Life with Passion

April 5, 2022 Palm/Passion Sunday Luke 22-23 Life with Passion Year C Opening Song Welcome Blessing of the Palms (Do not PRINT) Bless these parade palms, O God of Celebration. May they remind us of the simple joys of living. May we remember the excitement that comes with following Christ. Bless these protest palms, O God of Justice. May they remind us that Empire is not a thing of the past. May they make us bold and brave to stand up against injustice. Bless these funeral palms, O God of Comfort. May they remind us of the road that lies ahead. May they encourage us in times of grief and pain. We give you thanks for the parade, the protest, the processional. Guide our steps through this holiest of weeks as we cry out together "Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna!" Amen. ~ written by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood, Pastor, First Congregational United Church of Christ in Manhattan, Kansas. Call to Worship The story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, tells us that after his celebrated arrival. He went into the Temple and looked around at everything. As we gather here for worship today may it be with a sense that Jesus has walked in too and is looking around. May our eyes be open to see Him, may our hearts be ready to be seen by Him, may our worship be worthy of His presence, and may we be transformed so that we see the world through His eyes. Amen. (Ann Sidell) Responsive Reading Psalm 118:1-2,19-29 UMH 839 Song of Praise God of Grace and God of Glory UMH 577 Prayer of Confession (Luke 19) Lord Jesus, we are a fickle people, quick to turn away. We are quick to flock to you when all is well, but we are prone to scatter when there is opposition or criticism. Too often we have kept silent before you, afraid to proclaim your praise. It is easy to join the crowd as you ride triumphantly into Jerusalem— singing our joys and expectations, dancing our hopes and dreams. It is far more difficult to stand by you as the crowd cries for your crucifixion. Forgive our weakness when we turn away. Strengthen us for the journey ahead as we relive your suffering and death, that we might stay beside you to the end. Give us the courage to shout our hosannas, not only today, but each and every day. Amen. (Bryan Schneider-Thomas) Words of Assurance (Psalm 118) The Lord is our strength and might. Jesus is our salvation. In Jesus our sins are forgiven. In Jesus our cries are answered, our salvation is at hand. Blessed be the name of the Lord. (Bryan Schneider-Thomas) Scripture Luke 23:1-9 Sermon Life with Passion 1. If you look in the dictionary- there are 2 definitions to the word passion. strong and barely controllable emotion. "a man of impetuous passion" 2. the suffering and death of Jesus. "meditations on the Passion of Christ" From Oxford Languages Today is Palm Passion Sunday. In the 50’s and 60’s (way before my time) these used to be two different Sundays. In the 70’s the catholic church changed it, and so did other churches that follow the liturgical calendar of seasons. Rarely, do I do a palm Sunday sermon, because usually, I want everyone to relive the passion story in preparation for Easter. This year I felt that I had to preach this sermon. I know that some of your have heard of Rob Bell. Our Sunday School class has at least talked about looking at some of Rob Bell’s videos. He is a now former pastor who filmed a series about 20 years ago now, where he would explain Christianity in everyday terms. His series NOOMA is very popular. He continues to write and record audio books. His latest, which came out about a month ago is called “Handling your Fire – Passion, burnout, routines and resilience. This is a series of six sessions that talk about clergy and other Christians being burned out in their calling. After listening to the second session on passion – I knew that I had to share it with you, I don’t know if he meant it for palm Sunday – but it fits perfectly. His message shutters our traditional understanding of thinking about passion and prepares us for Easter new life. According to Bell, Jesus has a passion for the conditions of the people that he encountered along the countryside in the year long travel to Jerusalem. As he witnessed the poor conditions for himself, he knew that he had to go to the capital Jerusalem and to address the political powers that be. He knew that it would kill him. Power does all that it can to eliminate threats. They executed him as a enemy of the state – the status quo. But it was a death that made all of the difference in the world. Bell calls Jesus’ act his good gift to the world. Eucharist literally means good character, good act, or good gift. Jesus didn’t fight power with guns, threats, or even with power. He fought with love, his good character. He gave himself not just for a better more caring government, but for a better spirit in the world – a spirit of giving and generosity. I will have to talk more fully about Rob Bells audio book