Easter online April 12

JAMESVILLE COMMUNITY CHURCH

EASTER-A   4/12/2020

     Preparation:

       Have read the Passion Scriptures in MAtthew

       Have your Alleluia butterflies all ready, and post pictures on our Facebook

  group!  Jamesville Community Church Network – ask to join if you aren’t

   on, so we can see each other’s Alleluia Butterflies!

         Have flowers & other Easter decorations.

         Have your bread and juice/wine ready for each person

         Have your candle to light at the start of worship.

EASTER CALL TO WORSHIP   (Please read aloud the parts in bold print)

Christ is risen.      Christ is risen, indeed.

God is alive..       New birth is given.

Hope is alive…    A new age is dawning.

Joy is alive…       Redemption is here.

Love is alive        Death cannot harm us.

We are alive…    New life is within us.

The church is alive…            God’s spirit is within us.

God of life, we worship you.  God of creation, we praise you.

God of revelation, we learn from you.    God of resurrection, we come to celebrate you.

SCRIPTURE       Matthew 28: 1-10    (Pastor Becky reads)

28After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ²And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. ⁴For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. ⁵But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” ⁸So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

CENTERING PRAYER       (Read in unison at home)

God of the resurrection, we gather this morning as a community of believers. We come with joy to greet one another and to tell again and again the amazing news: Christ is risen! Love is victorious over death! You have given us new life in the name of your Son! May our singing, praying, listening, and proclaiming be a testimony to the power of your love to make us a new creation as a community of faith. We pray in the name of the risen Christ. Amen.

CHILDREN’S TIME     

        When I was in school, I didn’t much get into science - I liked things like math & music & reading stories. Of course I had to learn about science anyway, some, but it wasn’t my fave.  When I was older, I watched a TV show about how the world came to be, & for some reason I totally got into it. & have been intrigued by it ever since. I guess people can change! Or get interested in different things along the way,

     So I got interested in how things like old orange peels and banana skins and coffee grounds and eggshells and things like that, can turn into compost. All dead things, peelings, sticks, leaves, all kinds of things we’d throw out - like their life is over and they’re no good anymore!  BUT...  But….    But little teeny tiny things in the air and soil go to work on them, and break down into little teeniest bits...and gradually, with some water and sunlight and heat, their little teeny elements become something new - compost. The stuff in compost becomes great food for the new plants around it - new plants get energy and food from the composted old dead stuff. It enriches the soil, It feeds the new life that’s growing. The energy that was in the banana peel, after changing form, becomes food and energy for new life. 

     In this world that God created, death is never the end of the story. I looked up some pictures of a volcano that erupted some years ago (July, 2008), called Mount Saint Helens, which is in our country. There haven’t been to many live volcanoes in my lifetime! The volcano spewed up hot lava, hot enough to burn anything it ran into and ran over, and totally wiped out all life forms that it touched in a range of miles. Then the lava hardened into rock, and even made the whole landscape a different shape. Yet if you look at pictures of Mount Saint Helens now, in 2020, grass is growing, trees have started, and the wiped out area is coming back. It won’t be the same shape as it was, yet even the destruction of the volcano is not the last word in God‘s world.

     Part of the message of Easter is to tell us that in God‘s world, death is not the end of things. On Easter Sunday, God gave Jesus new life, too - evidently people could recognize him, but he could do new things, too.  Because in this giant universe that God created, death is never the last word, God is life, and life always wins.

SCRIPTURE       Colossians 3: 1-11

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, ³for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). ⁶On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. ⁷These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.

⁸But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. ⁹Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices ¹⁰and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. ¹¹In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

SERMON

          So - how many Easter services have we been to in our lives?  Type in a number… let’s see what we get…..  I was brought to church when I was 1, so, unless I was sick one Easter, this makes 66 Easters for me...and for 30 or so of them, I’ve preached an Easter message! 

    Have we ever had an Easter like this one?  Anyone here over 80?  Do you remember an Easter in the Great Depression?  Do you remember Easter during World War 2?  Those are some times in our history when Easter was celebrated during a fearful time...I'd bet some of us remember that.  We’re all probably going to all remember this Easter of 2020, the year we celebrated in our homes and by ourselves - the year of the covid 19 pandemic. 

