Palm Sunday would appear to be a spontaneous celebration of Jesus as God’s Messiah, riding into Jerusalem in triumph. In truth it was an event which Jesus had carefully planned for several months, or even a few years. Jesus perceived himself to be a prophet whom God had sent into the world to challenge and reform some of the most strongly held religious ideas of his time. Today we gather in praise of the God who commissioned Jesus as His chosen prophet to the noble and troubled nation of Israel.
Pastoral Prayer
Lord God, on this day long ago Thy Son experienced the greatest celebration of his ministry by the greatest number of people during his lifetime. We, along with the Palm Sunday crowd, gather to give him our praise and honor. We thank Thee, Loving God, for his steadfast commitment to Thy purposes for his life and for the world, for his forthright courage in saying and doing things he knew met with fierce opposition, and for his unswerving devotion to what he believed was Thy will for his life. We marvel at his steadfastness in facing the prospect of certain death, and yet continuing to engage in his prophetic message of correction and reform.
We pray this day for the multitude of people who do not feel with us the joy of Palm Sunday: those who are adherents of other religions, and who view Jesus very differently from the way we see him; those who once were part of the Christian community of faith but who have become estranged from our core beliefs and customs; those who are disconnected from any religious tradition and who happily or ruefully soldier on through life as best they can. All of us need Thy grace, Lord God, and we thank Thee that it is extended to all of us, whether or not we know it or believe it or trust in it. Bind us together as one human family, especially when our tendency is to divide ourselves up into large or small groups who are perpetually suspicious of one another.
We ask Thee to grant Thy blessings to those who at this time are most in need of them: the seriously ill, the spiritually depleted, the hungry and lost and lonely, and those who live in constant fear because of external mayhem or internal uncertainty. On this day which brought joy to the hearts of many people in Jerusalem two millennia ago, bring joy to our hearts as well. Hosanna in the highest, beloved Creator God; blessed is he who comes to us in the name of the Lord. Our prayers we make in his name, as together we join into the prayer he taught us, saying, Our Father….