at some other time. But basically, he uses the term eucharist – not just to talk about Jesus, but to also talk about his followers, including us – the body of Christ. We are all called to give ourselves to make the world a better place. We are all people of passion in the first definition. There is something inside of each of us – that we love to do. That something brings us joy. It may be something that we do so much or so passionately that we are worn out sometimes. We get tired, but it is a good tired. When we are down, this is the thing that makes us feel better. It is the thing that brings us true joy. It is the thing that bubbles up from our deep center. Our deep center is where God lives inside of us. But you know life does not always does not always encourage us to live in our deep center, or to even spend too much time there. As we get older, we are told there are more important things in life. Life is not about us. If we live in our truth for too long, we will be crucified. Jesus followed his passion, knowing that he would suffer, and yet he seemed to know it was for a greater good for himself and others. Our common understanding of the passion story is that Jesus suffered for our sins. So during holy week we are supposed to feel guilt, shame and sorrow. We are supposed to wallow in our sins all in the name of reliving the passion. Bell points out that as Jesus followed his passion for the healing of the world – he was well aware that there were evil heartless people in the world. And yet fear of suffering was not enough to stop him. Good Friday was just one story in a year long ministry. He knew there would be pain, but it would not be the final word. Suffering was not the price of sin. It was not a necessary evil to experience the good. For Bell, suffering is a part of the life that we live on this earth. Whether we are in touch with the God in our center, or we never open a bible in our life – our lives are full of problems. No matter who we are, something is going to happen in life. For some of us, suffering is all that there is. It stops us from acting. All we can see is darkness in the world beyond. For others, we get up, we live, we trust the unknown, we move forward on spite of our suffering. Suffering is a condition, not a life sentence. The difference is passion – a determination to move through to our destiny. Jesus passion was healing a broken world. That passion was his gift to the world. That gift, the eucharist, was he whole life. He knew that his joy was beyond the cross. As Bell talks about his own fall from grace, he talks about eucharist living, eucharist giving, eucharist gauge and eucharistic rhythm. Eucharistic living is listening to that deep inner voice that tells us what brings us true joy. Eucharistic giving is giving out of our deep inner joy and not out of our suffering. Eucharistic gauge – is the ability to realize when we are empty and depleted inside. It is not just giving, but also receiving. We as Christians are always encouraged to give, but we are reluctant to receive. We forget that we have two different hands, and giving and receiving are not one act, it is two. We get to the point that we don’t realize that we don’t have anything to give. Burnout is feeling guilty to receive. Eucharistic rhythm is knowing when you are empty inside. Acknowleging that you are tired, knowing what fills your spirit. Working and resting in rhythm, giving and receiving in joy. Bell says that Jesus knew eucharistic rhythm very well. He poured out his life, emptying himself in order to restore the system and others. But it was not an obligation. I thought this was an important message for passion Sunday. I think we are all suffering in some way. We watch others around us suffer. We watch suffering on tv every day. So I don’t think that palm Sunday should be a time to relive more suffering and focusing on negativity. Negativity is already here, we don’t need to create it. Living in this world for the last two and a half years has been exhausting. I started reading Bell’s book because I am exhausted, not quite at burnout, but just exhausted. Some of that exhaustion was there way before the pandemic started. I have talked to so many of my colleagues who are saying, I don’t want to be a Christian anymore – I think I need an easier life. And yet we forgot the meaning of eucharist – the good gift. We are in the habit of giving, but have forgotten how to receive. We lost sight of the meaning of the passion of Christ. Christ knew his joy was beyond suffering, he trust God with his prayers, he gave out of his generosity, not obligation. What if he mission on the cross was not a sacrifice – where he loses so everybody wins. Would that stop us as Christians from sacrificing ourselves on behalf of everybody else. What if Christ was not a living sacrifice, but a living eucharist – good gift? How would that effect our faith? Would we really think of Easter as new life? Christ actions should remind us that we are the eucharist – the body of Christ. We are God’s good gift to heal the world. We find that gift by listening to the joy within ourselves. Giving that gift away in order to receive more joy. We give ourselves permission to rest, we develop a language for being tired. We give out of what we have and not what we lack. Finally, don’t get me wrong I do think that there is a place in our lives for sacrifice, for suffering, for guilt, for shame. And even in our faith. It just shouldn’t stop us from following Christ to the cross and to the resurrection. May Christ’s actions bring us peace, justice and wellbeing in the days to come. Let us pray…… Prayer Wonderful God, we bow before you in gratitude for the life you have given us in Jesus Christ. In him, you have shown us that your love has no boundary. There is no place you will not go to be with us and for us. As you came into Jerusalem long ago, come into our hearts this day. Hear our cries and heal our hurts and hold us close. We pray for our world, your world. We pray for all that is happening in Ukraine, for refugee and soldiers, for leaders and aid workers, for citizens struggling amidst terror and violence. We pray that your spirit would bring forth peace and righteousness, comfort and strength. We pray for those who are sick, for those on the long road of recovery, for those struggling with uncertain diagnoses and seemingly never-ending treatments. We pray for those who mourn, for those bearing the burden of grief day by day. We pray for those who wait and watch and pray as loved ones suffer. We pray for those who are alone, those who are hungry, those without hope. We pray for the discouraged and the downtrodden, for those unable to look beyond the troubles of this day. We pray for those facing difficult choices, those weighing many options, those dealing with unclear directions on life’s journey. We pray for those beginning new ventures, trying new things, opening themselves up to fresh possibilities. O God, as this holiest of weeks unfolds before us and we retrace the suffering and the death of Jesus and claim once again the promise of resurrection, we pray that you would seal in our hearts the message of these holy days — that in Jesus you are with us and for us in all things, even suffering, even death and that in Jesus you have overcome every power that would hurt or destroy. AMEN (John Wurster) Lord’s Prayer UMH 895 Stewardship Moment Moment for Stewardship Luke’s description of that long-ago procession includes so many gifts! The owners of the colt, willing to let the disciples take it for Jesus. The people spreading their cloaks on the road. Those singing out their praise, “Blessed in the king who comes…” In this time of worship, what gifts have you brought to offer? Something you treasure? Something personal? Something from deep within? When we recognize how God continues to abundantly provide for us, and what amazing grace it is for Jesus to have shared his very life blood, let us offer the best of our lives! Prayer of Thanksgiving Good and giving God, we offer these gifts to you as fuel for the fire of your on-going creation. May all we offer be received, used, and taken in to expand the power of YOU in this world. (Center for Faith and Giving) Song of Dedication Were You There UMH 288 Announcements Closing Prayer Passing from joy into sorrow and on to elation, we come to Christ this holy week. Today is only a part of the story. Jesus’ triumph leads to his death, his death to his resurrection. May the journey of this week lead you into the fullness of Christ’s love. (Bryan Schneider-Thomas) Community Time Stripping the Sanctuary First Verse of Psalm 22 with Response 1 Leave in Silence and darkness Children’s Sermon 1. Prominently display two crowns: a golden crown (perhaps from the Christmas pageant props) and a crown of thorns. In the sermon, explore two kinds of kings. The first lives in a palace, is strong enough to scare off enemies, and make rules for the country. Paint a picture—not of an evil king, but of one who is authoritarian. Then describe the king that Jesus became by spending his life taking care of his people and finally dying for them. 2. After describing how we treat kings (we do whatever they say, we try to please them, we give them the best of everything, we bow or defer to them), explore who and what we tend to treat as "king of our life." Children often let a special adult, such as a teacher or professional sports figure/hero, become their king. In some neighborhoods, a child may become king of the block and totally run the show (this king may be an overtly evil gang leader or a benevolent natural leader to whom the other children always defer). The scriptural challenge is not to let anyone but Jesus be King in our lives. Jesus and his ways are to be more important than any other child or adult leader. (Carolyn C. Brown) Additional Illustrations There Is Still Hope The reality is that, if we figure to survive in this world, we had better have hope. The ancients knew that. Do