A Sermon Preached
The Sunday of Passion: Palm Sunday
April 5, 2020
Clergy House
pictured from Father Ade's Insta is Palm Sunday 2018 during the portion of the service when the congregation takes to the streets and shuts down downtown LA ...
<< For me, I should just say that, in my personal prayer life, I’ve been praying Psalm 118 every day for the last several weeks, and it’s the place where I find my hope in this.
And it should not be forgotten that in the typical Palm Sunday liturgy, Psalm 118 is always there, but there’s SO much to do, there’s so much to get to, that it’s kind of passed over, and it’s such a rich feast for us to be with today, because it has something profound to say about where we are in our lives now.
Psalm 118 is part of the liturgy today, and it’s part of the liturgy on Easter Day. The whole framework of the week is surrounded by 118.
What’s In the Middle …
Everything we do in telling the story of this week with Jesus can be seen through the lens of Psalm 118:
The Steadfast Love of the Lord Endures Forever.
The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.
It should not be forgotten that, just as with this Psalm as the framework for this Holy Week, it is also the framework for the Passover meal. It is sung in the beginning and at the end of the Passover, and probably? Probably? Jesus himself at The Last Supper might have sung Psalm 118. It was well-known to the people of Israel.
In the world of the Psalm, it’s singing about Thanksgiving, but there’s a real reason that the Thanksgiving is sung about. It is sung in a time of chaos, in a time of social disintegration … we’re not sure, but something has happened, and the King has asked God, and offered God Thanksgiving on behalf of the people, and ... this is a big liturgy ... it’s like a typical Palm Sunday liturgy:
up to the horns of the altar,
up to the temple,
all the people,
all the gathered people should sing of the Lord’s Faithfulness.
But, they’re singing because they weren’t so sure …
it was a time …
something happened in that world and they knew that they needed, that they were dependent on, God to get them through.
Absolutely dependent on God, and their confidence, their gratitude, was firmly rooted in this robust confidence:
what God had done,
what God is doing, and
what God will do.
Both the time of the Exodus, and the time ... which is shot through in this Psalm ... the time of the exile, the time of social disintegration, this Psalm is SUNG … because it talks about What God is Doing … we know what God is doing because we know what God has Done.
The Steadfast Love of the Lord Lasts Forever and God has rescued people out of slavery, he has rescued people out of exile, he is rescuing us TODAY.
To proclaim “Hosanna” is to proclaim “Save Us.” It’s to proclaim not just this joyful “Save Us,” but there’s a reason, there’s a person to proclaim it to, it’s a respectful, joyful “Save Us” …
Save Us because you HAVE Saved Us.
Save Us because you ARE Saving Us.
Save Us because you WILL Save Us.
At St. John’s, usually this is done like a political rally. We sort of shout this like we were at a ball game. We shout it from the top of our lungs ! with drummers ! and people get up ! and it’s right before we go out in to the streets, and we go out and disrupt and interrupt one of the most important intersections in the city of Los Angeles. A whole crowd goes out and disrupts …
well, we have a permit, because we’re polite Episcopalians …
but we close it all down ! to proclaim the Lordship of Christ, the Sovereignty of Christ, over the world, over the city.
[Palm Sunday] is a disruptive day.
[Palm Sunday] is not a business-as-usual day.
It’s a place where we find our hope, but there’s also a challenge, because this is the last time before he goes through suffering and death where Christ calls people in to his Kingdom.
And all the other kingdoms of the world are put aside.
Every one.
If anything has been a lesson for us in this difficult time, it’s that we are not in Control.
We’ve had to put the Kingdom of Our Own Control aside.
You know, the other day … this is going to be an iconic moment for me … Father Mark and I had to go to the bank for St. John’s … I stayed in the car … Father Mark went in to the bank with sunglasses on and a mask and I thought, “You know, a month ago security would have thrown him right out, but no one even looked at him …”
So, we are in this weird time, and it feels like everything is disintegrating, and the social structure, and our own sense of ourselves … it’s not In Place.
But The Steadfast Love of the Lord Endures Forever.
Forever.
So this day, because of Christ’s mighty work, Christ lays claim to us … and we are called to submission under Christ’s Lordship. We are, because we’re people of hope … we are also … we’re prisoners. We are prisoners of hope because we have placed ourselves under the protection of Christ, our Lord.
We have proclaimed the Kingship of God, not only today but every day, because the Steadfast Love of the Lord lasts for ALL people, for ALL of us, EVERY day.
So this week? Pray with me, and I’ll pray with you, as we pray this Psalm together.
Pray it every day, because it’s about God saving us, God’s future, God’s past, God’s activity here and now, today.
Hosanna to the Son of David.
Hosanna to the Prince of Peace.
Hosanna. >>