      Several weeks ago, many clergy thought that we’d wait to celebrate Easter until we were all back in our church buildings and could gather together….maybe a couple weeks late, that’s all…. Gradually we realized this social isolation was going to go on awhile, and that the Easter message was needed at the right date, even if we observed it online. 

    It feels kind of odd to celebrate resurrection and new creation while we’re in the midst of a crisis that, while many are recovering, many are also dying, and families grieving.  So far there’s been no miracle vaccine or miracle test or miracle treatment to come to the rescue - it looks like we’re going to be slogging through a long wait, and a long economic recovery time.  And while we are seeing noble acts and sacrificial acts by our human neighbors, we’re also seeing humans plotting to come out of this richer than ever….. like humans have done in every crisis there’s ever been.  How can we proclaim new life and renewal and resurrection at this time? 

     We can, because God is now and always will be, the God of Life itself.  The God who creates, who births, who designs creation, who loves us and seeks us and finds us and walks here with us and in us - this is always true, despite outer circumstances.  Maybe it’s good to proclaim God’s New Life in crisis times especially, because we need the hope that death is not the last word, and that God’s new life emerges, that God makes all things new. 

    When I was young, my faith in God was more centered in what comes after our human life, which we called going to heaven.  Our hopes were very future- oriented; we struggled along here on earth until we finally got to go to heaven.  Yes, we were saved here, and tried to live for God here; but the emphasis was on getting to go to heaven where we would have new life. 

    At some point, reading passages like we just read from the letter to Christians at Colosee, I realized that according to Scripture, we who believe are walking in the realm of God even now; we have stepped into Jesus’ kingdom, we are already beginning our eternal life, and we are already raised to a new life in Christ.  We have begun our new, resurrected life even while we continue to live here.  I’d always assumed that when I got to heaven, obeying and following Christ would be simple - my whole nature would be changed and it wouldn’t be any problem to be perfect. 

    But when we realize that our new resurrected life with Jesus has begun, it’s still a learning and a struggle to change our mindset to that of Christ; we still have to set aside the world-view we’ve had here, and ask the Spirit of God to help us seek that new world-view that Jesus taught.   The writer to the Colossian believers tells them, “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. ” And in the next sentence, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, ³for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”   And a little later, “you have stripped off the old self with its practices ¹⁰and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. ¹¹In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!”

     It sounds to me like we are to work on thinking into this new way of being, learning to live in this new way, even now!  Assume that we are being renewed right now, trust that God is even now clothing us with  new life.  We are being transformed even now, as we open ourselves to God and seek to follow Christ. 

    It takes consciousness of this process, friends, to join in God’s work in ourselves;  it takes walking in prayer; it takes a willingness and an effort to let God’s Spirit move in us and “put on” this new life.  It takes a willingness and a sensitivity to scripture, and the still small voice inside us - to listen and to heed it.  Because the miracle is going on even now.

    It may well be that our area here will see more deaths, and the virus may hit some of our friends and family with its worst aspects.  All the numbers are still going up - the # confirmed cases, the # recoveries and the # deaths.  We may be having some serious thoughts about death and dying, as the stories abound in the news.  We may be praying for God to spare our own loved ones - of course that’s our hope.  We may or may not be spared this virus - we don’t know.  Even as believers, we are still among the human population, and mortal.  Yet as believers, our new life has already started, and we belong to God in life and in death - nothing can separate us from the love of God.  Presbyterians call the funeral service, “A Witness to the Resurrection” of the person.  Not that we expect folks to not grieve the loss and the change in life without the presence of our loved ones - but that we affirm our faith, even in the face of death, that death is not the last word - New life is.  And not that we know what that necessarily looks like - we do, however, know that nothing can separate us from the love and life  of God, and we are in God’s hands eternally. 

   Well, that’s a rather sober Easter message!  It’s a rather deeply faithful teaching of the Easter message, however.  Let’s not be simplistic and trite about the power of God’s life triumphing over the power of death.  Let’s not be sentimental about cute baby bunnies and chicks - and weirdly, baby goats seem to be all over facebook...and baby platypus and baby opossums…. Death is an awful power, and fear of death bothers us at a deep level.  Affirming the power of God and the power of Life is no small affirmation of hope. 

