For those of us who know the end of Holy Week, it is ironic that, only a week before he was crucified, Jesus attracts adoring crowds, crowds who wave palm branches and shout "Hosanna" and call him "King!" It is fitting that we should begin this service with a choir and clergy, a palm branch, parade and dance in celebration of Jesus' parade on Palm Sunday. It is also ironic because we know what those same crowds will be shouting on Friday. The Palm Sunday parade becomes the Golgotha dance of death.

We might say that it all goes to show that fame is fickle, that Jesus better enjoy his popularity today because the adulation of the mob is always short-lived. Tomorrow they will be trotting after some other celebrity. Some other "star" will be espousing his or her philosophy of life on Phil Don…