Sermon Short for April 5th, 2020 – Palm Sunday

Sermon Short for April 5th, 2020 – Palm Sunday

Everybody loves a parade!

Philippians 2:5-11, Matthew 21: 1-11

The Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem was a parade – a crowd of people acclaiming an unlikely celebrity with fanfare. People joined in, swept up in the emotion and hysteria. Palm Sunday is a time where we join in the parade. Get caught up in the party because this is just plain fun.

But really, we can’t. Not this year. We’re all at home where we’re supposed to be as we wait out the pandemic. There are no parades. There are not even any coffee shops.

There is bittersweet irony in Palm Sunday. It begins the journey of Holy Week, which passes through Good Friday on its way to Easter. Glad cheers of “Hosanna!” change to “Crucify!” but come out on other side with “Hallelujah!”

In our enlightened, intellectual faith, we like to think we are rational and understanding of the things we believe. But the jubilation of Christ’s triumphal entry shows us that if we wait until we have it all together, we’ll miss the parade. Sometimes we have to get caught up in the hoopla and the fun. Even in the knowledge of Good Friday, we can join in the fun. We are assured of God’s love regardless of our failure. And to deny ourselves the celebration of this moment, because of the failure of the next is to miss out on the movement of the Holy Spirit. Let the spirit draw us into the parade.

Even stuck in our homes, we are together in a parade.

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