    I hope we hear the challenge of this Easter message in a different way this year, and determine to seek the things that are above,  set our minds on the teachings of Jesus and the call of God, and clothe ourselves with the renewal of life in God.  AMEN.

PRAYER

CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER  (Be ready to partake together when indicated.)

USE  POWER POINT

Invitation

The Resurrection has begun! The Day of Celebration is here!

Alleluia!

We gather at the table to share in the Banquet of Life!

Here we meet all who share with us the hope for a brighter future!

All who wish to follow The Way of Life are welcome to eat and drink at God's table.

Let us eat together.

Thanksgiving

Christ is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

We should give thanks!

Thanks and praise to the One who brings life!

Gracious God, we raise voices hoarse from shouting alleluias,

we sing praises for the wonder of an empty tomb,

we give thanks for the gifts of life, of life that breaks the bonds of death.

We sing songs of praise for the world you have given us, for the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies.

As the spring deepens and the earth thaws, as green breaks through the brown of winter,

we sing songs of hope for new life springing from dead soil, for the promise held in every seed that is sown.

As people of faith we remember all those who have gone before.

People like Moses and Miriam, leading their people to freedom; like Sarah and Abraham, seeking a new life in a strange land; like Peter and Mary, proclaiming an empty tomb and life beyond the cross.

We remember these and many others, named and unnamed, who have embraced Your life, Your hope, and moved into a new age.

And we trust that in remembering and retelling their stories, we too can take the leap into New Life.

Deep among all those memories we remember the life of a Special One.

Jesus, Child of Mary.

Born of a woman, he grew to adulthood among people who struggled daily for life.

Baptized by John, he embraced the life to which You called him.

He taught and preached a vision of a world where all divisions were broken down, where all had what they needed for abundant life, where the Reign of God was as real on earth as in heaven.

And though the powerful in his world fought back, he stood strong.

When offered a chance to take the easy way he overcame his own fear and instead prayed “yet Thy will be done”.

Even though they put him to death you raised him to life, vindicating his vision and bringing hope and healing to the world.

As inheritors of that hope we join together in the cries the welcomed him into Jerusalem, the cries of hope for the world:

Hosanna! Hosanna! Holy One!

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!

Remembering

As we gather at this table we remember a story told mere days ago

and yet also an age ago

We remember that Jesus gathered with his closest friends in an Upper Room to share the feast of liberation

And while sharing the ancient story of freedom, he called them to remember the promised freedom of God's Kingdom.

We remember that at that table he took the bread, gave thanks for it, blessed it, broke it and passed it among them saying:

This is my body, broken by and for the world. Whenever you eat it remember me.

Then later he took the cup of wine, blessed it and passed it among them saying:

This is the cup of the New Covenant, sealed in my blood. Whenever you drink it remember me, and look toward the fulfilment of God's Kingdom.

And so we break the bread and pour the cup and we remember with hope.

On this Easter Day we share in the Banquet of Freedom to celebrate Life Victorious!

Transforming

God of Life, in the beginning your Spirit hovered over the water, calling forth life, creating and inspiring.

Send Your Spirit upon we who gather to share this meal, infuse this bread and this juice with the Spirit's power,

As we eat and drink my we feel the power of Life Triumphant pulse in our veins, the fire of hope blaze in our hearts, and the joy of the Empty tomb dance in our souls.

Christ who died is now alive!

Alleluia! Amen.

And so, as children of a loving Parent, we pray together the words that Jesus, the Risen Christ, taught his friends

Our Father, who art in heaven...

Breaking and Pouring

Here at this table we break the Bread of Life

On this Day of Celebration we pour the Cup of Promise

These are Gifts from God for the People of God

Thanks be to God

Come and eat, for all is now ready.

Closing

We have eaten, we have drunk, we have embraced the beginning of the new age.

Grant, O God, that we who have gathered together on this Day of Resurrection, will move on as people of hope, people of life, people of the Kingdom.

May the meal we have shared today revive us in body and soul and energize us as we go out to share the Good News. Christ is Risen! Death is Defeated! Life Wins! Alleluia and Amen!

