Home Worship for the week of March 29 – Palm / Passion Sunday
Jesus’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem: Hear from the Gospel of Matthew how our Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem.
When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.”
This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:
“Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and He sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of Him and that followed were shouting,
Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna in the highest heaven! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven! Raise your palms and your voices. Speak your praises and your joys.
Morning Prayer: Almighty God, on this day Your Son Jesus Christ entered the holy city of Jerusalem and was proclaimed King by those who spread their garments and palm branches along His way. Let those branches be for us signs of His victory, and grant that we who bear them in His name may ever hail Him as our Lord and follow Him in the way that leads to eternal life. In His name we pray. Amen. (United Methodist Book of Worship)
Opening Hymn: #278 Hosanna, Loud Hosanna
- Hosanna, loud hosanna, the little children sang,
through pillared court and temple the lovely anthem rang.
To Jesus, who had blessed them close folded to His breast,
the children sang their praises, the simplest and the best. - From Olivet they followed mid an exultant crowd,
the victor palm branch waving, and chanting clear and loud.
The Lord of earth and heaven rode on in lowly state,
nor scorned that little children should on His bidding wait. - "Hosanna in the highest!" that ancient song we sing,
for Christ is our Redeemer, the Lord of heaven our King.
O may we ever praise Him with heart and life and voice,
and in His blissful presence eternally rejoice!
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
118 Give thanks to the Lord because He is good,
because His faithful love lasts forever.
2 Let Israel say it:
“God’s faithful love lasts forever!”
19 Open the gates of righteousness for me
so I can come in and give thanks to the Lord!
20 This is the Lord’s gate;
those who are righteous enter through it.
21 I thank You because You answered me,
because You were my saving help.
22 The stone rejected by the builders
is now the main foundation stone!
23 This has happened because of the Lord;
it is astounding in our sight!
24 This is the day the Lord acted;
we will rejoice and celebrate in it!
25 Lord, please save us!
Lord, please let us succeed!
26 The one who enters in the Lord’s name is blessed;
we bless all of you from the Lord’s house.
27 The Lord is God!
He has shined a light on us!
So lead the festival offering with ropes
all the way to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God—I will give thanks to You!
You are my God—I will lift You up high!
29 Give thanks to the Lord because He is good,
because His faithful love lasts forever.
Prayers of Intercession: (CORE prayers, adapted) Let us join our hearts together as we pray to the Lord.
Gracious God, We come this Sunday hearing Your son’s entry into Jerusalem. We could be anyone in this story. We could have been charged to gather the donkey. We could have been lining the street. We get caught up in the spectacle. We try to imagine and in our imagining, we see joy and hope. We never think about being the one that will later shout “Crucify Him”. Keep us grounded in this story. Open our eyes to those moments that we betray Jesus.
Heavenly Father, help us to live in unity with one another, just as You and Jesus are united. Let this Palm Sunday be a reminder that we are all part of the same body, called to love one another and serve You together. Remove any divisions among us and help us to work together in Your name, sharing the good news of Jesus with the world. May our love for each other reflect the unity You desire.
Dear Lord, make us more like You. Help us to walk in humility, knowing that You humbled Yourself for our sake. Teach us to put others first and seek Your will above our own. As we celebrate Palm Sunday, remind us of the power in humility and how it pleases You. May our lives reflect Your gentle and humble spirit so that others may see You in each of us.
Jesus, our Prince of Peace, we thank You for the peace You offer us. In a world filled with turmoil and fear, we ask that Your peace would rule in our hearts. Calm our minds, soothe our souls, and help us to be instruments of peace wherever we go. May we trust in Your promise of peace and share it with others, bringing light into the darkness.
Blessed Savior, You are our great healer. We have heard the stories of Your healings. We have seen Your restoration in our lives and we can point to the Jesus moments. We call on You to bring that healing to those we have lifted up this day in voice and in our hearts. Be with those who are grieving, move us closer to the brokenhearted so they too can feel Your mighty presence.
Gracious God, thank You for the gift of Jesus and it is in His name we pray together by praying…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: Easter Dinner on Easter Sunday, 12 noon. If you don’t have a place to be or people to be with, come and eat with those in the community.
Offering prayer: Humble Savior, You ride into our lives not with force, but with invitation—calling us to follow, to risk, and to trust. As we bring these gifts, we confess we don’t always understand where the road leads. But like those who laid down cloaks and waved palms, we offer what we have with hope in our hearts and praise on our lips. Use these offerings to proclaim Your kingdom—where love confronts fear, and peace dares to speak in the shadow of power. Save us, Lord. Use us. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of preparation: #277 Tell Me the Stories of Jesus
- Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear;
things I would ask Him to tell me if He were here:
scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea, stories of Jesus, tell them to me. - First let me hear how the children stood round His knee,
and I shall fancy His blessing resting on me;
words full of kindness, deeds full of grace, all in the lovelight of Jesus' face. - Into the city I'd follow the children's band,
waving a branch of the palm tree high in my hand;
one of His heralds, yes, I would sing loudest hosannas, "Jesus is King!"
Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11
21 When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave two disciples a task. 2 He said to them, “Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter, you will find a donkey tied up and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to Me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that their master needs them.” He sent them off right away. 4 Now this happened to fulfill what the prophet said, 5 Say to Daughter Zion, “Look, your king is coming to you, humble and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the donkey’s offspring.” 6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had ordered them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their clothes on them. Then He sat on them.
8 Now a large crowd spread their clothes on the road. Others cut palm branches off the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds in front of Him and behind Him shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up. “Who is this?” they asked. 11 The crowds answered, “It’s the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Message: Pastor Becky
Hosanna is the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest! It is our communion response to God's work. This response comes right after we recall our history with God. Early in the Lenten season, we retell the 40 days; 40 days of rain from the Noah account and the 40 days Moses was with God on the mountain receiving the commandments. Then we respond, transitioning from our history to God's mighty act of salvation, Jesus Christ.
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Psalm 118:26. It was included in our worship this morning. Psalm 118 is part of the Hallel; the Psalms sung over Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. They are an act of praise and thanksgiving. These words are part of the collective mind of those pilgrimaging to Jerusalem. Psalms 113 through 118, over and over, they would have repeated them as they made their way to Jerusalem as devout Jews. These are also the table psalms and the prayers, recalling God's mighty acts and God's promise of salvation to send a Redeemer, A Savior, a Messiah.
It is work that God began in the beginning of God's relationship with us and we begin remembering today with this pronouncement: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
What does this statement mean to us? How does it rest in your heart and in your mind? How does it sit with you? Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
We see it as a statement of hope. God is sending a messiah, a savior. Those that were following and leading that day recognized Jesus' connection to God. They didn't know what Jesus' presence in Jerusalem was to mean, what was about to unfold in His coming. They just knew that God would provide.
So it's also a statement of confidence. The same God that delivered them from enslavement in Egypt would save them the same God. How it was to live as children of God.
It becomes a statement of praise. Jesus would be blessed by God with all the power and authority needed to change the relationship between God and them and God and us.
Which turns the statement into a prayer of gratitude. Because of God's love for us, God is sending One in the name of the Lord. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
As we hear it this morning, it's in celebration of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Yet it should be the same response for us when we allow Jesus into our hearts and then into our daily lives. We are to be different when “the one who comes” comes into our hearts.
Because after all, we are asking Him to save us. Literally, that's what hosanna means, save us. Oh, and do we need saving!
The list is long, yet sums up neatly. We need to be saved from sin, our own sin, collective sin, systematic sin. We need to be put on the right path. We need to have right thinking when it comes to the consequences of sin in our personal lives and sin in creation.
Saving us costs. It costs God His Son, Jesus His life, and Mary her Son. We have to be serious about the cost of saving us. We need to be reflective and deliberate in our thinking, recognizing the weight of it. Or it becomes, to quote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, cheap grace.
Our forgiveness isn't to be taken lightly. Our forgiveness, the accepting of God's grace, freely given to us, so that we would be transformed upon true repentance. Freeing us to live as the yeast of the Bread of Life. Growing ourselves and our actions in the direction of the Kingdom of God, not for power in the world or authority in the world, but that humility would take root. All this grace expended so the least, the lonely and lost are lifted to life. This humility is to give us the lens we need to begin to order our lives so that the last would be first. This is the pronouncement: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. This is to be the way of life. This must be the cry of our heart for ourselves and all creation! We praise, thank, hold hope and confidence in the One who comes over and over to us so we would be saved. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #280 All Glory, Laud and Honor
Refrain: All glory, laud, and honor, to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.
- Thou art the King of Israel, Thou David's royal Son,
who in the Lord's name comest, the King and Blessed One. (Refrain) - The company of angels are praising Thee on high,
and we with all creation in chorus make reply. (Refrain) - The people of the Hebrews with psalms before Thee went;
our prayer and praise and anthems before Thee we present. (Refrain) - To Thee, before Thy passion, they sang their hymns of praise;
to Thee, now high exalted, our melody we raise. (Refrain) - Thou didst accept their praises; accept the prayers we bring,
who in all good delightest, thou good and gracious King. (Refrain)
The blessing: May the Lord bless you as you repent of sins and make Lenten sacrifices.
Go Now in Peace: Go now in peace. Never be afraid. God will go with you each hour of ev’ry day. Go now in faith, steadfast strong and true. Know He will guide you in all you do. Go now in love and show you believe. Reach out to others, so all the world can see. God will be there, watching from above. Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.
