Our King is Coming!

Sermon Matthew 21:1-11 April 5, 2020 Palm Sunday year A  

  Worship during covid19 

Our King is Coming!

Our King is coming! He’s riding on a donkey and heading to Jerusalem. He’s certain where he’s going. He knows what’s ahead of him. He has no doubt of who he is or how his story will end.

Our King is coming! He’s riding on a donkey and heading to Jerusalem. We’re certain where he’s going. We know what’s ahead of him. We have no doubt how his story will end.

We are the people in the crowd.

We have decided he is the one who will save us.

We are the woman in need of food on the table for her five children. We know that Jesus is coming into Jerusalem to turn over the tables of injustice and make sure there is always food for the poor.

We are the people in the crowd. We have decided that our government is corrupt and Jesus is coming to be the new King and will remove the Romans, the dishonest, cruel politicians from the nation.

We are the crowd. We have decided Jesus has come to save us. We are the crippled, the blind, the homeless, the jobless, the disenfranchised and Jesus is coming to create a world of equality.

Our King is coming!

He’s riding on a donkey and heading to Jerusalem.

We are among the very crowds that sing Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord

and betray him the very next day.

We know Jesus is coming for us in our way and only our way. If he doesn’t do what we want, how we want it, when we want it, and where we want it, we’ll quit. We’ll walk away. We’ll say he was never for us anyway.

They needed, wanted a savior. They needed the promised messiah to come.

The followers of Jesus on the way to Jerusalem expected a Savior to end the madness of Roman occupation. They were going crazy with rules always changing and never knowing if they were doing the right thing. They could not trust that life would ever have any normalcy because of the fickle changes of leadership from one season to the next. Governors and Jewish leaders were thrown in prison or relieved of duty frequently. The Jews had a tyrant for a king. The people were fearful. They were anxious. The crowds saw no end in sight.

Today, we need a savior too. We need a Savior, a rescuer like any other person in any other time of deepest darkest difficulty.

We are facing a war of the worst kind. It is an invisible beast, insidious, destroying nations, communities and families. It has no sympathy for any race, economy, or person. What’s worse is there is no end in sight. Ten more weeks the Virginia governor tells us. We’ve barely endured the last three weeks. How will we get through this isolation? We really want to be in a crowd. We want and need our ability to worship in this sanctuary.

We want our chance to be filled with joy

bursting from our seams

as we watch the little children

carry banners and wave palms.

We want and we need to laugh with one another

as we rejoice and rub shoulders with each other.

We love Palm Sunday!

It is the fun church holiday.

It is the one Sunday where everything, absolutely everything is all about happiness.

And this year we have to make the happiness happen in our homes.

Three years ago we couldn’t celebrate in this sanctuary because for six months it was being cleaned from smoke damage. Then we asked, ‘How are we going to do this?’ And here we are this year asking the same question.  We think-We really need someone to rescue us from this insanity.

The followers of Jesus had been through a lot.

The followers of Jesus continue to go through a lot.

Jesus was the one they trusted.

The ones who had followed him through the years.

They witnessed his miracles.

They experienced his touch.

They were nourished.

Their bursting hearts rang out in boisterous sounds of praise!

They could not be contained.

It seemed as if all those years of following him built up the anticipation and expectation of who he needed to be for them in that moment.

Hosanna-save us.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Be our rescuer now!

It’s time the climax of the movie is here and we need you more than ever.

Division and fear is everywhere and the people are clinging to the newness of Jesus. They are hanging on to his words of love and his listening ears and compassionate ways.

We are going through a great deal of anxiety now with no end in sight.

Our emotions are running high.

Instead of following distancing rules we are now acting in avoidance of one another.

We used to say hi to everyone.

Now we look at each other in suspicion.

We can safe distance and still maintain social etiquette.

We do not have to fear one another.

We need each other.

We don’t need to shame each other, or judge, or condescend, or ignore.

More than ever we need to practice hospitality.

We need to greet, to engage, to raise a hand and wave a palm, high and low, raise our voices in confidence and support.

We can imagine why people were flocking to Jesus. He gave them stability, comfort and hope in a world that had none of that for them then.

Perhaps, that’s why we are still seeking a savior.

We still seem to be lost in hope when we face tragedy, turmoil, and disaster.

The moment we feel we have grip on the world

and the way life is around us-we shout for joy

and we sing hosanna-we got this.

And then in the next breath we are

blindsided by a circumstance that betrays

our very feelings and knocks us on our tushies.

We come this year and every year to be reminded that we are always the people in the crowd crying out to Jesus Hosanna-save us!

We may not be in a physical crowd but we are in a virtual one. We are all flocking to the computer screens looking for the worship service that gives us Jesus the savior to speak to our needs. And if the preacher isn’t selling the Jesus we want, we’ll switch the channel, we’ll walk away. We’ll quit.

That’s what happens the day after the parade.

Holy Week we call it now.

The week we are entering as we enter with Jesus into Jerusalem.

We make this journey every year because we need Jesus.

We need to follow his ways and as the years roll by we begin to recognize the power of Jesus within us.

We sense his presence stronger.

We feel our bodies bursting with joy as we go.

And this year more than ever we’ll raise our palms and banners together.

We’ll march together in the parade there in our living rooms excited about the Savior. Excited about our love for him who taught love for each other.

We believe!

We will raise our voices, we will work together.

We will show that distance does not change our ability to be in mission. Distance is what strengthens our resolve to reach out further than ever. We raise our palms and we shout through the roof that our Savior is with us. We will not walk away. We are connected by the power of the Holy Spirit that makes us the body of Christ. We can praise today and we can sing!