LITANY OF BLESSING

Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us a little child one of us, flesh and blood to share in our humanity -                   

For God so loved the world That all might have eternal life

Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as carpenter and yet in whose creative hands a world was fashioned -           

For God so loved the world That all might have eternal life

Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as fisherman and yet pointed to a harvest that was yet to come -                 

 For God so loved the world That all might have eternal life

Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as teacher and opened eyes to truths that only the poor could understand –

For God so loved the world That all might have eternal life

Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as healer and opened hearts to the reality of wholeness -                            

For God so loved the world That all might have eternal life

Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as prophet, priest and king and yet humbled himself to take our place upon the cross –

For God so loved the world That all might have eternal life

Blest are you, Lord Jesus who came to us as servant and revealed to us the extent of his Father's love for human kind –

For God so loved the world That all might have eternal life

Blest are you, Lord Jesus, who rose from the ignominy of a sinner's death to the triumph of a Savior's resurrection -    

For God so loved the world That all might have eternal life

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son for the sake of me and you and other sinners too -     

God so loved the world. Blest are you Lord Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer.

BLESSING

Maundy Thursday online April 9

Jamesville Community Church online service

Service for Maundy Thursday  4/9/2020

Before worship:

            Gather a bowl of water for handwashing, and cloths to dry on

            Make placemats for each person for the supper.

Have a nice loaf of bread…maybe homemade????

            Have a cup of juice or wine for each person

           Have your candle to light at the start of worship.

            REMEMBER to read the passion Scriptures tomorrow, Good Friday.

CALL TO WORSHIP  (Please read the bold print aloud at home)

This night we join a solemn journey of three days that has changed the world and our own lives. Followers of Jesus have been taking this journey since his first followers took it, long ago.

This is the night of God’s love poured out, Jesus’ love poured out. (pause)

A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.

This is a night of love. (pause)

On this night Jesus took a towel and basin, and washed his disciples' feet. On this night he told them to do the same for others to show their love for him and for one another. 

This is the night of love.(pause)

On this night, Jesus broke bread and shared wine with his followers for the last time, and invited them to remember him, to encounter him anew, whenever they did the same. 

This is the night of love. (pause)

This is the night of love. And so, on this night, we welcome all here: we welcome all who have wandered, all who have betrayed, all who have not lived up to expectations, all who are still learning, all who need God’s love.  We join us in hearing and remembering and  obeying the new commandment Jesus gave us, and we feast at this table as Jesus commanded us, in love.

PRAYER

Messiah I come, brought to my knees by astonishing grace. In the presence of such humility from one so great, what can I do but kneel and praise?

 

Messiah I come, challenged to bow to the King who kneels. I want to pour out mercy and bring tender healing, But I am proud, judgmental, and self-absorbed and you are the only one who can lead me to first-becoming-last greatness.

 

I would wash and serve, wash and love, like you do. But first Lord Jesus, wash my feet, cleanse my heart ‘till I am – like you – humble and ready on my knees.

 

~ in “Daily Meditations and Response prayers for Holy Week” by Nigel Varndell. Copyright © 2011 Nigel Varndell (Meditations) and 2012 www.thesanctuarycentre.org/whereworldandworshipmeet.  Posted on the Sanctuary Centre website.  http://www.thesanctuarycentre.org/

 

 

SCRIPTURE   John 13:1-17   (Pastor Becky reads)

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper ³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, ⁴got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” ⁷Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” ⁸Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” ¹¹For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” ¹²After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? ¹³You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. ¹⁴So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. ¹⁶Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. ¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

MEDITATION

    At this point in Holy Week, Jesus has not yet been betrayed and turned over to the government and religious officials. After riding the donkey into Jerusalem, Jesus has gathered with his disciples in an upper room of a local house, to celebrate the seder meal, according to at least one of the gospel writers.  Before they eat that special meal that remembers how the Hebrew people were saved and brought out from Egypt & slavery,  Jesus acts the part of the host, washing the feet of guests, who have come inside from outside in the dirty streets.  We might remember here the woman who washed Jesus’ feet at another meal, when the host had neglected his duty. 

