Palm Sunday Programa recyclable svithe

.

I was asked to write the program for our Palm Sunday program today. This is not the final draft (I had inadvertenty left out an strings version of “I Believe in Christ” and was apparently way too long) but I think it’s my favorite version.

I’ve included the music, but these are obviously not recordings from today; they’re not even the identical arrangements. But they’ll do.

====================

BISHOPRIC:

The sacrament is our weekly reminder of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, of his atoning sacrifice and our salvation. today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, which closes with these great crises and conclusions. VOICE-ONE and VOICE-TWO will now guide us through the remainder of our program.

VOICE-ONE:

We come here each week to remember. We come here and someone we love kneels upon the ground and prays:

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that we may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that we are willing to take upon ourselves the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he has given us, that we may always have his Spirit to be with us.

And we do partake of that bread. And we do remember him. And we do accept his Spirit to be with us.

And then someone kneels to pray:

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee, in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this water to the souls of all those who drink of it, that we may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for us; that we may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that we do always remember him, that we may have his Spirit to be with us.

And we drink of that water. And we do remember him. And we do accept his Spirit to be with us.

And this is something we have done, more or less with all our soul, more or less every week, more or less correctly, both as individuals and as Christians together, since he ascended into heaven.

No doubt, on that occasion, Jesus reminded his disciples of what he had taught them before:

The Father shall give you another Comforter to abide with you, forever, even the Spirit of truth. You know him—for he dwells with you.

And when I am gone, you shall know that I am in my Father—and that you are in me—and I am in you. I tell you the truth. I must go away—for you—because if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But when I depart, I will send him unto you.

Let’s travel backward, from the Spirit abiding with us today, to the ascension of Jesus and his message to his disciples as he left them with each other and with the Spirit.

Listen.

Listen as the choir sings:

If ye love me, keep my commandments,
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter,
That he may bide with you for ever,
Even the spirit of truth, even the spirit of truth— [PAUSE]
Even the spirit of truth.

[THE CHOIR SINGS “IF YE LOVE ME”]

 VOICE-TWO:

Stepping backward in time to the resurrected Christ, as he sat and broke bread with his disciples, as their doubts and confusions dissolved and they gloried in his holy presence, as the deeper meanings of his teachings became clear and they marveled at their salvation—how must they have rejoiced!

Jesus, the very thought of thee
With sweetness fills my breast,
But sweeter far thy face to see,
And in thy presence rest.

Nor voice can sing nor heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find
A sweeter sound than thy blest name
O Savior of mankind.

Jesus, our only joy be thou,
As thou our prize will be:
Jesus, be thou our glory now,
And through eternity.

[THE CHOIR SINGS “JESUS THE VERY THOUGHT OF THEE”]

VOICE-TWO:

Travelling further back to the numb hours of Jesus, the Messiah, dead, and buried.

The disciples—lost. In mourning. Their hearts aching with grief.

Had they not understood? Had they not heard him speak beautiful truths and promises of a glorious future? Where had it all gone wrong?

Their hearts were confused and filled with fear. Without Jesus, they were lost.

And, as that first voice sang of her discovery that no, no—he lived!, it took time for each heart to understand, to believe, to sing along.

Let us now stand together and join them in this moment of wonder and joy. Let us sing of our savior, newly risen.

Turn to Hymn #198 and let us sing of that Easter morn and of a grave that burst.

Let us sing of that man who has risen again and conquered pain.

Let us sing because this morn renews for us that morn when Jesus cast our bonds away, when he took living breath and conquered death.

Let us sing in gratitude and give our love and pledge our all.

Let us sing as we shed a grateful tear.

Let us sing as we conquer fear.

Let us sing.

[THE CONGREGATION SINGS “THAT EASTER MORN”]

VOICE-ONE:

Moving further backward in time, imagine the crowd that gathered around the dying god upon his splintery cross.

Some came to mock. Some came to mourn. Some came to plead. Some just enjoyed a good show.

The sky darkened. The earth shook.

The Roman centurion—a man just doing his job—assigned to keep guard with his men over what was no longer “just another execution,” was frightened by the chaos, and cried out, “Truly! [PAUSE] This was the Son of God!”

[PAUSE]

Others knew this already. They looked around at each other and knew this was a day of horror and disaster they would relive for the rest of their upended lives. There were men and women there. Surely, some of the children who loved him could not be kept from this scene. And no matter what age, they knew, from this day forward, they would ask each other,

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble.
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
It causes me to tremble—tremble—tremble.
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

But they soon would discover another question to ask of each other:

Were you there when He rose up from the dead?
Were you there when He rose up from the dead?
Oh! Sometimes I feel like shouting Glory! Glory! Glory!
Were you there when He rose up from the dead?

[THE CHOIR SINGS “WERE YOU THERE”]

 

VOICE-ONE:

Jesus would spend forty days with his disciples. He would explain what it all meant. He would send them on journeys around the world. He would task them with sharing his story through time as well, through the scriptures they would write.

Nicodemus was old at this time. Mark was young. There were children who knew with a purity that came from seeing their Savior with eyes unwrinkled, children who would grow up to carry his gospel even further.

The gospel will always be carried into the future by those who, today, are young.

As the Primary children come up to sing to us, consider the testimony they are about to share. They will remind us of when darkness veiled the sky on that day that Jesus died in agony upon the bitter cross. They’ll remind us of how, when they took His body down and laid it in a tomb, his friends believed that everything was lost. But then they will remind us, when the third day came, the darkness turned to light, for Mary heard her name, and she saw the living Christ.

He was risen—risen to set the captives free. That means you—that means me.

They will remind us that the world was forever changed when Jesus rose that day to bring us home again.

They will remind us to praise His holy name and to see the living Christ and to remember—He will come again.

They will mean it as they sing: “Alleluia, He lives.

They will mean it as they sing: “Alleluia, He is risen.”

They will mean it as they sing: ““Alleluia.”

[THE PRIMAY SINGS “RISEN”]

VOICE-TWO:

Let’s continue our journey backward through time.

Jesus is preaching. He is greeting those unused to love. He is touching eyes and healing wounds.

He is arriving unknown and asking his cousin for baptism to fulfil all righteousness. He is a youth, talking of God with authority. He is a child. He is a babe in a manger. He is watching his people before his birth, leading them through prophets who teach of an atonement to come. He is walking with the ancients and founding covenants to tie us all together into one family—his family. As we were, all, together before this earth. He was there as well, before the earth was, with all the noble and great ones.

We were all noble and great, more or less. The current Church statement tells us that “the doctrine of foreordination applies to all members of the Church, not just to the Savior and His prophets.”

Before the creation of the earth, we were.

But that wasn’t worth anything until Jesus stood and said, “Here I am. Send me.” And we followed.

O God, the Eternal Father, we thank thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, for bread and water, to remember his body and blood, and to take upon ourselves the name of your Son, whom we love and honor and always remember. We’re trying, Father, to always remember. We’re trying, Father, to keep his commandments. We’re grateful for the Comforter he sent us. We’re thankful for his atonement, which saves even us, every day.

We’re thankful this Easter, for the God of Easter, Our Savior Jesus Christ.

Christ the Lord is ris’n today
Alleluia!
Love’s redeeming work is done.
Alleluia!
Lives again our glorious King.
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Alleluia!

[THE CONGREGATION SINGS “CHRIST THE LORD IS RIS’N TODAY” with horns and organ]

 (benediction)

==============

previous svithe on thubstack and thutopia