Call To Worship
The Lord of life has called you to his service. Lift up your voices in praise today.
Collect
As we gather together we recognize you as the sole authority. Our undivided allegiance is given to you. We proclaim with our presence that you are Lord of our lives. Amen.
Prayer Of Confession
Yes, Lord, we said we would. We confess but there is so much we have left undone. Yes, God, you ...
Reader 1: When Jesus and the disciples drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethany, to the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples on ahead, saying to them,
Reader 2: "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with it, untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them' and they will be sent imme...
Call To Worship
Leader: Come, let us worship together all who would seek the Lord today.
People: For there were many who once saw Christ only as an earthly king.
Leader: And many who doubted because Jesus was willing to die on the Cross.
People: And the streets were full of those who shouted and waved palms.
Leader: But today we have eternal life because Jesus died on the Cross.
All: Blessed be th...
Everybody loves a parade!
The noise
The excitement
The crowds!
Whether it's the high school band
And a handful of students
The elephants and clowns of the circus
Or the pomp and pagaentry of the Rose Bowl.
Everybody loves a parade!
It appeals to my sense of drama.
The colors assault my eyes.
It gets me "up" for whatever is to follow.
(Parades almost always anticipate something ...
A game
A perfor...
Call To Worship
Leader: Come, let us celebrate God's love with our songs and our praise.
People: For in Christ we have been given new life and hope
Leader: And in the Cross we have been given God's gift of Salvation.
People: God has taken our tools of hate and rejection
Leader: And made them into divine tools of blessing and redemption.
All: Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Collect
O God, in the ...
Call to Worship
Leader: Come, let us give praise for God's wonderful redeeming love!
People: For even while we were lost in our sins, Jesus died for us.
Leader: We were unrighteous, even the best of us, yet Christ died to wash us clean.
People: We enter this house of worship, praising God for our Lord and Savior,
Leader: And our voices proclaim the glory of the Lord God Almighty.
All: Blessed be t...
Theme: Seeing God's Reign in the Christ
Exegetical note
Matthew makes a noteworthy departure from his source Mark in this account of Jesus' triumphal entry when in v. 9 he changes his predecessor's "Blessed is the coming Reign of our father David" (Mark 11:10) to "Hosanna to the Son of David!" That shift in focus from the Reign to the Christ reflects the transition in emphasis in the early Church...
Liturgical Color: Purple/Red
Gospel: Matthew 21:1-11; Matthew 26:14-27, 66
Theme: Jesus' triumphal entry - Jesus' betrayal and sharing of the communion.
Pastoral Invitation to the Celebration
One pastor did this: "Here he comes! Let's make him welcome! Enter into the Mardi Gras spirit! Laugh and dance and sing and rejoice! Our King is coming!
Then, as the choir and children enter during the si...
THEOLOGICAL CLUE
By shortening Passiontide from two weeks to one and shifting Passion Sunday from the Fifth to the Sixth Sunday in Lent, several significant liturgical changes have been made. First, the Sixth Sunday in Lent can no longer be Palm Sunday, as it could when the period of passion stretched over two weeks and Palm Sunday was in the middle of it; Palm Sunday has to be a part, really the...
READINGS
Psalter - Psalms 118:1-2, 19-29 (As Palm Sunday)
Psalter - Psalms 31:9-16 (As Passion Sunday)
First Lesson - Learning to listen patiently to God can develop wisdom in speech and confident patience under persecution. Isaiah 50:4-9a
Second Lesson - If the elect offspring of God can accept humble servanthood and suffering, why not those of us who take the name Christian? Philippians 2:5-11
G...
Dramatic Monologue
Come in! Come in! Do come in! Far be it from me that I should deny a visitor the hospitality of my little home. After all, it isn't really my home. I'm just a tenant. It belongs to the Lord, as does everything else you see around here, although I admit it isn't much. If I have an extra mat for a bed, or loaf of bread, or skin of wine, and you have need of it, consider it a gift...
Objects: Spoons and water glasses.
Good morning, boys and girls. I brought along with me some things that I thought you might help me make noise with today. Don't you just love to make noise in church and not have anyone tell you to keep quiet? Usually your mom or dad is telling you to be quiet in church, but not today. I need your help because we are going to pretend that we are watching a parad...
Object: Trade marks Coca Cola; Texaco; Cheerio’s, etc.
