We again gathered in our “Do You Believe” series as we remembered Palm Sunday and began the journey through Holy Week that will bring us to the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. Today, we were in John 18 and began looking at the extensive injustices done to the One who is the rightful King of our lives and the world. The contrast between the celebration during Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey and the injustices done to Him by those same people is stark.
Part of wrestling with question of “do we believe Jesus is who He says He is” is also coming to grips with all that He went through and why He did it when He didn’t deserve it. An innocent man who proclaimed and revealed the Kingdom of God sentenced and punished.
We began our time together with welcome, announcement, greeting, and a reminder of upcoming opportunities to be involved with short term missions over the next months.To help people capture the Palm Sunday essence, we covered the center aisle of our sanctuary with palm fronds that people had to walk on as they came in.
We had been in John 12 earlier in the series, so we spent the first part of the service remembering the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and celebrating Him as King through song. Our call to worship was from Zechariah 9:9 and John 12:13. I had people shout the praise of Hosanna! together and then reminded them of how the Pharisees wanted the people to be quiet. Jesus’ response was that if they were quiet, then the rocks would cry out in their place. We should not miss the opportunity to praise the Lord for who He is and all He has done, else it will be done for us (which is hopefully a humbling and sad prospect). We than sang Hosanna (Baloche/Brown) and Sing to the King (Foote/Horne). We paused for the reading of Revelation 5:9-14, and then sang Crown Him with Many Crowns (Bridges/Thring/Elvey) using a mighty organ intro. After that, we had a time for prayer and confession, and then sang You Are My King (Foote).
After that, we had a time of prayer for those who have yet to recognize Jesus as King and for some missionaries that are working in various places to make that happen.
We then moved to the offering and showed a visual telling of the entry story done by Big Book Media. They are probably my new favorite go-to place for Bible story movies. They are doing a great job capturing the authenticity and environment of the stories of the Bible. If you’re looking for this type of resource, be sure to check them out.
We then had the message, and at the end of the message invited people to reflect for a few moments on the injustices in their life. “What have you done with the injustices in your life? How does watching Jesus affect how you respond?”
We closed the service by singing Your Gave Your Life Away (Baloche/Scott). Whereas we started the service with celebration and praise, we wanted to end with a more reflective tone as we pulled people into the journey of Christ through the week to come while still recognizing the amazing love and redemption of Christ. As we closed, we reminded people of the many Holy Week events (Maundy Thursday Passover/Communion Gatherings in homes and the Good Friday Solemn Assembly) they could participate in.
Thanks for stopping by. If you were there, I would appreciate your feedback.
To find out what other churches did on this Palm Sunday, check out Sunday Setlists at The Worship Community.
May this week be a time of reflection, remembering, thanksgiving, and ultimately celebration for the wonderful act of grace, love, and forgiveness given to us by a holy and loving Father through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ His Son and our Lord.