you remember Pandora? Mythology has her as a lady endowed with every charm...the gift of all the gods. She was sent to earth with a little box which she had been forbidden to open, but curiosity finally got the better of her...she lifted the lid and out from that box escaped every conceivable kind of terror. Pandora made haste to close the box up again, but it was too late. There was only one thing left...HOPE. That was the ancients' way of saying how important hope is. Even when all else is lost, there is still hope. This was what had sustained the Israelite faithful from generation to generation. This was what energized the crowd along Jesus' parade route that day. David E. Leininger, Sunday's Coming! The Tomb Is Easier than the Cross In just a matter of days Holy Week takes us from the mountain of festive palms to the mountain of Golgatha’s despair. And that is why we resist it so. I mean, do we really need the emotional rollercoaster of Holy Week? What’s so wrong with just jumping from one parade to the next and skipping all the sacrifice and death stuff? What’s wrong with simply moving on to the joy of Easter, with its white bonnets, Easter eggs, family, friends, big ham dinner, and of course the empty tomb. Well, I think we know the answer to that. For starters, an empty tomb, at face value, is a lot easier to deal with than a dying, bleeding Savior on a cross. Add to that all the pain and suffering that comes with Holy Week, is it any wonder that the human tendency is to try and ignore the events of the week and simply move on to the Easter celebration? But as much as we’d like to skip Holy Week we know that the only way to Easter is through the cross. We know where the parade of Palm Sunday leads and we also know that we’re part of that parade. That is to say, we know this intellectually. Our hearts are another story. Our hearts may be more in sync with the disciples and the fear and disbelief that led them to run away. It would seem that 2000 years later Jesus’ disciples are still running away. Jeffrey K. London, And When You Think It's All Over The Triumph and the Tragedy Go with me now to the year 1942. The first American troops are marching into London. We are entering the conflict known as World War II. The people of London are cheering the American soldiers. The friendly reception exhilarates the young soldiers. They sing as they march. Suddenly the troops turn into a main street and a strange hush falls over the scene. The happy songs die on their lips. They are looking for the first time upon an area in London that has been blown to bits. They see the great wounds on the city inflicted by falling bombs. They suddenly realize the city has suffered terribly. In these young soldiers’ hearts, one moment celebration; the next, great sadness. The triumph and the tragedy. Palm Sunday. Good Friday. Life happens. King Duncan, Collected Works, www.Sermons.com Save Us When we wave our palms and boldly cry out, "Hosanna," do we dare imagine what we really want God to save us from? Save me from anger. Save me from cancer. Save me from depression. Save me from debt. Save me from the strife in my family. Save me from boredom. Save me from getting sent back to Iraq. Save me from the endless cycle of violence. Save me from humiliation. Save me from staring at the ceiling at three a.m. wondering why I exist. Save me from bitterness. Save me from arrogance. Save me from loneliness. Save me, God, save me from my fears. In viewing Palm Sunday from that angle, we can begin to see the potential for some real depth in this celebration, for embedded in our quaint pageantry is an appeal to God that originates in the most vulnerable places inside of us; and it bubbles, almost beyond our control, to the surface. "Hosanna." "Save us." Please God take the broken places that will tear us apart and make them whole. We beseech you, God, jump into the water and drag our almost-drowned selves to shore. "Save us." "Hosanna." Scott Black Johnston, Save Us What Is Good For Us Is Hidden Martin Luther often spoke of this aspect of the theology of the cross, concerning how God works in a hidden way through contrasts. In a series of lectures that Luther gave in 1515 and 1516 on the Book of Romans, he wrote: "For what is good for us is hidden, and that so deeply that it is hidden under its opposite. Thus our life is hidden under death, love for ourselves under hate for ourselves ... salvation under damnation, heaven under hell ... And universally our every assertion of anything good is hidden under the denial of it, so that faith may have its place in God, who is a negative essence and goodness and wisdom and righteousness, who cannot be touched except by the negation of all our affirmations." Martin Luther had one more observation about why God operates this way - under contrasts and opposites. In another of his sermons, he put it this way: "He thrusts us into death and permits the devil to pounce on us. But it is not his purpose to devour us; he wants to test