Sermon for Palm Sunday (April 1st) 2012

On Palm Sunday, before our morning services, I posted a reflection and prayer at Prairie Preacher and Meditative Moments, respectively, and then started to work on my reflection for the Sunday Morning worship service. As I struggled to find an appropriate reading from the various resources I have gathered over the years I realized that what I was feeling compelled to reflect on, was what I had just posted on my blogs.

I took a moment to re-read both the reflection on Prairie Preacher, and the prayer I had posted on Meditative Moments, and I thought - 'why can't I use my own words?'

In the quiet of the morning, I realized that the ONLY reason I couldn't use my own words was the hammering I had experienced in my past experiences within the Church ... the self doubt was a result of a defensiveness that came as a result of being battered and bashed within the Church ...

A few weeks ago, I had lunch with a colleague and friend and in the course of our conversation he offered an off-handed observation by saying "move forward and be aware of where the negative of the past seeps in."

My hesitation and reluctance to use MY OWN WORDS, is EXACTLY that seepage ... the harsh criticism of the past has debilitated me and has created HUGE self-doubt ...

Yesterday, reflecting on the affirmation I received from Blake (The Laughing Pastor) on his blog, and from others via Facebook, I decided that it was okay to trust in my own words this time. I've long stressed the importance of living the words offered by Ms Frizzle, the teacher on the tv show "The Magic School Bus" who says "take chances, make mistakes and get messy" but I have sometimes been less willing to live those words out myself ...

So, in that moment I decided it was time to 'take chances, make mistakes, and get messy' when it comes to my preaching, and instead of finding a reading or quotation from someone else, I NEEDED to let MY words guide me ...

As a result, the sermon below is a melding of my reflection and my prayer. The words I had posted moments before, were the very words I wanted to offer in worship during our Palm Sunday Service. Rather than trying to find a poem by Ann Weems, or a reading from the Iona Community, I instead decided to speak the words I had written, and trust in the Spirit ...

For what they're worth, here they are:


And so it begins ...
in the quiet of the breaking dawn
we hear the clip clop of approaching hooves,

you approach the city ...
a city unaware of what is about to unfold ...
a city asleep in its complacency
a city waiting for God, but unprepared ...

Your entry becomes triumphant
with waving palms,
celebrating crowds,
and shouts of HOSANNA!!!

Your disciples follow along
laughing, singing, shouting,
they feel the surge of power
they feel the Holiness
they feel the possibilities ...

But soon the Hosannas turn to horror
first come shouts of 'how dare YOU'
as tables are overturned
baskets thrown
animals set free

This is My Father's House
you dare to shout.

How Dare YOU
they chant back ...

And so the Hosannas slip away
the enthusiasm wanes
the smiles on their faces turn to scowls.

The week begins and we know where it leads ...

May we have the courage to follow
May we have the faith to endure
May we have no fear of the shadowy corners
and the dark places ...

And so it begins ... this week of remembering
this week of facing our deepest fears,
this week of a world that dared to kill its Hope ...

And so it begins ... this journey to Resurrection ...

Let us Pray:

O Servant King,
we hear you approaching.

The clip clop of hooves grows ever louder,
the rustle of palm branches and cloaks grows urgent,
we hear you coming, but we are not ready ...

Our expectations are not yours,
what we want differs from what you offer,
we want a Triumphant entry into the city,
we want victory and rejoicing
we want to feel the surge of Holiness ...

But in the coming hours our enthusiasm will wane,
our passion will cool
our cheers will turn to jeers
and like your disciples we too will abandon you ...

We will busy ourselves with other things,
plans for the long weekend,
dinners and gatherings,
chocolates and treats,
preparations for the celebrations to come ...

And we'll forget the long dark days
we'll avoid the shadowy places,
we'll stay clear of the loneliness and suffering.

It's all too much for us,
so we will leap from Hosannas to Hallelujahs
avoiding the horrors that lie between ...

Forgive us O God,
Forgive us and love us despite our shortsightedness.

Be with us today, and in the coming days,
let us hear the gentle clip clop of hooves on the stones,
let us hear the shuffle of sandals in the dusty streets
let us hear the echo of shouts in the halls and courtyards
let us hear the thunderous silence of your disciples,
let us hear the bloody thwack of whips, slaps and suffering
let us hear, even if we stop our ears,
the events and happenings in the streets ...

Events and Happenings that lead us from
the triumphant entry into the city
to the quiet prayers over bread and wine
to the empassioned pleas in a darkened garden
to the suffering and the dying ...

O Servant King,
be with us in the coming days ...
take us by the hand and lead us ...
lead us to the shadowy places that await us
and give us the courage to persist in our journey ...

O Servant King,
hear our prayer ... AMEN

Sermon for April 17th - Palm Sunday

Between Parades - Ann Weems

We're good at planning !! Give us a task force and a project and we're off and running!

No trouble at all.

Going to the village and finding the cold,

even negotiating with the owners is right down our alley.

AND how we love a parade!

In a frenzy of celebration we gladly focus on Jesus,

and generously throw our coats and palms in his path.

