Sunday Sermon 5th April 2020 - Palm Sunday
PALM SUNDAY
In past years, the services on Palm Sunday have usually begun with a gathering around the cross and the giving of palm crosses outside of the church as we remember Jesus entry to Jerusalem. And then we all walk together into the church waving our palms and enjoy the service. Quite a calm and sedate affair. But not this year. For Christians, this is the most important week in our faith journey, more important even than Christmas. We do not know exactly when Jesus was born, but we do know when he died and who was there when it happened. Holy week is a microcosm of life – today we rejoice – on Friday we mourn, and next Sunday we rejoice again. That is sometimes how life goes.
Last year, my husband Mike and I were in Jerusalem. We had gone as part of a tour group staying at St George’s College in Jerusalem. On Palm Sunday, we worshipped at St George’s cathedral and then we headed to the hills above the Mount of Olives to join a procession which walked down to the mount of olives across the Kidron valley and entered Jerusalem through the Lion Gate.
It soon became obvious that a lot of other pilgrims had the same idea! There were people everywhere, bands playing, people singing in many languages and flags waving, police motorcyclists, scouts and guides, youth groups from everywhere and soldiers watching on. Finally, the signal came and we all set off singing hymns and waving whatever we had.
I am sure you must have seen photos of the route down through the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley. Allow me to describe it for you in one word – NARROW. There were about 20 thousand pilgrims all trying to squeeze into this narrow road. We were shoulder to shoulder. And we had no option but to keep moving along, because we were unable to do anything else.
We were carried along by the sheer size of the crowd. We could not stop, we could not turn to the left or to the right or leave the procession. I found it a very unnerving experience because I felt I had no control over my actions. I just had to go along with everyone else. At last we reached the Lion’s Gate and the procession dispersed in many directions. On the whole, it was a very strange experience. It was wonderful to worship with so many Christians, but I did not enjoy the sense of being powerless.
I certainly never anticipated that on Palm Sunday of 2020 I would be sharing a message online because of health restrictions. I fully anticipated being a part of a procession from the cross to the church. As I processed last year, I felt I had no control over what was happening. And this year, there is that same sense of being powerless, but for another reason. But I am not alone in this I know, because much of what is happening around us, in our community, our town and our country, throughout the world is something over which we have no control.
We can only determine our own behavior, whether we isolate ourselves, or if we venture quickly to the shops to pick up some supplies. And that is not a situation we are familiar with. We like to believe that we can come and go as we please, we can come to church to worship together, or even meet our friends for lunch. All of those things will happen again, but not yet. It’s okay to tell God that we feel afraid for the future; that we are concerned about loved ones; that we are struggling with the uncertainties of life. God isn’t going to love us any the less because we are finding life difficult at the moment.
We have the promise that God will hear our prayers, in fact, our faith tells us that God does. We can also be honest with God, because God knows what’s in our hearts and minds anyway. We don’t have to pretend that all is well when it isn’t.
If you need reminding of that, open your Bible. Read the story of Joseph who was sold as a slave, Job who lost everything, Moses and the Israelites who spent years in the wilderness. Even Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that God would take the cup from him. Sometimes the writer of the psalms seems to rage at God, asking God why good people suffer and bad people flourish.
Why would these people pray if they did not believe that God was listening to their prayers, would hear their distress. We are no different: God hears our prayers because God loves us just as we are, whether our faith is strong or our faith has the wobbles. As I read recently, God is moving even when we can’t see him. God is in control even when everything seems out of control. God is with us at all times and in all places.
Jesus has promised us that he will not forsake those who call on his name, those people who love him. He promises to be with us in our time of trial. Friends, as we enter this most holy week, let us make a deliberate choice not to ignore Jesus. Let us really enter into it, the highs and the lows, the joy and the pain. I encourage you to listen for Jesus voice as you pray in these difficult times and I would like to share with you what happened when people heard another encouraging voice in the worst of times.
After a hijacked plane smashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, many people were trapped inside the building by fire, and by thick black smoke which made it impossible to see anything. Police Officer Isaac Hoopi ran into the Pentagon, searching for survivors and he heard people calling out in the blackness. He could not see them and they could not see him, but he called out “head towards my voice! Head towards my voice”
People who could not see where they were going, who were disoriented by the smoke, heard his shouts and headed towards his voice. His voice led them out of the Pentagon and to safety.
My friends, we will get through these difficult times. And on Palm Sunday 2021, we will look back and we will remember when we worshipped as a community whilst being kept apart.
