**Please note this service is based on the format of the Anglican Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from the Book of Alternative Services (BAS) and the hymns from the Book of Common Praise (BCP). Other hymns and prayers have been sourced to give appropriate credit.
**NRSV translation used for the readings, unless otherwise stated.
**This is for personal use at home as the church is unable to gather in our houses of worship but together we can worship in our own homes.
Introduction
Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Dear friends in Christ,
during Lent we
have been preparing
for the
celebration of our Lord’s paschal mystery.
On this day
our Lord Jesus Christ
entered the
holy city of Jerusalem in triumph.
The people
welcomed him with palms and shouts of praise,
but the path
before him led to self-giving, suffering, and death.
Today we greet
him as our King,
although we
know his crown is thorns and his throne a cross.
We follow him
this week from the glory of the palms
to the glory
of the resurrection
by way of the
dark road of suffering and death.
United with
him in his suffering on the cross,
may we share
his resurrection and new life.
Let us pray.
Assist us
mercifully with your help,
Lord God of
our salvation,
that we may
enter with joy
into the
celebration of those mighty acts
whereby you
give us life and immortality;
through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Opening Hymn – Ride On King Jesus
Gathering
The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love
of God,
and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with you
all.
And also with you.
Collect for Purity
Trisaigion
Collect of the Day
Let us pray.
Almighty and
everliving God, in tender love for all our human race you sent your Son our
Saviour Jesus Christ to take our flesh and suffer death upon a cruel cross. May
we follow the example of his great humility, and share in the glory of his
resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings
A reading from
the Book of Isaiah 50:4-9a
The
Lord God has given me
the tongue of a teacher,
that
I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word.
Morning
by morning he wakens—
wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
The
Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backward.
I
gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the
beard;
I
did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
The
Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore
I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to
shame;
he who vindicates me is near.
Who
will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who
are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.
It
is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
All
of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
This is the
word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 31:9-16
A reading from
the Letter of Paul to the Philippians 2:5-11
Let
the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but
emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And
being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Therefore
God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and
every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
This is the
word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gradual Hymn – O Sacred Head,
Surrounded (BCP #198)
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark 11:1-11
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
When
they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of
Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village
ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt
that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why
are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back
here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside
in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them,
“What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and
they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw
their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the
road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then
those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of
the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our
ancestor David!
Hosanna
in the highest heaven!”
Then
he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at
everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
The Gospel of Christ.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Sermon
May only truth be spoken and truth heard. Amen.
For the last two years, I have preached on the absurdity of the people waving their palms and cheering as Jesus entered into Jerusalem and then, a mere five days later, calling for his crucifixion and death. It is easy to get excited and angry about how people flowed quickly from praising their Messiah to demanding Pontius Pilot hang him up next to the other criminals.
The actions of the crowd still irk me, but this year I thought I would reflect on something else – the word “Hosanna”. I want to talk about this word today because during my research this week, I came across a common thread regarding the word “Hosanna” that I had never thought about before.
When you hear the word “hosanna”, where does your mind go? How does it make you feel?
I always heard “hosanna” as a cry of celebration. As in, “Hurray! Jesus is here!” The crowd is celebrating the arrival of a celebrity.
But, it seems, that is not the case.
Scholars' best guess is that "Hosanna" is a contraction of two Hebrew terms: yaw-shah, meaning “to save” or “deliver”, and naw, meaning “to beseech” or “pray”. In Greek, it translates to soson dei, meaning “save us”. In casual conversation, you could think of it like “God help us”.
Now go back and picture Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. At face value it would seem that the Jerusalem fan parade is glorifying God’s name but they are not really. They are crying out for help, to be saved.
The people cheered. They tossed branches from the nearby trees to the ground, and they called out, "Hosanna." They looked upon this prophet - rumored to be the Messiah - and they cried out to him, "Save us."
“God, help us!”
These are the cries the crowd makes as Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem.
Isn’t that the most basic of all our prayers? “God, help us! God, save us!”
Over the last decade or two, Palm Sunday worship seems to be pushed aside. Not that we don’t bring palms to church each year, wave them during the procession, and have them blessed so that they can be made into crosses, and subsequently into ashes the following year, but often today’s scripture lessons would lean more towards the Passion than the palms.
