Yesterday was the first Palm Sunday service that I had ever attended. Suffice to say, it was powerful. The basic narrative that takes place is that the people celebrated when Jesus first arrived in Jerusalem with Palms. This is the reason that the congregation members are all given palms before service began. There is also the singing of "Hosannah" recreating the events in the story again.
I went to the service with my girlfriend, and we sat with one of our friends who had planned visiting the Newman Center that day as well.
The psalm sung was "LORD, why have you forsaken me?" Echoing the same psalm the writers of some of the Testaments had Jesus express on the cross. It was powerful, and it was around this time, I was left with that question...especially as the prayers were made for those who believe in eternal life with God, the Catholic Church, the believers who were sick, and those who had died.
I found myself praying for everyone left out (or at least not named specifically). Those who are insane, those who have been hurt by the Church (in the universal sense of the word of any Christian Church) and understandably probably won't be worshiping Jesus, the suicide victims, the persecuted those without hope...that I hope a loving God, if one does exist, will bring those people to It, even without their personally expressing devotion to it.
My girlfriend shared a sermon yesterday that echoed my prayer (and probably influenced it), I highly recommend you read it:
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/04/17/a-sermon-for-passion-week
The sermon was a reading of the Passion story in the Gospel of Matthew. The Priest played the role of Jesus, speakers played the role of Judas and the Pharisee, and the congregation played the people calling for Jesus's blood.
The story shows the danger of the mob and how easy it is for people with power to disenfranchise those already without power...like the kids who were bullied to death. It reminds us to think, and to be aware. How quickly do we rush to judge others? What do happens to those who have been judged before their story is told? In some instances, they become a nameless statistic. Other times the community they needed then talks, other times...they're forgotten names on the streets.
It ended with the Priest expressing how changeable the human heart is, and how he's grateful that Jesus paid for our sins with his work, rather then us paying for it with our work and action. His vestments were red, symbolic of the passion and blood sacrifice for God on the cross...
One of the parts of Christianity that always made me see God as not wholly good was this idea of blood sacrifice. The basic deal of life being sacred (and therefore cherished) seemed contradictory towards the ending of life through sacrifice (usually young animals, or in the case of Jesus as the story goes, an innocent man). The reason given is that it was to fulfill prophecy. Prophecy is essentially God laying down what the future will be as He intended it...therefore it was in his power to give different prophecies and not have anun-virtuous act (murder) committed to appease him.
This doesn't change the power of the story though. Suffering is an essential part of being human, and much of that suffering comes from what humans do to each other...from how we are not good to one another. Like the kid who was bullied to death and felt alone and isolated...how can we ease others suffering? How can we prevent persecution from happening in the first place? How can we act with goodness that Jesus acted with in many of the stories in the Testaments? How can we help others find peace in the struggle of existence?
This Holy Week and onward...I hope I can give some good answers to those questions. For now, I'll end the post with these questions.
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