28 March, 2010

Luke 19:28-40 Procession with Palms
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Luke 23:1-49

The “official” title for this Sunday in the Church year is “The Sunday of the Passion” but I have come in recent years to think that a non-liturgical title for this day might be “Oxymoron Sunday.”  The reason for this is the fact that on this day, two contrasting, mutually contradictory themes are put together, similar to other familiar “oxymorons:” jumbo shrimp; pretty ugly; thunderous silence; or one that would be good title for today: “Sweet Sorrow.”

We began our service today with sweetness and joy as we marched from the courtyard into the sanctuary, carrying our palm branches while singing “All Glory Laud and Honor to You Redeemer King.”   And scarcely did these words of joy leave our lips before the mood began to change as we heard the words of the Prayer of the Day inviting us to draw near to the sacred cross to contemplate on the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

One moment we are part of the people welcoming Jesus as he rides through one of the gates leading into the the City of Jerusalem.  And moments later we find ourselves as part of a totally different crowd -- one that is shouting “Crucify Him, Crucify” followed by the sorrowful procession that slowly wends its way along on the Via Dolorosa to the place where Jesus will be put to death.  We begin our worship with the sweet notes of “Glory, laud, and honor;” and before we know it we move into the sorrowful notes of “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.”

21 March, 2010

Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8

Nadia Bolz-Weber is the mission developer for House for All Sinners and Saints, an emerging church of the ELCA, Rocky Mountain Synod, in Denver, Colorado.

Nadia blogs most excellently at Sarcastic Lutheran and is the author of Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television.

14 March, 2010

Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Several weeks ago, I accepted an invitation to come on a Monday afternoon to visit the program that provides meals for hundreds of people each week in the lower level of this building.  What I remember most that day was the comment that unlike some of the meal programs in this area, there are no “gate-keepers” at the doors of St. Paul.  In some places providing meals, individuals are turned away for any number of reasons that make them unwelcome.  Here, I was told, no one is turned away and no one is asked to leave, unless their behavior becomes disruptive or potentially harmful to others.

I thought about that earlier this week when I read the opening two verses of today’s Gospel Lesson.  The Pharisees and scribes are overheard grumbling with displeasure because Jesus share meals with people they would not touch with a ten-foot pole.  The grumblers were gate-keepers; they had a long list of undesirables who would never make it through the door to one of their lunches, and because Jesus seemed to either have a different social filter or worse yet, none at all, they took issue with him.