We are the people of God.
AMEN
In past years, the services on Palm Sunday have usually begun with a gathering around the cross and the giving of palm crosses outside of the church as we remember Jesus entry to Jerusalem. And then we all walk together into the church waving our palms and enjoy the service. Quite a calm and sedate affair. But not this year. For Christians, this is the most important week in our faith journey, more important even than Christmas. We do not know exactly when Jesus was born, but we do know when he died and who was there when it happened. Holy week is a microcosm of life – today we rejoice – on Friday we mourn, and next Sunday we rejoice again. That is sometimes how life goes.
Last year, my husband Mike and I were in Jerusalem. We had gone as part of a tour group staying at St George’s College in Jerusalem. On Palm Sunday, we worshipped at St George’s cathedral and then we headed to the hills above the Mount of Olives to join a procession which walked down to the mount of olives across the Kidron valley and entered Jerusalem through the Lion Gate.
It soon became obvious that a lot of other pilgrims had the same idea! There were people everywhere, bands playing, people singing in many languages and flags waving, police motorcyclists, scouts and guides, youth groups from everywhere and soldiers watching on. Finally, the signal came and we all set off singing hymns and waving whatever we had.
I am sure you must have seen photos of the route down through the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley. Allow me to describe it for you in one word – NARROW. There were about 20 thousand pilgrims all trying to squeeze into this narrow road. We were shoulder to shoulder. And we had no option but to keep moving along, because we were unable to do anything else.
We were carried along by the sheer size of the crowd. We could not stop, we could not turn to the left or to the right or leave the procession. I found it a very unnerving experience because I felt I had no control over my actions. I just had to go along with everyone else. At last we reached the Lion’s Gate and the procession dispersed in many directions. On the whole, it was a very strange experience. It was wonderful to worship with so many Christians, but I did not enjoy the sense of being powerless.
I certainly never anticipated that on Palm Sunday of 2020 I would be sharing a message online because of health restrictions. I fully anticipated being a part of a procession from the cross to the church. As I processed last year, I felt I had no control over what was happening. And this year, there is that same sense of being powerless, but for another reason. But I am not alone in this I know, because much of what is happening around us, in our community, our town and our country, throughout the world is something over which we have no control.
We can only determine our own behavior, whether we isolate ourselves, or if we venture quickly to the shops to pick up some supplies. And that is not a situation we are familiar with. We like to believe that we can come and go as we please, we can come to church to worship together, or even meet our friends for lunch. All of those things will happen again, but not yet. It’s okay to tell God that we feel afraid for the future; that we are concerned about loved ones; that we are struggling with the uncertainties of life. God isn’t going to love us any the less because we are finding life difficult at the moment.
We have the promise that God will hear our prayers, in fact, our faith tells us that God does. We can also be honest with God, because God knows what’s in our hearts and minds anyway. We don’t have to pretend that all is well when it isn’t.
If you need reminding of that, open your Bible. Read the story of Joseph who was sold as a slave, Job who lost everything, Moses and the Israelites who spent years in the wilderness. Even Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane that God would take the cup from him. Sometimes the writer of the psalms seems to rage at God, asking God why good people suffer and bad people flourish.
Why would these people pray if they did not believe that God was listening to their prayers, would hear their distress. We are no different: God hears our prayers because God loves us just as we are, whether our faith is strong or our faith has the wobbles. As I read recently, God is moving even when we can’t see him. God is in control even when everything seems out of control. God is with us at all times and in all places.
Jesus has promised us that he will not forsake those who call on his name, those people who love him. He promises to be with us in our time of trial. Friends, as we enter this most holy week, let us make a deliberate choice not to ignore Jesus. Let us really enter into it, the highs and the lows, the joy and the pain. I encourage you to listen for Jesus voice as you pray in these difficult times and I would like to share with you what happened when people heard another encouraging voice in the worst of times.
After a hijacked plane smashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, many people were trapped inside the building by fire, and by thick black smoke which made it impossible to see anything. Police Officer Isaac Hoopi ran into the Pentagon, searching for survivors and he heard people calling out in the blackness. He could not see them and they could not see him, but he called out “head towards my voice! Head towards my voice”
People who could not see where they were going, who were disoriented by the smoke, heard his shouts and headed towards his voice. His voice led them out of the Pentagon and to safety.
My friends, we will get through these difficult times. And on Palm Sunday 2021, we will look back and we will remember when we worshipped as a community whilst being kept apart.
We are the people of God.
AMEN
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