It is thought that as fewer people attended daily Holy Week services, especially Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, it became important to ensure that congregations, at the very least, heard the story of Jesus’ journey to his death on the cross before hearing of his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Therefore, Palm and Passion stories got merged into a single liturgical Sunday.
I understanding that reasoning. If we move directly from a Palm Sunday procession to an Easter parade, we will have missed the story and experience of the passion.
However, as insufferable and horrific that the events at the end of Holy Week are, we need to slow ourselves down and let the story play out throughout the week. We shouldn’t rush through the Passion just to get to the celebration.
We need to experience each as it happened, not try to squish it all into a single Sunday morning.
And so our journey starts today with that primal prayer – God save us.
The crowd was asking to be saved from the Romans. They wanted deliverance from an occupying army. They wanted to be saved by the Messiah that they had been promised.
Now, we’re not under the thumb of a Roman army, but I’m sure I can’t be the only one whose prayer includes some form of “God save us, God save me?”
It is a complicated thing to ask, "What does God save us from?"
When we wave our palms and boldly cry out, "Hosanna," do we dare imagine what we really want God to save us from?
Anger, depression, death?
The endless stream of violence?
Loneliness?
Fear?
When we cry out “Hosanna”, we are appealing to God from the most vulnerable places inside of us. We are asking God to make us whole again.
Ah! And now we come back to the crowd who changed their mind by the end of the week.
The people wanted salvation, which they defined as "freedom from the Romans."
"Save us," they cried, but then Jesus did not set about saving them in a manner that they could recognize. He did not take up a sword and send the Romans fleeing.
Instead, he went and had supper with his friends; he went and prayed in a garden.
It only took a few days for the crowds to switch from crying "Hosanna" to the shouts of "Crucify him" as they lost their patience waiting for what they expected to happen upon the arrival of the Messiah.
We, the reader, are dismayed at this, but would we have acted any differently? If change we so desperately desired was not happening in the way we expected, would we not get angry?
God answers our cries of "Hosanna" in ways so utterly unexpected.
God comes. God incarnates. God marches on to death in order to bring us salvation.
Is there any better way to commence Holy Week than with "Hosannas" on our lips?
Is there any more faithful way to embark on this sacred journey than to ask God, out of the deep, honest places inside of us, to "Save us... please, save us"?
As we head into the dark days of Holy Week, anticipating the gruesome events of Good Friday, let us not hide from those horrific events.
Cry out “Hosanna” today and then experience deeply God saving us through Jesus through each day and each event of this journey.
Apostle’s Creed
Prayers of the People
(by Joan
Merton)
With confidence and trust let us pray to the Lord saying, “Lord, have mercy.”
For the one holy catholic and apostolic Church throughout the world, we pray to you Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the mission of the Church, that in faithful witness it may preach the gospel to the ends of the earth, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For those preparing for baptism and for their teachers and sponsors, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For peace in the world that a spirit of respect and reconciliation may grow among nations and peoples, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer; for refugees, prisoners, and all in danger; that they may be relieved and protected, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For all whom we have injured or offended, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For grace to amend our lives and to further the reign of God, we pray to you, Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
O God, who sent your son, Jesus, to establish your realm among us, we come bearing palms to commemorate our Lord’s entry into the holy city.
We recall, by Luke’s account, that before entering the city Jesus stopped on a hill overlooking it and wept because its people didn’t know those things that made for peace - peace they sought, but would not possess because pride and prejudice obscured their vision of your working in their midst.
We can’t help wondering, Lord, if Christ crested a hill overlooking our world this morning, what would he see in us? Would there be tears in his eyes? Tears of joy or tears of sorrow?
We confess our unity with that first Palm Sunday crowd which sang praise and shouted adulation and then turned away. Is our vision of things that make for peace obscured? Is it because we seek peace by grasping rather than by receiving it - by strength rather than submission?
Teach us your ways. Help us perceive your working among us. Create in us faith and resolve that make us faithful. Turn our hearts to those for whom Christ would weep and make us instruments of your peace.
We ask your blessing for those who hurt or have need: especially this morning we pray for the lives lost senselessly in the United States this week and all those lost to Covid this week, please feel free to add your petitions either aloud or silently. We ask your blessing for all who are discouraged and sense themselves to be alone. We ask, too, that our ministries might make us truly present with the lonely and the sorrowing; that we might be such stewards of all you have given that physical needs around us might be met.
