150 years of Palm Sundays
This coming Sunday, if all the calculations are correct, we will be celebrating our 150th Palm Sunday at Gethsemane Church. In the evening of course, we will have the 149th Palm Sunday Concert. I just hope there will be more people in the pews than there will be in the choir. Good stuff. Pretty amazing, though, 150 years, 149 years, lots to celebrate and reflect upon.
Palm Sunday has always been a complicated day for me. Now as a priest, I have to figure out all this crazy choreography and what not, which can be a real pain. It also was a day when I got the Palm Cross, when I was younger, that really was the only exciting thing about it. We read the Passion gospel, this year it is from Mark, and he references some sort of Naked person running away, about as risque as a Gospel can get.
It is also the beginning of Holy Week, the week Sara becomes a single mom and no longer expects anything from me as a husband or father. That is probably why I don't enjoy it all these days, it takes a lot out of you, worth it most of the time, but it does really take a lot out of you. What I like most about this particular Sunday is the way we can talk about power. Jesus turned everyone's expectations on their heads, he did nothing that was expected of a Messiah, or a savior. He messed everything up and then he died. Humility is one of the most important parts of power that we are given in our everyday lives. Humility is a reminder that to exercise power in the name of our own selves is, most of the time, corrupt and unhelpful. Power is like class, no one talks abut it and no one acknowledges it, which is fine with those who have it as they refuse to be held accountable.
The conversation that Palm Sunday starts around the issue of power is very helpful and redeeming for me, as well. We are a people who have been called to serve, a people called to raise others up, a people called not to abuse power, but use humility as the center of who we are and how we are in relationship with each other. Power, it is time to claim our power, through humility so we can truly reconcile ourselves to each other and God.
Be well! Happy Holy Week!
Palm Sunday has always been a complicated day for me. Now as a priest, I have to figure out all this crazy choreography and what not, which can be a real pain. It also was a day when I got the Palm Cross, when I was younger, that really was the only exciting thing about it. We read the Passion gospel, this year it is from Mark, and he references some sort of Naked person running away, about as risque as a Gospel can get.
It is also the beginning of Holy Week, the week Sara becomes a single mom and no longer expects anything from me as a husband or father. That is probably why I don't enjoy it all these days, it takes a lot out of you, worth it most of the time, but it does really take a lot out of you. What I like most about this particular Sunday is the way we can talk about power. Jesus turned everyone's expectations on their heads, he did nothing that was expected of a Messiah, or a savior. He messed everything up and then he died. Humility is one of the most important parts of power that we are given in our everyday lives. Humility is a reminder that to exercise power in the name of our own selves is, most of the time, corrupt and unhelpful. Power is like class, no one talks abut it and no one acknowledges it, which is fine with those who have it as they refuse to be held accountable.
The conversation that Palm Sunday starts around the issue of power is very helpful and redeeming for me, as well. We are a people who have been called to serve, a people called to raise others up, a people called not to abuse power, but use humility as the center of who we are and how we are in relationship with each other. Power, it is time to claim our power, through humility so we can truly reconcile ourselves to each other and God.
Be well! Happy Holy Week!
Comments