 We welcome everyone to our services at Yetholm (10am) and Morebattle (11.15)
Processional MP 167 – Give me joy Call to Worship Jesus is coming. Hosanna! He comes to us riding on a donkey. Make way, make way! Open wide the gates! Hosanna in the highest! Let us welcome him with branches and songs of praise. Jesus is coming. Hosanna to the King of kings! Hymn 364 – All glory laud and honour Prayer of Adoration and Confession God of grace and truth, we gather in humility and hope because we believe you have the power to change the world, to change it for the better with your love. We gather because we believe no one is beyond your concern, no one is beyond your embrace. Such love astonishes us. In this hour of worship, inspire us with a vision of love which will change the world and our lives for goodness’ sake. Lord Jesus Christ, you call us to be servants yet we confess we like to be served. You call us to give ourselves away for love’s sake, yet we confess we like to hang on to what we have. Lord have mercy Christ have mercy We are quick to speak of faith, but slow to live it fully. We shout "hosanna" as Jesus approaches, as did the people of Jerusalem many years ago; but we do not want him to come too close Lord, have mercy…Christ, have mercy. We are quick to claim faith in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour; but, like the throng who greeted his entry into Jerusalem, we are fickle, slow to live fully and everywhere as faithful disciples. Lord, have mercy…Christ, have mercy. Jesus said: I do not call you servants any longer, but I have called you friends. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Christ has laid down his life for us and invites us to love one another as he has loved us. Trust his love to give you strength and make you new Lord’s Prayer Blessing of Palm Crosses We thank you Lord for these palm crosses, A simple reminder of the love you showed for us. As we take them into our homes, May they remind us through this special week That you gave your life for us upon the cross. May they remind us of how deep and wide and high is the love you have for us. As we take them into our homes, So may we take your love into our hearts And worship you as Saviour and King. And like the people on that first Palm Sunday, May we also cry ‘Hosanna, Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord’. Readings – Isaiah 50: 4-9a (Pg 737) Mark 11: 1-11 (Pg 1016) Hymn 399 – My song is love unknown Weekly Prayer Let us pray to the Father, who loved the world so much that he sent his only Son to give us life. Sovereign Lord, help us to appreciate the one who set his face as a flint towards Jerusalem. We join with those throughout the ages in our cry "Hosanna in the highest blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord". Amen Sermon The Scout band were playing, drums and pipes echoing through the narrow streets, and behind came the crowd gathered from the various churches, waving palm branches, thankfully plentiful there, and shouting Hosanna. It was Palm Sunday in Nazareth. Throughout the Holy Land in mainly the Arab communities, there would be Palm Sunday parades, and the denominations would put behind their differences to parade together. This year I would imagine the celebrations would be more muted. We all like a parade, especially if a band is involved. Growing up I remember how different streets and groups would each decorate a float, the back of a lorry with whatever theme it was, though like many things, it doesn’t happen so much now. At Palm Sunday we remember how Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem to the waving of branches and cries of Hosanna. There was a sense of excitement, of anticipation. Something was about to happen, and the city was like a powder keg waiting to explode. Then Jesus came, but not on a war horse, but on the humble donkey. We may think of it all being so spontaneous, but any parade needs lots of planning and lots of preparation. Mark in his Gospel spends half the story telling us about the preparation and how two of the disciples are sent on donkey detail. One commentator says it is James and John who are sent. They had been asking to sit on the right and left hand of Christ in glory, and the commentator suggests that, while Jesus prepares to confront the powers and principalities of evil, they are given the menial task of fetching the donkey. Yet, it was important; attention to detail is vital, and we are often called to mundane tasks, doing what needs to be done. What needed to be done was the preparation to ride into the city on a donkey. Donkeys are shorter animals than horses, especially the colt. Perhaps the donkey was not just a symbol of humility and peace, perhaps Jesus chose it because it kept him among, not above, the people. Riding on the colt, Jesus would have still been close to eye level with the crowd. But this was also a re-enactment of the prophecy from Zechariah, that the Messiah would ride in on a donkey. People would have been familiar with the prophecy, and certainly the scribes and temple officials would have been familiar with it. Jesus is throwing down the gauntlet, saying ‘Here I am’. And the people went wild, crying Hosanna! And the treacherous ‘Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord’. “Hosanna” is no simple cheer. It means ‘save us’. And it paves the way for what will come. For Palm Sunday is a day of contrasts. Samuel Crossman sums it up so well in the 3rd verse of the hymn: Sometimes they strew His way, And His sweet praises sing; Resounding all the day Hosannas to their King: Then “Crucify!” Is all their breath, And for His death They thirst and cry The crowd is fickle, and their cries of hosanna soon turn to Crucify. But at Palm Sunday they are faced with a choice, to follow the man who entered the city, proclaiming a new kind of Messiah or to melt away, keep their heads down, ask for no trouble. They had a choice, and if they continued after Jesus, they would find themselves in the Temple, as he chased away the money changers. If they continued to follow Jesus, they would join him in an upper room as he talks about betrayal and denial and the way that love looks like humble service. They would watch as he breaks bread and pours out a cup and tells us that they will be reminders for us of his broken body and his shed blood, physical reminders of his suffering love. If they continued to follow Jesus, they would gather with him in a garden and watch as he prays and pleads for his life; watch as even his most committed followers cannot sit and pray with him without falling asleep. They would watch as he is led away, arrested, and betrayed. If they continued to follow Jesus, they would follow him all the way to a trial as the cries of Hosanna are drowned out by shouts of “Crucify Him!” If they continued to follow Jesus, they would follow him all the way to the cross as crowds who had once gathered to watch a parade now watch an execution. That’s a choice we have as well. It is so easy to jump from Palm Sunday to Easter Day, ‘Hosanna’ to ‘He is Risen’, but if we follow Jesus, we have to go through all of Holy Week. Do we follow the one who makes himself known in vulnerability rather than might, who rides a donkey and not a war-horse, whose greatest victory is not on the battlefield but on the Cross and empty tomb? Let us follow the one who walked the way of the cross and who moves us from suffering to salvation, from death to life everlasting. Hymn 378 – Praise to the holiest Prayers of Dedication & Intercession Lord Jesus, compared with the gift you gave for our sake, what we offer today seems so small. Bless our gifts with your love so that they accomplish more than we can even imagine. Bless our lives, too, so that what we do and say will show we have the commitment to follow you, whatever the cost. Amen. We think of Jesus riding on a donkey like a poor labourer… And so we pray for those struggling to get by, because they are badly paid or unemployed, because of illness or disability or prejudice or abuse. We pray that those who suffer may know your justice and that those with the resources to help may do so. We think of Jesus fulfilling the prophecy of one who brings peace, and so we pray for those caught up in war… in Syria and Iraq, in Gaza and Palestine, in Ukraine and Sudan and Ethiopia. We pray for those who have the power to call a halt on violence may do so and that you will bless all peacemakers. We think of the crowds cheering and waving their palm branches…and pray for those carried along by crowds or by social media or television. We pray for freedom and integrity and that social media may be a thing for the good and not for abuse. We think of the disciples walking with Jesus, but later abandoning him when he was arrested… and we pray for ourselves, with our struggles and pain and grief, our gifts and joys- that we might know your continued presence with us and that, despite our fears, may continue to walk the way of the cross. Silence Amen Hymn 365 – Ride on, ride on Benediction Go with courage to face the days ahead. May the Christ who walks on wounded feet walk with you on the road. May the Christ who serves with wounded hands stretch out your hands to serve. May the Christ who lives with a wounded heart open your hearts to love. May you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet, and may everyone you meet see the face of Christ in you.
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