Our King is coming! He’s riding on a donkey and heading to Jerusalem. He’s certain where he’s going. He knows what’s ahead of him. He has no doubt of who he is or how his story will end. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Amen.

Resources: Feasting on the Word Year A

Following Jesus…to where?

Sermon Mark 8:27-38 September 16, 2018 Ordinary Time

Following Jesus…to where?

Life is messy.

We know that more due to the events of this past week than we really might want to admit. A hurricane was coming and we had to decide how we would respond to it. Was it really going to come to the Shore? It doesn’t usually.

Do we pray it away?

And if we do, where does it go?

But, would we just accept it the way it was?

No.

We decide to pray for it to go away,

to be just a storm,

anything to keep the chaos away.

And that is ok according to the words of Jesus about prayer.

Schools were closed. Our VDOT folks had to go into disaster mode. Our local first responders

had to stay alert and be ready for the next phase. The stores had to triple their supplies. Homes had to prepare, stock up, clean up, check on their neighbors. People had to evacuate Zone A areas. Churches, restaurants, and theaters cancelled events and shut down. It was messy for our regular way of life.

The storm went south and has decimated areas of North Carolina and is relentless there. It is far from over.

So, we keep praying for the storm to go away.

And we ask ourselves why are we still praying?

And we answer ourselves (because that’s what people like me who talk to themselves do),

‘we are still praying because we know God shows up.’

In our prayers, God is there.

In our messes, God is there.

In our fear, God is there.

In the storm, God is there.

And in the absence of the storm, God is there.

God shows up.

This is what we believe.

When we read in the gospel the question Jesus asks, ‘who do you say that I am?’ Are we like Peter and state clearly what we believe?

We believe that God shows up in Jesus Christ.

That God shows up in Jesus as our Savior, the Messiah.

God showed up in the beginning of creation sorting out the chaos and bringing order to it. God is still showing up in the chaos and sorting it out and bringing order to it.

If I believe that, really believe it, then when Jesus asks me the question about who I think he is, what is my answer?

This is my chance to say what I really believe.

This is my chance to be authentic about my faith.

This is my chance to be honest with myself, with Jesus,

and with the people around me who will hear my answer.

Because when I give my answer

I am telling all, everyone,

how I believe about me.

Huh?! What’d you say?

You see, how we live our lives,

how we work out our faith,

how we commit ourselves to following Jesus and who he is

is the measure of our discipleship.

It is our answer to the question who we say Jesus is.

Who I am is how I am a follower of Jesus.

Following Jesus…to where, then?

Have we been in conversations about shaming others and blaming. Have we been pointing our fingers at ‘those people’? Have we been more accuser and judge? Is our Jesus we follow the right Jesus, and all the others are wrong because they look different from us? If so, then we are telling everyone exactly who we are and the Jesus we believe in.

OR…

Have we been the ones who have sought to lift up those in need? Have we been in conversation where we have held up the integrity of human love. Have we looked to those who are beyond our understanding and reached out and called them neighbor? If so, then this is the Jesus people see and this is how I believe about me.

We hear a lot about integrity these days and we hear a lot about being Christian. It is Christians against Christians in several arenas. And it bruises my soul to hear it and to watch it.

When I come back to the gospel and read the words of Jesus again, I hear Jesus speaking to me and asking me if I’m willing to take up the cross. Now, what does that look like in my life? How do the anxieties of our finances, of our jobs, of our children, of our communities fit into this cross carrying kind of life?

Jesus is calling us to live lives where we are healthy in our bodies, in our minds and in our spirits. Perhaps, cross carrying is assumed to be suffering as Jesus suffered. 

Perhaps, cross carrying is assumed to be as it was in the crusades where people were oppressed and persecuted into believing.

But, maybe the suffering of the cross is not about self-abasing but about self-reflecting.

If Jesus asks us to take up our cross without thinking about who we are and what we are doing when we carry it, we are doing the cross carrying a disservice.

Jesus is asking us not to be ashamed of what we believe nor how we carry our cross as disciples.

As we self-reflect,

we open up our vulnerability.

We open ourselves to places of pain,

places of hurt,

places of sorrow,

places of regret,

places of shame,

places of vanity,

and violence.

Jesus asks us to lift up our cross and

be released

from the things

we have allowed the world

and our own heart

to define us.

Let us be fully aware that God loves us and that God shows up all the time.

As we carry this cross, God is taking our insecurities and turning them into profound strength.

When we choose to carry our cross, Jesus is present in every action and every circumstance we face.

We deny ourselves-but we do not disregard ourselves.

We deny our desire to run the show for God.

We deny our notion that we have a better way of running missions and care for the poor than Jesus does.

We deny our self-importance and offer ourselves fully and totally to the God who has named us and claimed us.

When we become fully lost in Christ, his love increases, his presence in seen and known, his essence fills every space.

I now have the ability to live responsibly and to live with courage because as I go I pick up my cross. As I carry my cross I can see everyone else and their crosses. I’m not stuck in self-pity. I’m not stuck in my depression. I’m no longer stuck in self-criticism. Jesus offers us his presence as we are propelled into the world. He grants us grace to live.

Following Jesus…to where?

Following Jesus, everywhere, cross and all.

Life is messy.

God shows up.

This is what I believe.  

Amen.

Reverend Monica Gould

PCUSA

Resources: Feasting on the Word; 11^th Hour Preacher Party-Terri Cole Pilarski