Summary: For many churches, today is not only Palm Sunday but Passion Sunday as well. Although I am certainly no expert on liturgical history, I do know that if people attend church, most people only attend church on Sundays. Even on weeks such as the one we enter, the holiest of weeks, most people will only attend worship services today and next Sunday. So, I agree that the experience of those who only worship on Sundays is enhanced and deepened by hearing the passion story today, before we hear the resurrection story next week. Yet for me, I believe we lose an incredibly valuable moment if we do not focus on the palm part of this Sunday. Most preachers will be preaching on the incredibly rich passion story today, but back in Dallas at my home parish of Saint Michael and All Angels, we will be celebrating Palm Sunday alone, with the all festivities of a real, glorious, sacred parade. We will save the blessed story of Jesus' passion for Holy Week. So, today I'll be focusing on the story we just heard - the story of the palms - and I'll just trust that you will go to church at least once more this week. To begin, I want to put this story into context, not only the biblical story of Jesus' life, but in the importance of this moment to early Christ-followers. The story of the palm procession that we just heard is one of the only stories of Jesus that can be found in all four gospels. That fact alone should perk us up, calling our attention to the important nature of this story.
