Our special Holy Week worship services began on Sunday with our celebration of Palm Sunday. Our young people participated with a parade of palms, and Renee sang a beautiful song called "The Palms," as we remembered Christ's entry into Jerusalem.
As I said in the sermon, I find Palm Sunday to be an unsatisfying date on the Christian calendar, partially because I don't think that most Palm Sunday "celebrations" seem forced and church-y, nothing like the ways we mark the highlights in our own lives. I also tend to find that the "Hosannas" in the Gospels ring hollow in my ears, knowing that a similar crowd will cry out for vengeance against Jesus a couple of days later.
Still, this year I tried to imagine how we could balance the great good of Christ entering the holy city -- the promised "God with Us" anointed by God -- and the vast sinfulness that will lead to his crucifixion. Building on our Lenten study of scriptural "Curses," I tried to consider the simultaneous blessing and curse of the beginning of this Holy Week in "Via Dolorosa: The Cursed Journey of God's Anointed," drawing inspiration from two stories as told in Mark: the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the promise made at Jesus' baptism.
If you missed Sunday's sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with others, you can find an audio recording here.
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