     Once again, Jesus uses the physical occasion to reveal spiritual truths.  Once again Jesus emphasises the humble nature of being the Messiah, like he did by riding on a donkey coming into Jerusalem. Taking the duties of a servant, the very Anointed One of God kneels before the disciples and washes their dusty feet.  He serves them as a servant, and tells them that this is an example - they are to serve one another even in the most humble of ways.  Later as he hosts the seder meal, he gives that famous new commandment - mandatum novum -  that we are to love one another as he loved us; as God has loved us.  Love and service, service and love, one to another.  

     By the by, I am surprised that footwashing has not come down through the centuries as a sacrament, like communion and baptism.  Jesus clearly does it and commands we do it, which are used as reasons for our other protestant sacraments.  I think it was spiritualized into Confession, which observant believers had to do before partaking in communion, in the Roman tradition. And because people were weird about naked feet.  If you’ve ever participated in a foot-washing, it is a physically humbling experience.  Of course, its spiritual meaning IS that of being washed by God, washed of our sins - but I could argue that Holy Communion and Baptism also have spiritual meanings yet are carried out physically.  Think about it!

     We are washing our hands tonight, which becomes poignant in this time of covid 19 and the washing hands we do all the time right now.  We do it now because we may have picked up the virus on our hands while out in the world, or may have touched things infected persons have touched.  That translates very well into a spiritual equivalent of how easily we pick up sin when we are out in the world, when we deal with matters set in motion by others who don’t have the same love for one another or God as we do.  There’s a song by an acapella group that asks, “Are My Hands Clean?”  It’s about tracing the path of our clothing from the underpaid folks who harvest the fibers, the badly treated workers who make of the fabric, the assembly-line conditions of those who cut of the fabric and sew the clothing - all done by poorly paid workers in slave conditions, just so we can buy it on sale at a discount store.  Indeed, it’s hard to live in this world and have our hands clean.  Our investments, shrinking as they are right now, are most likely in companies that exploit workers, too, to make another buck for the owners and stockholders.  Many large  companies practice less than ethical ways of business in other ways, too.  And we depend on them for our retirements.  It’s almost impossible to live our sheltered and protected lives as part of the privileged race of white americans without getting our hands dirty.  We are always in need of being washed from being out in the world, even before we get to our own acts of disobedience and sin. 

    Later in the story of Christ’s conviction and being delivered over to death, the governor Pontius Pilate will “wash his hands” in another way, symbolizing his desire to be free and clean from Jesus’ death, to not take responsibility.  Of course he is responsible, as we all are - and just an outward washing of hands without the inner acknowledgement of sin and guilt, is meaningless.  So this night, let us wash with understanding, and wash with the true intent to be washed by our Savior Jesus the Christ, and to in turn love and serve one another. 

    Then we will once again partake of that meal, that holy and sacred meal of communion, that reminds us yet again of Jesus’ sacrifice and service to us; a meal where Jesus is the host, and actually becomes the host himself as he serves us his very self.  This is a meal that speaks to us of how God has given God’s all to us and for us; and all for love. All we see and have,  all of creation, all of the gifts of life; all from God.  This meal reminds us that every meal we eat is holy as it comes from this blessed creation as a gift from God.   From the very presence of food that feeds us with its life , up to and including the very gift of Jesus’ life that gives us eternal life and feeds our soul and spirit, we partake of the bread and drink as did Jesus and the disciples on that night of the New Commandment - the new mandate that connects love …..  with service.  In John’s telling of this supper is where Jesus says the words, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”  (Jn 13;34)  That’s how this night got its name - the new mandate, mandatum in Latin...the new commandment.  This night of the Lord’s Last Supper is named for the new commandment, to love one another as God loves, and to serve as Jesus serves.         AMEN

 

WASHING OF HANDS    (Let each person wash their hands in the bowl and dry them.)

We begin by washing, as we were washed in our baptism. We cleanse our hands as we were cleansed in the waters of new birth. We do this not because we are afraid, but because we were commanded to love: and to cleanse our hands, and gather in spirit, is how we love the vulnerable, whom Jesus loved. May we be instruments of love. May the sacrifices we make be for the good of our human family near and far.

SCRIPTURE        Matthew 26:26-30    (Pastor Becky reads)

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” ²⁷Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; ²⁸for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” ³⁰When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER  

(Please serve each other at the time when you are invited to partake.)