Please take time to offer your own intercessions or to pray in silence.
We pray knowing that this prayer means we must be willing to encounter and be encountered by you. Come to us, O God, in the person of Jesus and the power of the Spirit that we might know you anew; that knowing you anew we might be transformed; and that being transformed we might make Christ the Lord of our lives.
We pray it in his name. Amen.
Dear friends
in Christ,
God is
steadfast in love and infinite in mercy;
God welcomes
sinners and invites them to the table.
Let us confess
our sins, confident in God’s forgiveness.
Most merciful
God,
We confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us,
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your name. Amen.
Almighty God
have mercy upon you,
pardon and
deliver you from all your sins,
confirm and
strengthen you in all goodness,
and keep you
in eternal life;
through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Peace
The peace of
the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.
Offertory Hymn – Go to Dark
Gethsemane (Melody from #522) (BCP #190)
Prayer over the Gifts
**Although not physically at our church buildings to share
our offering together I would encourage you to set your offering of money aside
so that it can be dropped off or placed in the church once services resume, to
mail your offering to the church, or to make donations online. Please remember
ministry is still taking place.
Let us pray.
Gracious God,
the suffering and death of Jesus, your only son, makes us pleasing in your
sight. Alone we can do nothing, but though sacrifice, may we receive your love
and mercy. Amen.
This service was created for live worship on Zoom. For those worshiping on your own, you may either read the Eucharistic prayer, or skip ahead to the Lord's Prayer and then the Doxology.
Eucharistic Prayer 2
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
We give you thanks and praise, almighty God,
through your
beloved Son, Jesus Christ,
our Saviour
and Redeemer.
He is your
living Word
through whom
you have created all things.
By the power
of the Holy Spirit
he took flesh
of the Virgin Mary
and shared our
human nature.
He lived and
died as one of us,
to reconcile
us to you,
the God and
Father of all.
In fulfilment
of your will
he stretched
out his hands in suffering,
to bring
release to those who place their hope in you;
and so he won
for you a holy people.
He chose to
bear our griefs and sorrows,
and to give up
his life on the cross,
that he might
shatter the chains of evil and death,
and banish the
darkness of sin and despair.
By his
resurrection he brings us into the light of your presence.
Now with all
creation we raise our voices
to proclaim
the glory of your name.
Holy and gracious God,
accept our
praise,
through your
Son our Saviour Jesus Christ;
who on the
night he was handed over
to suffering
and death,
took bread and
gave you thanks,
saying, “Take,
and eat:
this is my
body which is broken for you.”
In the same
way he took the cup,
saying, “This
is my blood which is shed for you.
When you do
this, you do it in memory of me.”
Remembering,
therefore, his death and resurrection,
we offer you
this bread and this cup,
giving thanks
that you have made us worthy
to stand in
your presence and serve you.
We ask you to
send your Holy Spirit
upon the
offering of your holy Church.
Gather into
one
all who share
in these sacred mysteries,
filling them
with the Holy Spirit
and confirming
their faith in the truth,
that together
we may praise you
and give you
glory
through your
Servant, Jesus Christ.
All glory and
honour are yours,
Father and
Son,
with the Holy
Spirit
in the holy
Church,
now and for
ever.
Amen.
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us,
we are bold to
pray,
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever. Amen.
Breaking of the Bread
We break this
bread,
Communion in Christ’s body once broken.
Let your Church be the wheat
which bears
its fruit in dying.
If we have died with him,
we shall live with him;
if we hold firm,
We shall reign with him.
Communion
These are the
gifts of God for the People of God.
Thanks be to God.
Prayer After
Communion
Let us pray.
God our help
and strength, you have satisfied our hunger with this Eucharistic food. Strengthen
our faith, that through the death and resurrection of your Son, we may be led
to salvation, for his is Lord now and for ever. Amen.
Doxology
Glory to God,
whose power, working in us,
can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine.
Glory to God from generation to generation,
in the Churh and in Christ Jesus,
forever and ever.
Amen.
Blessing
The peace of
God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the
knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord: and the
blessing of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier be among you and
remain with you always. Amen.
Sending Song – All Glory, Laud, and Honour (BCP #181)
Dismissal
Go forth into
the world,
Rejoicing in
the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks be to God.
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