And we can should praise loudly enough to make the Pharisees complain.

It's all so good !

It's between parades that we don't do so well ...

from Sunday to Sunday we forget our hosannas.

Between parades the stones will have to should because we don't.

We have stumbled into an interesting time in the Church season – Lent is ending, and we begin the final steps in to and through Holy Week.

We know what lies ahead. The story, the characters, the happenings – all of it is very familiar and very un-nerving to journey through.

It is, as Ann Weems noted, easier to jump over this week and move from the parade of Hosannas offered here in Palm Sunday, to the Hallelujahs of Easter Sunday when the empty tomb is discovered, and the resurrection is proclaimed … afterall, who really wants to revisit the betrayal of Judas while at supper with Jesus?

Who wants to remember the lonely struggle Jesus had in the dark garden before the guards came and lead him away like a common prisoner?

Who wants to recall the beatings and the torture that marked the trials Jesus faced in those final hours?

Who really stand at the foot of the cross and watch the dying? Listen to the crowds turn? See the Disciples flee?

It IS far easier to just skip over these deep dark and distressful moments, and move from the warm jubilant celebration of arriving in Jerusalem welcomed as hero, to the early morning proclamation of “He is Risen”, and skip over the ugly nasty bits …

It is easier … but we are called to be an Easter People, and if we’re going to be there when the stone is rolled away, we need to be there in the events and happenings that lead up to that moment … Even our Christmas Story, accepts the fact that Jesus must face his trial, torture and crucifixion to offer the gift of Resurrection.

The wise men after all, offered him Gold, Frankincense and myrrh – two of which are spices used to anoint a body after death. Theologians might want to gloss over that – afterall, who wants to talk about Jesus’ death at the time of year when we’re celebrating his birth – yet, the whole point of Jesus life reached its culmination in this coming week … with each step into the darkness of Holy Week, we move closer to that moment when we stand before the empty tomb and our question – “he is risen?” turns into a joyous proclamation “He is RISEN!”

Yet to simply skip through Holy Week, something we do quite often, is to miss the foundation on which that proclamation rests …

The strength of our faith – the heart of what we believe – and what makes this a powerful approach to life, is the what is about to happen in the coming hours that lie between today and Easter Sunday … Jesus is betrayed by his friends … Jesus knows what is ahead and has a long dark night of the soul when he truly struggles with the issues and happenings he is confronting … Jesus experiences the abandonment of his friends repeatedly – first they can’t stay awake, then they stand on the sidelines as he is arrested and tried, then finally they flee in terror as he approaches death … Jesus endures the ridicule and torturous abuse that comes from the trials and confrontations he endures … then finally, he experiences the indignity of death on a cross …

Early in his ministry, Jesus challenges his disciples and us, to “take up our cross and follow me …” In the months between his birth and Holy Week, we can take up our cross … it might involve coming to Church once in a while, it could be about a few extra moments of volunteering, it might be someone saying contemptuously “YOU go to Church?”, it might even involve feeling slightly embarrassed at the thought of being connected to a Church … but this week, the real meaning of ‘take up your cross and follow me’ is revealed, and it is not an easy road to travel.

The power of Holy Week comes though, in realizing that these things happen to ALL of us … we ALL have moments when we feel alone and frightened, we’ve ALL had those sleepless deep dark nights of the soul when we struggle with something, we’ve all had lonely moments when we feel abandoned and forgotten, we’ve all struggled with pain and suffering, and we know what it means to face death … we’ve been there … So, Holy Week is uncomfortable, not because of what is happening to Jesus, but because it reminds us that we each face those deep dark moments too.

We face them – but we don’t want to be reminded of them … we like the power of the resurrection. We like standing in the early morning sunshine of the garden and rejoicing that He is Risen Indeed. We like Easter, and would rather skip over the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday bits …

The challenge then, is to journey into the coming week … to actively and willingly travel into the events we know lie ahead and experience them, not as some liturigal happening recalling moments from long ago, but experience them as our moments … to recall as retell the story, the moments in our own lives when we’ve faced the darkness, when we’ve struggled and when we’ve felt ALL of the emotion that is part of Holy Week, and to take each step knowing that we are not alone, and that we will experience the fullness of the resurrection ourselves.

After all, we are a Resurrection People. We have journeyed through the darkness and have lived through our own Holy Week when we’ve taken each step wondering if we’ll find the strength to take another … we’ve ALL been there … and it is that common experience that not only undergirds the happenings of Holy Week, but that also brings us together as community of faith … we ALL know and have experienced journeys in the darkness, and we ALL know and have experienced the triumphant power of the Resurrection … it has been the journey through the darkness though, that has made us stronger and given us the ability to take each step, to draw each breath, and to experience more fully the moment that comes on Easter Morning when our questions turn to proclamations …

Each of us have walked the dark streets of Jerusalem in our own lives … we’ve journeyed into the shadowy and dark places … and in the coming week, we’re being challenged to make the trip once again …

(Holy Week by Ann Weems)

May it be so – thanks be to God … Let us pray …