Palm Sunday

The Reverend Martha Frances

Year B, Palm/Passion Sunday

5 April 2009 

Text:  Mark 14: 32 – 15: 47

Isaiah 50: 4-9a; Psalm 31: 6-16; Philippians 2: 5-11 

      Good morning to everyone!  Last Sunday I was home in bed sick, the first time I've had to miss a Sunday because of illness since I was ordained, & I'm filled with a mixture of emotions as I return to you today.  All week I've realized that I truly missed worship last week & I missed being with you, also.  Several called or e-mailed to check on me, & a couple of folks brought me comfort food & walked my dogs.  I still have the cough & my voice comes & goes, but I'm feeling ever so much better.  Thank you for your prayers & concern. 

      Now at the beginning of Holy Week, I'm feeling a tremendous need to play catch-up, to try to get everything done that I was too ill to do last week.  I'm reminded of the little girl learning to ride her bicycle.  As she goes down her first hill solo, she whizzes by her mother who stands helpless watching her, & she shouts, "I can't remember how to stop pedaling!"  Indeed, we all lead such busy lives that we don't remember how to stop pedaling, do we?  And when illness halts us for awhile, we feel like we have to pick up & catch up, double-tasking to make sure all our important duties are completed on time. 

      I feel sure I'm not the only person in here who had great plans for their Lenten journey, & now it's Holy Week so the temptation is to redouble our efforts to make sure to do everything we told God on Ash Wednesday we were going to do.  Perhaps we can see what Jesus did on the last Sabbath of his life.  Hmmm.  There's nothing in Mark about what he did the day before his entry into Jerusalem.  Can't find out how he spent his time in Matthew or Luke either.  Not even John, the last gospel to be written, outlines Jesus' goings-on the Sabbath before his last Holy Week.  What could this mean?  Wasn't his activity important enough to record?  Wasn't he busy training the apostles or teaching the people? Do you mean he took a day to rest & worship?  We get a hint in the 4^th chapter of Luke:  "On the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue, as he always did, & stood up to read."  Good gracious, if Jesus observed the Sabbath of his last week on earth in worship & rest, might we do the same?  All of us have the opportunity to return to Hope this evening at 6:30 for a Taize prayer service, a meditative worship opportunity which can set the mood for the whole of our Holy Week.  You do not have to have attended a Lenten study group to attend this evening; our worship is open to all.

      However, you may decide that you have heard the whole of the Easter story in today's Gospel & you don't need to return to worship until next Sunday for the Easter celebration.  After all, most of the people you run into shopping for Easter clothing or Easter dinner ingredients this week will be quite content to show up at church next Sunday morning.  I have a few suggestions for those who want to be like most of the population & enjoy Easter as a lovely spring vacation. 

      #1 Be lazy.  Daily scripture reading is a drag with all that talk about the terrible things that happen to Jesus.  Why would we want to "read, mark, learn, & inwardly digest" the Holy Week scriptures?  Instead of quiet time to immerse oneself in the sacred story that forms the very heart of the Christian faith, we can catch some really great bargains in the stores & be truly patriotic by stimulating the economy. 

      #2 Stick with routine as usual.  Daily quiet time, prayer, & fasting hasn't worked very well through the first 5 weeks of Lent; why start now?  If we go to all those extra worship services this week, people will think we're some sort of religious fanatics.  Since the Good Friday service is shared with the other churches in our neighborhood, we might run into an estranged neighbor who might expect us to act like a Christian next time we see him or her. 

      #3 Focus on Easter as a secular holiday—or as a day for the kids.  Look at all the cute chickens & rabbits & Easter clothes & decorations in the stores!  We can get some great bargains, score points with our kids, pack a picnic lunch & take off for a weekend golf game or shopping trip or mini-vacation.  After all, we need to make that trip to the relatives before gas goes up any higher & before the weather gets too hot.  If we wait till later, we'll miss the bluebonnets. 

      #4 Don't make a special effort to reach out to someone who needs you.  After all, we all need time for ourselves & our immediate families; those in nursing homes, sick friends, people who live alone, & folks who have little to celebrate can wait until the economy is a little more stable.  We need to take care of our own.  The children who are being baptized at the Easter Vigil next Saturday evening will have plenty of people here to welcome them into the Christian faith & into our community.  They won't miss us if we're not here. 

      #5 Avoid visiting the cemetery or memorial garden of a loved one, & for goodness sake, don't think about your own mortality.  The Maundy Thursday & Good Friday services as well as the Stations of the Cross include all that stuff about death, & it's depressing enough to think about what all those people did to Jesus, but it's even worse when we have to think about our own death.  It's downright unseemly.  We might discover some parts of our lives that need to be changed, & we're too busy these days to consider what lies ahead no matter how long or short a time we have left to life.  Better to wait until next Sunday when everyone will be dressed beautifully & the children will bring flowers for the cross & we can sing "Alleluia" again. 

      There's a formula for a bland Easter, my friends, which doesn't get below the surface of our lives.  Such plans pretty much guarantee that we'll be like the majority of our neighbors.  But if you decide to accompany Jesus on his journey to the cross & beyond that, to resurrection, then you may want to keep the Calendar in your pew bulletin, join your community in worship through the week, & more fully celebrate the joys of Easter next Saturday evening & Sunday morning.