Good morning, on this most happy day. What do we call it? That’s right. Palm Sunday. Do you know why we call it Palm Sunday? (Let them give the answers) That’s right, and when the mothers and dads and all of the children saw Jesus coming, they shouted Hosanna, Hosanna.
Let’s see if I can show you what I mean (Hold up sign of Coca Cola) What ...
Object: Marching music on a cassette tape and palm plants or palm branches.
Lesson: The people praised God when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Have you ever gone to a parade? If you have, you know that the marching bands play music like this. (Play the marching music.)
Often, in a parade, people ride on horses. Once a long time ago, Jesus was riding on a donkey on a street in the city c...
Object: Palm branches
Today is Palm Sunday, and it is a great day for everyone. It is filled with joy and enthusiasm. It is a great religious holiday in the Christian Church. We are going to talk about the first Palm Sunday today and pretend that we were part of the great crowd of people who were there. As a matter of fact, I want you to pretend that you are part of a crowd of over two and one-ha...
Object: Trumpet or big poster (If you use the trumpet, have it blown before you start the sermon. If you use poster, have it carried across, with words "He’s Coming," once or twice)
Say, boys and girls, did you hear that? Wow, what was it? (Let them respond) Maybe we should listen again. (Have trumpet play some kind of fanfare. If you use poster bring it back across again only this time not so qu...
Object: Small bags of confetti [shredded newspaper in baggies will do].
Good morning to you, boys and girls. Isn't this an exciting day! Today is Palm Sunday. Whenever I think of Palm Sunday I think of how all the children in Jesus' time must have felt on the first Palm Sunday when Jesus and his disciples came to Jerusalem. What a day that must have been! You can almost close your eyes and imagin...
Object: A large key [the key to the city].
Good morning, boys and girls. Today is really a special day, since we are celebrating Palm Sunday. I suppose that whenever we think about Palm Sunday we think about the crowds welcoming Jesus into the city of Jerusalem like a king.
I wonder how we would do it today if Jesus came to our city. Suppose that Jesus did come to our town today. What would we d...
In our social-media obsessed culture, we assume that everyone wants to be in the spotlight. Everyone wants attention. That’s what Facebook, Instagram and TikTok want us to believe. But being the center of attention can be exhausting and isolating too.
Actor George Clooney said in a recent interview, “There are restrictions to this kind of fame. I haven’t walked in Central Park for 15 years. I’d l...
"When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred..." Or as the New Revised Standard Version has it, "When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil..."
TURMOIL. Great word. It has a feeling about it. Something is bubbling up and about to boil over. There is tension. There is danger. The Greek word is seio and means to rock to and fro or to agitate, to quake or shake. And contra...
Several years ago, while I was pastoring the little Methodist Church in Geary, Oklahoma, a Fourth of July parade was scheduled. Well, there is nothing like a parade in a small town. The entire community gets into the activities. The high school marching band provides the music, there are a few floats, there is a riding club, and even the children are invited to participate by decorating their bicy...
In 1897 Remington Arms Company chose not to buy a patented "writing machine." The Underwood Company bought it instead and has sold millions of typewriters since. Remington Arms made a bad choice.
In the 1950's Sam Phillips made a record for a young man who wandered into his Memphis studio. The fledgling singer wanted to record his voice for his mother. In 1955 Sam Phillips chose to sell his e...
A Roman Catholic priest in Dayton, Ohio, recently defied his archbishop by denying communion to worshipers who did not observe a dress code. For several years he had denied the sacraments to anyone who came to church in “shorts, bare midriffs, tank tops, jeans, and sweatshirts.” Finally, the archbishop retired the 73-year old priest for defying his authority. The priest said: “I do not hate the ...
Some years ago a book was written by a noted American historian entitled “When The Cheering Stopped.” It was the story of President Woodrow Wilson and the events leading up to and following WWI. When that war was over Wilson was an international hero, There was a great spirit of optimism abroad, and people actually believed that the last war had been fought and the world had been made safe for dem...
Some of you experienced the victory of World War II. Others of us have at least seen on television old newsreel footage of the celebration of victory in Europe. Then came victory over Japan and other victory parades. There were no such celebrations after the wars in Korea and Vietnam. But after the Allied victory in the Persian Gulf we attempted to make up for all of that with tremendous celebrati...