It's been one of my favorite Sundays since I became a Lutheran. I still remember the wonderful services at the Lutheran Church of St. Andrew in Silver Spring, MD on this day. Overflowing joy!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna to the Son of David.... Most merciful God, as the people of Jerusalem, with palms in their hands, gathered to greet Your dearly beloved Son when He came into His Holy City, grant that we may ever hail Him as our King, and, when He comes again, may go forth to meet Him... All glory, laud, and honor to You, Redeemer King... Mercifully grant that we may follow the example of His great humility and patience and be made partakers of His resurrection... Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus...even the death of the cross... My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning... His blood be on us and on our children... This Lamb is Christ, the soul's great friend, The Lamb of God, our Savior... who accomplished the salvation of mankind by the tree of the cross that, where death arose, there life also might rise again and that the serpent who overcame by the tree of the garden might likewise by the tree of the cross be overcome... Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain, then take, O Christ, Thy power and reign.
You certainly tweaked my memory bank! I too, remember those days at St. Andrews. Do you celebrate Palm Sunday only or is it also Passion Sunday? At the time LBW came out Palm Sunday was a transitional service where the palm procession led into the church and then the mode quickly turned to the passion and the reading of the passion text. This was an attempt, I believe to give congregations a chance to hear this story because they were lax in their holy week observance. As liturgical renewal took place more and more of the holy week - Triduum services were observed. I wonder if it would not be liturgically suitable to return to the observance of Palm Sunday on that day and remember the passion during the week preceding Easter? (There are a few churches in our area that have liturgies every night during Holy Week. The Bishop also has a Service of Renewal of Vows for Clergy on Holy Tuesday.)
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your excellent writings! They are a mainstay in my life.
Pax,
Elsa Quanbeck
Elsa,
ReplyDeleteYou're going to get Pastor McCain started. It is a yearly complaint of his. He wants Palm Sunday to just be Palm Sunday...
Thanks for the kind words, my dear. It's neat to know that there's another person out there (and I'm sure there is more than one) who remembers the wonderful days at St. Andrew.
.... you're a Lutheran convert???
ReplyDeleteI was not baptized till a young teen - so I wasn't "raised" Lutheran, but I was baptized, confirmed, married and ordained in the Lutheran Church. But because I remember my life before I was baptized (when I guess I was a nominal Methodist, sort of, but never baptized and never regular in attending church), I always call myself a convert.
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