This is the night of love. And this is the table of love. At this table, Christ, who loves us, is with us.   Christ is with us, and we are with Christ. We belong to God.

And so we pray: We are yours, all yours, blessed Triune God, all our lives, all our thanks, all our praise, all our fears, all our grumbling, all our hesitations, all our loves, all our joys, all our passions, we give them all to you, with bodies, and minds and voices. Yours, all yours!

What are we that you should notice us? What are we that you should love us? What are we what you should call us into covenant with you, a covenant we continually broke and you continuously sustained?  Mercy! How full of mercy you are!

How can we but praise you, joining our voices with the song of angels and saints, seraphim and martyrs, strangers and family in every generation:

You are holy, O God! You are worthy, O Christ! Worthy in your birth! Worthy in your living! Worthy in your loving! Worthy in your serving!  Worthy as you preached God’s kingdom, healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, gave sight to the blind, fed the hungry, and loved us all.

Worthy the night you took a towel and basin, washed your disciples' feet, and taught them to do likewise.

Worthy too, the same night we betrayed you, when you took the bread, blessed it and broke it,

and gave it to your disciples. Worthy when you told them, "This is my body broken for you. Remember me."  (BREAK BREAD)

Worthy when you took the cup, praised God and shared it, and worthy when you said, "This is my blood of the new covenant for you. Remember me."  POUR CUP

We remember, and we praise you with our lives and these gifts of bread and wine, proclaiming with one voice the mystery of faith:

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Come upon us, Holy Spirit.

Come upon these gifts.

Make them be for us Christ's body, Christ's blood.

Make us one body in Christ enlivened in love by his blood.

Even so, come and fill this feast, Holy Spirit, on this night, and every night until we eat it new at the marriage supper of the Lamb!

All blessing, honor, glory and power be yours, Holy Triune God, now and forever. Amen!

Let us partake of the bread and the cup. 

Thank you, God, for uniting us with Jesus in this holy mystery. We are no longer our own, but yours. So send us, and put us to leading and serving, loving as you have loved us wherever we go. Amen.

SENDING  PRAYER    (Please read aloud the bold printed lines)

Lord God, our Heavenly Father and Helper, open our ears that we may hear you as clearly as Isaiah did. Teach us to listen more intently to your Word than we do to the sounds of the world. When we hear, may we obey and rejoice with those who sang you into Jerusalem.             We trust in you O LORD:         You are our God.

Lord Jesus Christ, you emptied yourself for us. You set aside the glories of heaven and came to earth as the only Son of God. You were obedient unto death, even death on a cross. We confess that you are our Lord, the glory of God the Father.

We trust in you O LORD:         You are our God.

Holy Spirit, even as you were with Christ at His trial, be with us in our trials that we may not fear the forces of this world that can only inflict death. You remembered whose you were. You are the resurrection and the life.     We trust in you O LORD:     You are our God.

Lord Jesus Christ when we cry out in joy, hear our song as a song of thanksgiving. When we cry out in despair, remind us to commit our cause and our spirit into your hands.

We trust in you O LORD:          You are our God.

On this Thursday of the Passion, remember the suffering of those among us who need to know your love for them surpasses all human understanding: Kurt and Patty’s family, especially her parents,    _______.

We trust in you O LORD:                     You are our God.

Though we remember we are dust and to dust we shall return, we remember that we are your precious dust. Amen

(Blow your candle out.  There is no benediction, as the service continues until Sunday morning)

Expectations Palm Sunday online April 5

4/5/20  Palm Sunday - online service

PALM SUNDAY  

     Have a candle to light on the table or near you at the start of worship  

     Gather something green to wave from outside OR make your own!!!

CALL TO WORSHIP    (Read the bold print together)

We come to prepare for the holiest of weeks. 
We will journey through praise, with joy on our lips; we will travel through betrayal and death, cradling hope deep in our hearts
Jesus leads us through this week, and we will follow, for he is the life we long for, he is the Word who sustains us.
We wave palm branches in anticipation, we lay our love before him, to cushion his walk.
Setting aside all power, glory, and might, Jesus comes: modeling humility and obedience for all of us.
Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the One who brings us the kingdom of God.

