Order of Service - April 1st 2007 - Palm Sunday:

WELCOME, MINUTE FOR MISSION & ANNOUNCEMENTS

HYMN # 175 This Is the Day That God Has Made

SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 19: 28 – 38

CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: Rejoice, rejoice, you sons of Zion!
Shout for joy, you daughters of Jerusalem!
Look and see,
your king is coming to you.
All: He comes triumphant and victorious,
yet humble and riding on a donkey.
One: The Lord now will save his people
as a shepherd saves his flock from danger.
All: Like precious stones in a crown,
we will shine in God’s own land.
One: Humble and riding on a donkey,
All: We greet you.
One: Acclaimed by crowds and caroled by children,
All: We cheer you.
One: Moving from the peace of the countryside
to the corridors of power,
All: We salute you, Christ our Lord.
One: You are giving the beasts of burden a new dignity;
You are giving majesty a new face;
You are giving those who long for redemption
a new song to sing.
All: With them, with heart and voice,
we shout “Hosanna!”
HYMN # 124 He Came Riding on a Donkey

PRAYER OF APPROACH:
One: I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
All: And look, now we stand in that place,
in the city beloved of God.
One: Jerusalem proudly is built,
to gather the people together.
All: She welcomes the children of God
who worship their maker in unity.
One: Here they give thanks to the Lord
according to God’s deep desire;
All: Here is our monarch’s own court
and the thrones of the household of faith.
One: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
may they prosper whose love is for you.
All: Peace be within your walls and prosperity be in your palaces.
One: For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “May God’s peace be in you.”
All: Out of love for the house of the Lord,
I will pray for its well-being forever.

HYMN # 127 Ride On! Ride On in Majesty!

PRAYER OF CONFESSION:
One: Merciful God,
as we enter Holy Week and gather in your house of prayer,
turn our hearts again to Jerusalem,
to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
All: Bring us at last with him and all the faithful to your new Jerusalem, your kingdom of peace and justice for all.
We ask it in the name of Jesus.
One: O God, in Jesus Christ you triumphantly entered Jerusalem,
All: thus beginning a week of pain and sorrow.
One: In these days of defeat and victory,
you have brought together humiliation and exaltation,
death and resurrection.
All: Be with us now,
as we follow in joy and in sorrow the way of the cross,
in the footsteps of Jesus our Saviour. Amen.

THE STORY STOOL

HYMN # 365 Jesus Loves Me

SCRIPTURE READING: Isaiah 50: 4 – 9 & Psalm 31 (Part Two) (VU 758)

CHOIR ANTHEM: Sing Hosanna!

SCRIPTURE READING: Philippians 2: 5 – 11 & Luke 22: 14 – 38

HYMN # 501 Break Now the Bread of Life

SERMON:

April 1st 2007 – Palm Sunday …

Today is a day for stories – I want to begin and end with a story …
The first story is of a chess game with a Russian master. It was one of those chess matches where an audience was watching every move – each move of each piece on the board was analyzed and potential moves were studied and outcomes were proposed … the player facing the Russian Master was good – but it looked like he was about to lose.

The obvious move for him was to pull his Queen back and head into a safe position that would protect the powerful piece … With the little timer by his elbow clicking away, the player analyzed the board and considered carefully each possible move – then just as the time was running out for his move, he slid the Queen forward and placed her in a place where she was vulnerable to the attack of no less than three of his pieces … Against ALL logic, against all analysis, against everything everyone assumed – the player sacrificed his Queen.

He pushed her out into a place where the Russian Master pounced and took her off the board … BUT just as quickly – two or three moves later, the Russian Master realized he was in serious trouble, and he was NOT in control of the board, he pounced on the Queen having failed to see the trap that was set for him … before he lost the match he pushed over the King and conceded the game …

The crowd, the analysts and the Russian Master were all shocked – in sacrificing the Queen – the most powerful piece on a chess board – the other player had prevailed and won the game … His move was counter-intuitive – but it paid off …

As I read this story this past week, I couldn’t help but think that the experience of this chess player matched against the Russian Master is the entire theology of the Christian Church in one short story …

We are a Church of the Resurrection – but we can not get to the Resurrection without the brutal and pain filled events of the Easter Week … The arrest, the beatings, the trial, the mocking, and the violent, painful death by crucifixion are all necessary if we are to stand in the early morning sunshine before the empty tomb … We can not have Easter Morning without the moments of darkness that precede it …

In the resurrection is power and transformation and new life … but to get their requires – or even demands – the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. To realize and experience the power of the resurrection you need to know and experience the pain of the sacrifice that lead to it …

Like the chess player sacrificing his queen – he was seeking something bigger … the momentary sacrifice of losing one piece was transcended by the winning of the match … This is equally true of the church: too often we protect what we deem valuable, only to lose the entire match and gain nothing, when what we NEED to do is sacrifice something valuable in order to prevail …

It’s not always easy to see these moments. They are hard moments to stand in – and even harder moments to live out … But they are not unique, and we all find ourselves in them throughout our life …

The important piece for those of us who operate from a faith perspective is to remember that in that moment – no matter the choice – no matter the outcome – no matter the circumstances – God is with us.

