done with the best of motives, can result in rejection and pain. The true Christian love stories of this world do not always end with warm fussy applause.

“No but, if only we had more faith, we would have tasted success.

No but, if only we had been wiser, if only we had prayed harder things would be okay.

..No but, if only we had chosen a better time or a better way, then such love would have

prospered.

What is perhaps more insidious, is that we may find ourselves projecting the same childish mantra on other people whose attempts at loving have not worked out well.

“No but, if only they had been more sensitive.

No but, if only they had been more patient.

No but, if only they had been more persistent, or more humble.

No but, if they had been better church members, or studied the Bible more devoutly,

then things would have turned out better.”

Just replace the word “belief” with “loving” and the unpalatable truth stands: “Get our loving totally right and we might end up on a cross.” Metaphorically speaking, of course. We don’t publicly butcher people any more. Not physically. Our citizens are much too “cultured” for that. But mentally, emotionally they certainly do crucify people. Viciously at times.

Not for one moment am I knocking the happy side of Palm Sunday. When times of celebration come, let us embrace them with enthusiasm. The adult within us needs to listen to the child and celebrate with joy and thanksgiving.

But we need to also hear the mature adult within us. The cross remains a far more potent symbol of genuine loving than do palm branches.

PAYING THE COST OF VULNERABILITY

Whenever you and I truly practice the love of Christ we make ourselves vulnerable. We put ourselves on the line. We risk misunderstanding, pain, rejection or even worse.

Loving makes us vulnerable.

PLAYING IT SAFE

We are all tempted by the devil to be cautious; to put up fences between ourselves and other raw needs of the world around us. Our conversation remains superficial. We are tempted to limit our charity to respectable causes.

But true loving does make us vulnerable. They beat him up. Some one is waiting to beat us up, verbally or financially or even physically.

THANK GOD FOR THOSE WHO PERSIST.

These folk understand that sooner of later, in some way large or small, it will happen. “They beat him up”

THE LOVE OF JESUS.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let your spirits soar high.

We lift them up to God.

Let us give thanks to our loving Friend.

It is our delight to give thanks and praise.

God our most holy Friend, every day in every place your faithful children rise up to give you thanks and praise.

For this planet earth with its wealth of gifts, for our birth into this generous place, made in your own likeness, stewards of creation, and pastors of one another.

Even when we degrade the divine image within us, you do not give us up. We thank you for your project of reclamation envisaged by the Old Testament prophets, sung by temple choirs and humble workers in the words of the Psalms, and made visible in the remarkable life of Jesus of Nazareth.

Especially today we praise you for Passion Sunday: for the faith-courage that brought Christ to Jerusalem, for the shouts of pilgrims and little children, the waving sea of palm branches, the prayers and tears of joy, but most of all for that costly, redeeming, bloody destiny to which he set his face like a flint.

Therefore with all the messengers of God on earth and in heaven, we thank and praise you saying:

Holy, holy, holy Friend, God of truth and grace,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest!

PRAYERS FOR OTHERS

* This prayer is designed to be led by two voices.

God our Saviour and Friend, in spite of our outward brave faces, inwardly in our souls we need to sometimes weep a while.

We need to weep with and for those children who instead of enjoying a happy childhood, know far too much about war, hunger, poverty, mental and physical abuse, illness and dying.

We need to weep with and for those young people who having grown up in pleasant circumstances, now have their hopes and ideals dashed by a cynical world.

We need to weep with and for those among the indigenous people of our land who have lost all sense of self respect and dignity and who are now captive to a sense of futility.

We need to weep with and for refugees who have spent years in camps, those whose families have been broken up, and those who risk their lives in unseaworthy boats.

We need to weep with and for prisoners of conscience who suffer deprivation and violence, and citizens who have been tried and sentenced for crimes they did not commit.

We need to weep with and for those within the care of the church who have been misused or exploited; and those who have suffered emotional violence or have been sexually abused.

We need to weep with and for fellow Christians who have lost their joy and now serve with dogged duty, and for any pastors and priests who carry on although they feel failures.

We need to weep with and for friends or family who are choosing paths that will lead to personal degradation, and for any who in their misery refuse all offers of help.

We need to weep with and for you, loving God. For you are the completely Loving One who “bears our griefs and carries our sorrows,” not wanting a single soul to perish. As we share a little of the grief of your costly love, may we also participate in your outreach among those around us

Through Christ Jesus our Redeemer.

Amen!

SENDING OUT

Go gladly on your way as those who have recognised the Palm Sunday man as the key to the healing of the world.

Hosanna! Wonderful is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Translate your hosannas in the language of daily loving, that each task and each person may receive the best you can offer in those circumstances.

Hosanna! Wonderful is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

The amazing grace of Christ Jesus will cover you,

The enduring love of God will encircle you,

The sure friendship of the Spirit will inspire you,

both today and evermore.

Both today and ever more.

Amen!

THREE BOOKS BY BRUCE PREWER
    THAT ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
              BY ORDERING ONLINE
    OR FROM YOUR LOCAL CHRISTIAN BOOKSHOP

My Best Mate, (first edition 2013)

ISBN 978-1-937763-78-7: AUSTRALIA:

ISBN : 978-1-937763-79- 4: USA

Australian Prayers

Third edition May 2014

ISBN 978-1-62880-033-3 Australia

Jesus Our Future

Prayers for the Twenty First Century

Second Edition May 2014

ISBN 978-1-62880-032-6

Although this book was written with young people in mind, it has proved to be popular with Christians or seekers of all ages. Through the eyes and ears of a youth named Chip, big questions are raised and wrestled with; faith and doubt, unanswered prayers, refugees, death and grief, racism and bullying, are just a few of the varied topics confronted in these pages. Suitable as a gift to the young, and proven to be helpful when it has been used as a study book for adults.

Australian Prayers has been a valuable prayer resource for over thirty years. These prayers are suitable for both private and public use and continue to be as fresh and relevant today as ever. Also, the author encourages users to adapt geographical or historical images to suit local, current situations.

This collection of original, contemporary prayers is anchored firmly in the belief that no matter what the immediate future may hold for us, ultimately Jesus is himself both the goal and the shape of our future. He is the key certainty towards which the Spirit of God is inexorably leading us in this scientific and high-tech era. Although the first pages of this book were created for the turn of the millennium, the resources in this volume reflect the interests, concerns and needs of our post-modern world.