(Wave our palm branches and say “Hosanna! Hosanna!” as much as you want!)

CENTERING PRAYER  (Read together with Pastor Becky)

World leaders enter the gates with a parade of force and power; but you, who are the creator of all that is, enters on an ass.  World leaders are preceded by a show of troops and armaments; but you, who are the savior of the world, are preceded by branches of trees and cast off clothing. World leaders are greeted with shouts of domination and nationalistic pride; but you, who are the Ruler of the universe, are greeted with cries for salvation. World leaders are feared for their power; we greet you, O God, with the love of our hearts. 

Scripture     Matthew 21:1-11  

        (Be ready to wave your palms again at the right place – its underlined)

21When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” ⁴This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, ⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” ⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; ⁷they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. ⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” ¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” ¹¹The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Children’s Time Reflection – talk with each other and/or type in some answers on your screen.

Imagine you are there in that crowd (and not having to stay home):

What might you See?   Smell?  Hear?             How might you feel – Excited?  Scared?

SERMON

As I thought about what the Scripture of Jesus’ Triumphal entry into Jerusalem might say to us in our context and time, and prayed for the Spirit to guide me, the word “expectations” came to me.  That’s usually the way the Spirit works with me - nudges, or something “coming to me” after I’ve actually remembered to ask….or some times the Spirit grabs me kicking and screaming, because sometimes I’m just slow on the uptake.  This time, thankfully, the word “expectations” just floated into my thinking about this Scripture.  

My daughter, at the younger ages of 4,5,6,7,8 - several years in there - wanted to throw big parties for her birthday.  And every year she ended up crying in her room because it wasn’t turning out like she expected and wanted.  She got SO excited, inviting friends, planning decorations and games and food!  I don’t know exactly what would go wrong - maybe somebody was late, or in a mood, or didn’t have the party spirit, or tried to take over the game or make other rules - kids get to feeling their oats sometimes, personalities rub….my daughter has a personality that likes details, which makes her a careful artist and a good planner - and has had to learn how to cope with the ebb and flow of how people actually are in person.  Hmmmm...wonder where she got that trait!  It took her a few year’s worth of parties to learn to just let it go and enjoy it in the present.  Her expectations, so specific in her mind, had to make allowance for the unexpected.

Isn’t that human?  As we go through life, don’t we all have expectations that aren’t met?  We have certain expectations of a boyfriend or girlfriend, then have to learn to know the actual real person.  Often they’re not a bad person, just different from our expectations - or they had different expectations of us! (Other times, they really are not a good fit…)  we have expectations of our spouses - how a marriage will be, what the partner is “supposed” do, how they are “supposed” to treat me.   Premarital counseling can help us start to think about these things, although it’s the living together that really tests it. 

We have expectations of what churches are supposed to be like, and what members are supposed to take on.  We have expectations of what a minister is supposed to be like - and ministers have their expectations of what their congregation is supposed to be like, too!  At least when the minister is younger, before she learns...we have certain expectations of what our government leaders are supposed to be like, especially based on their campaign promises, which we actually need to learn are just ways to get votes and get elected - what they are able to do depends a lot on many, many other factors.  Of course, there are some standards that do need to be met, and job responsibilities outlined in contracts and agreements that are to be met and maintained.  We have lots more secret expectations, though, personal expectation, hopes and longings we want fulfilled.  These are the expectations I’m talking about. 

When our expectations aren’t met, we get angry, or disappointed, which can easily turn into anger.  We want out - this wasn’t what we bargained for.  Sometimes we make do, and settle for what there is, and work with it.  Sometimes the disappointments and angers are too basic, too bottom line, to bear.  Sometimes we leave, and sometimes we are left. 

Expectations of Jesus are part of what explains the wild mood swing of Holy Week to me - the change in the crowds around Jesus from Palm Sunday to Good Friday.  Christian theologians have gone back in the Jewish Scriptures and found places that support the idea of a different kind of Messiah, a different kind of savior.  I don’t think those were obvious - the more obvious portrait of a Deliverer blessed by God is of one who, through faithfulness, beat the enemy, restored the tribe to leadership and land, and was a success militarily. Wisdom and faithfulness to God are in there, yes; but the idea of a wounded healer has never been popular or in the forefront of expectation - except for martyr’s, I guess.  And martyrs are not really “winners” in a worldly sense, especially while they are living. 