us, to purify us, and to manifest himself ever more to us, that we may recognize his love. Such trials and strife are to let us experience something that preaching alone is not able to do, namely, how powerful Christ is and how sincerely the Father loves us. So our trust in God and our knowledge of God will increase more and more, together with our praise and thanks for his mercy and blessing. Otherwise we would bumble along with our early, incipient faith. We would become indolent, unfruitful and inexperienced Christians, and would soon grow rusty." Mark Ellingsen, Preparation and Manifestation, CSS Publishing Palm/Passion Sunday In the newer church calendars, today is called Palm/Passion Sunday. I must admit I have a hard time remembering that. For me, last Sunday will always be Passion Sunday and this Sunday is Palm Sunday. However, the liturgical experts in the church are trying to remind us that the two Sundays belong together because you cannot divorce the two; the significance of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is that it was all a misunderstanding of His life and mission which eventually led to His death upon the cross. Jesus committed the unpardonable sin of not being the kind of Messiah everybody was expecting. The word "Passion" may give us pause. We're used to the kind of "passion" that Hollywood puts out. But the first meaning of the word given in Webster's Unabridged is "originally, suffering or agony, as of a martyr," and the second meaning: "the agony and sufferings of Jesus..." How about that? "When he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying, "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace...." (Luke 19:41-42a) Donald B. Strobe Closed for Good Friday The bank meltdowns in 2008 reminded me of a true story that I ran across somewhere about a man who was standing in line at a bank last spring when there was a commotion at the counter. A woman was distressed, exclaiming, “Where will I put my money? I have all my money and my mortgage here!! What will happen to my mortgage?!” It turned out that she had misunderstood a small sign on the counter. The sign read, "WE WILL BE CLOSED FOR GOOD FRIDAY.” I guess she wasn’t familiar with the events of Holy Week, because she thought that the bank was going to be closed “for good” that coming Friday. “WE WILL BE CLOSED FOR GOOD . . . FRIDAY.” King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Eight Days Eight days changed the world. These eight days have been the topic of a million of publications, countless debates, and thousands of films. These eight days have inspired the greatest painters, the most skilled architects, and the most gifted musicians. To try and calculate the cultural impact of these eight days is impossible. But harder still would be an attempt to account for the lives of men and women who have been transformed by them. And yet these eight days as they played out in Jerusalem were of little significance to anyone but a few people involved. What happened on those eight days? During the next eight Sundays of Lent and Easter we will look at these eight days in depth but for now let’s summarize: 1. On Sunday the first of the eight days, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the shouts of Hosanna, fulfilling an old prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. 2. On Monday he walked into the Jerusalem Temple overturning tables where money exchange occurred, Roman drachmas were being exchanged for Jewish shekels. Roman coins were not allowed. The image of Caesar was a violation of the second commandment. But the Temple authorities were using the Commandment as means to cheat the people and making the Temple a place of profit rather than a place of prayer. 3. On Tuesday Jesus taught in parables, warned the people against the Pharisees, and predicted the destruction of the Temple. 4. On Wednesday, the fourth day, we know nothing. The Gospel writers are silent. Perhaps it was a day of rest for him and his weary and worried disciples. 5. On Thursday, in an upper room, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples. But he gave it a new meaning. No longer would his followers remember the Exodus from Egypt in the breaking of bread. They would remember his broken body and shed blood. Later that evening in the Garden of Gethsemane he agonized in prayer at what lay ahead for him. 6. On Friday, the fifth day, following betrayal, arrest, imprisonment, desertion, false trials, denial, condemnation, beatings and sentencing, Jesus carried his own cross to “The Place of the Skull,” where he was crucified with two other prisoners. 7. On Saturday, Jesus lay dead in a tomb bought by a rich man named Joseph. 8. On Sunday, his Passion was over, the stone had been rolled away. Jesus was alive. He appeared to Mary, to Peter, to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and to the 11 disciples gathered in a locked room. His resurrection was established as a fact. Brett Blair and Staff, www.Sermons.com