Palm Sunday

With the exception of Christmas services of lessons and carols, many congregants will hear more scripture on Palm/Passion Sunday than any Sunday of the Christian year. With palm processionals, special music, and lengthy scripture readings, many preachers may be tempted to go easy on the sermon, but the readings for Palm/Passion Sunday demand serious homiletical reflection. Without a clear sense of their message, we will be unable to fathom the amazing surprises of Easter.

On this day, more perhaps than any other, the readings from scripture are at the service of the liturgy, and commentary, reflection, and preaching on the day’s readings must take into account how they fit into the overall flow of the liturgical action. This Sunday is unique in having two Gospel readings assigned, and the tension between these two Gospel readings, set as they are in two different moments of the liturgical action, is an inescapable factor in their functional meaning for this day.

As I begin this exegetical work with you the invasion of Iraq has begun.  Regardless of one's position relative to the war itself, surely we can agree that this is a momentous event in the history of our country and for people of faith everywhere.  The weeks ahead demand bold and vigorous preaching that seeks not simply to comfort and assure people that with God all things will be made new but also connects folks to Jesus' passion for life and the terrible loss that his death brought to his friends and family -- and to God.