A commentator who has studied 1st century culture in Jerusalem notes that when important and successful civil leaders came into town, they came on pure white stallions with lots of color and gold and ceremony, with cheering crowds and flanks of soldiers marching before  them to show their power.  We’ve seen those kinds of parades on tv and movies - tanks and more tanks, soldiers all stepping in time with guns held firmly in place, flags flying, great ceremonial processions.

Contrast this with what we call Jesus’ triumphal entry - I think the name is rather tongue in cheek, myself.  He rides a donkey.  He maybe has his disciples with him.  He DOES have the cheering crowds, probably the poorer folks though. No red carpet - they throw their coats on the ground for him, though.  No waving flags - although they wave tree branches at him.  Evidently waving palms was a tradition at some Jewish feast days at other times of the year. 

Jesus is obviously contrasting himself to the worldly leadership, the military leadership, the governmental leadership, with their pomp and ceremonial bragging of greatness.  Yet I think the expectations and hopes placed on him had a more worldly tinge, then ----and even now. 

I mean, look at how we rate our churches - how big they are, how many programs they offer, how much money they take in, how skick their tv presence is….look at how we rate our clergy’s success - if she brings in lots of new people, if he is asked to pray at local festivities, if he builds a bigger building, if she is published in major religious magazines and asked to speak at large gatherings.

Look at the way we get mad at God if our wants are thwarted, as if God failed us.  We’re really no different from the folks in 1st century Jerusalem, are we?  People say God didn’t save my sister - so I quit church.  I hear the hurt at the loss, I hear the grief there - I don’t deny that.  I don’t deny the feeling that God didn’t turn out to be the kind of God the person hoped for, sparing their loss and doing what they asked.  The real loss is that they gave up on wrestling in prayer with their expectations of God, and haven’t yet worked through their false expectations. 

I hear people say that the church is full of hypocrites, and that they quit. Yes, the church is full of humans who have faults - we are all (hopefully) still learning and growing and becoming better people.  The expectation that all church folks would be perfect 100% of the time and respond perfectly 100% of the time is a false expectation. 

And as we are not 100% perfectly developed as Christ-followers, we are going to have unhelpful ideas of God - we are not going to understand the whys and hows of God working with humanity and the world.  The challenge is whether we fall away, yell “crucify him” and be ruled by our false expectations and hopes - of if we enter into that wrestling in prayer, bring to God our feelings of hopes betrayed, and seek to push through to a new understanding.  God has not changed -God’s nature is love and life and salvation for the world.  God is there for us, always has been, always will be.  Sometimes it's us that have it wrong....  And it’s difficult to let go of those hopes and expectations to see what is true. 

So when we remember and share in the greeting of our Savior Jesus, Jesus the Christ of God, who it is that we are greeting.  We are greeting the Sent One, the Anointed One, who takes away the sin of the world - and who is misunderstood, reviled, betrayed and killed - and who is then vindicated by being raised from the dead as the first of a new humanity.  Jesus is not a world ruler like the rulers we see around us.  Jesus did not start a new nation and establish himself as Dictator For Life, as Calvin and Hobbes used to joke.  Jesus was not a Rock Star. 

But Jesus is the savior of the world.  AMEN. 

GIVING     

Please continue your practice of giving during this time.  We are checking the mail for written checks, recording, and depositing them as usual.  There is also a button in the BREEZE dashboard now that says “GIVE NOW.”  All it takes is your bank’s routing number and your account number (these are protected), and an offering is done electronically.  Our treasurer Rob Shallish can also help to set up an automatic withdrawal if you wish. 

PRAYER   (You may type prayer requests on your screen, or send them ahead of time to

            Pastor Becky by text or email.)

(Silence)

Pastoral Prayer   and Lord’s Prayer (say in your house with Pastor Becky)

CLOSING BLESSING    (Wave those branches again!!!)

Blessed are you, Holy God, for in Jesus Christ you came to rule in our lives, not as a king, but as a humble servant, riding on a donkey. Enter into our hearts this day with your glory, that we may greet you with shouts of praise; through Christ, our Sovereign and Savior