Message: Luke 19:28-40, Luke 23:13-21, and Luke 23:32-43
Scripture: We Don’t’ Need Another Hero
We’ve made it to Palm Sunday… a long journey that has taken us from the ashes of death, along the road of the good Samaritan with a quick stop in to visit with Mary and Martha and then through the fig trees, out into the pasture with the sheep, to a tree with a tax collector in it, and finally into Jerusalem.
But all this time we’ve been thinking that the star of our journey was Jesus – a man who heals the sick, brings sight to the blind, and teaches of love and of mercy. But even in this final event we are forced to imagine the words that are not said – the imagery that is not held in our memory of this great procession. Even as the city of Jerusalem welcomes the *self-declared* hero of the nations, Herod, for the Passover holiday, there’s something else happening on the other side of town… a rising tide of folks who have faith; a growing crowd who believe that things can be different and that violence is not how we get there. And who is THEIR hero? Jesus gives us a hint: it’s not him.
See you on Sunday, Palms raised and hearts wide open for the final steps of this risky journey into love that cannot die.
Peace,
Cheryl
HOLY WEEK SERVICES AND PRAYER
- Maundy Thursday Communion and Readings – Thursday, April 17th at 7pm
- Good Friday Prayer stations – Friday, April 18th 12-3pm (Come anytime between noon and 3 to walk through our sanctuary praying your way through the story of Jesus’s suffering and death)
- Easter Sunday – Sunday April
Music:
Prelude: “Fugue VII:4 in G Minor” Johann Pachelbel
Anthem: “Ride on King Jesus” African Am. spiritual
Meditation: “Calvary” African Am. spiritual Sung by Suowei Wu, tenor
Postlude: “Fugue VIII:1 in G”