Our readings this morning that anticipate and prepare us for the Easter Journey through the events in Jerusalem also offer us one of the most powerful statements of faith we can find and utter and share … On Friday morning when in Bible Study we read through the Psalm reading I found myself pausing and saying – “wow” as I read the words: “but I trust in you, O Lord – I say – ‘You are my God.’ Every moment of my life is in your hands, rescue and deliver me from the clutches of my foes who would persue me; Let your face shine upon your servant, and in your faithful love- save me.”

Let your face shine upon your servant, save me in your steadfast love … these are words of certainty that do not doubt even for an instant that no matter what is happening in our life – our community – our world … no matter how dark things may seem – God’s face WILL shine on us – on you – on me – on each one of us. That simple truth – uttered centuries ago – half a world away summarizes the core of our faith – We are not alone. We are never alone. When we feel overwhelmed, we WILL be guided forward to the resurrection …

That is OUR faith … we are people of the resurrection …

The challenge we face is having the vision and the faith to see the resurrection. We know what we want the resurrection to look like. We want it to come and set things straight, keep us comfortable, keep us in a place of warm pink fuzzies … But the resurrection seldom works that way …

In the face of illness, the resurrection may be acceptance and wholeness rather than a miraculous recovery …

In the face of poverty and suffering, the resurrection is often opportunities and chances to bring
incremental change, not a wholesale altering of circumstances …

In the face of addiction and other such burdens, the resurrection may be the freedom that comes when life draws to a close, but with help and assistance offered to others on the same journey the resurrection is also lived out with each tentative step forward …

The examples are as numerous as we care to consider. Too often though what we want is the soft and easy way – a resurrection with no fuss and no muss – and definitely no suffering or struggles leading into it … we want to jump from the Hosannas of Palm Sunday to the Hallelujahs of Easter Sunday …

But our ways are NOT God’s ways … the resurrection we WILL experience is often simply breath taking … it arises out of the darkness and the struggle and brings new life, new possibilities, new opportunities to us …

A closing story about resurrection in action … a story that affirms that even in the face of suffering and death, beauty and hope will be found and God’s gift of resurrection will prevail.

In the 1990’s the Yugoslavian city of Sarajevo was torn apart by the ethnic violence and civil war that gripped the Balkan states. Bombings, snipers, military attacks and violence were an every day happening on the streets of the city and throughout the countryside around it … In May of 1992 a mortar shell plunged into the city and exploded in the street outside a bakery where people were lined up waiting for bread …

Twenty two people died … In June for 22 days – one for each victim Cellist Vedran Smailovic sat in the street in front of the bakery and played Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor …

For 22 days he braved snipers, more bombs and whatever violence the factions of Sarajevo could muster and played his cello … playing a piece of music that survived the firebombing of Dresden 50 years earlier … playing a piece of music that survived the ethnic violence of a city at war …

For 22 days dressed in his concert best, he sat and played … and today, Croats, Serbians, Muslims, Christians – former enemies all come and place flowers where he played because they not only know him and his story – they know the beauty and the hope that this lone cellist whispered into being by being daring or crazy enough to sit in the middle of a war zone and simply play …

That is the resurrection writ large …

That is the resurrection we long for and that we will one day experience … one simple musical note at a time, Smailovic reminded us that in the darkness the light of God WILL shine and the darkness will not prevail … God’s salvation will come …

The journey into the darkness awaits us … we know the outcome … but like so much of the world, we need to pause and carefully consider each step, knowing that we are NOT alone …


We are not alone,
we live in God's world.

We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others by the Spirit.

We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God's presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,

God is with us.

We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
May it be so – thanks be to God – Let us pray …


OFFERING, OFFERTORY AND PRAYER OF DEDICATION

HYMN # 600 When I Needed a Neighbour

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER (# 959 VU)

SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 22: 39 – 23: 62

HYMN # 132 Bitter Was the Night

PRAYER:
One: Lord Jesus Christ,
… over the broken glass of our world,
the rumours meant to hurt,
the prejudice meant to wound,
the weapons meant to kill,
ride on …
trampling our attempts at disaster into dust.
ride on,
All: Ride on in majesty.
One: … over the distance
which separates us from you,
and it is such a distance,
measurable in half truths,
in unkept promises,
in second-best obedience,
ride on …
until you touch and heal us,
who feel for no one but ourselves,
ride on,
All: Ride on in majesty.
One: … through the back streets and the sin bins
and the sniggered-at corners of the city,
where human life festers and love runs cold,
ride on …
bringing hope and dignity
where most send scorn and silence.
ride on,
All: Ride on in majesty.
One: For you, O Christ, do care
and must show us how.
On our own,
our ambitions rival your summons
and thus threaten good faith
and neglect God’s people.
In your company and at your side,
we might yet help to bandage and heal
the wounds of the world. ride on,
All: Ride on in majesty and take us with you. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 23: 13 – 34

HYMN # 136 O Come and Mourn with Me Awhile

The worship has ended….
…the work of God’s people has just begun.
Go in peace.