Palm Sunday

(Triumphant Entry-Lift High the Lord Processional by Catbird SC)

Today is Palm Sunday. Do you know what that is?  Click here to read why I think we could also call it Cloak Sunday and here to read about a gentle donkey kind of King.

Palm Sunday is all about Jesus. It carries a lot of significance for Christians, marking the beginning of Holy Week. It is all about remembering something that happened a long, long time ago.

Near the end of Jesus' life on Earth, he and his apostles returned to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Passover is a Jewish celebration. That makes sense because Jesus was Jewish. It is something done in remembrance of God saving the Jewish People from slavery. That event occurred many generations before Jesus lived on Earth. In fact, it is still celebrated even today.

So, as I said, Jesus and his disciples (special followers who helped with his ministry) were coming back to Jerusalem for the Passover. When they entered, it was like a glorious parade, all in honor of Jesus. One of the things his fans (followers) did was to lay palm leaves on the road for him. Even though he was being treated like a rock star, he entered on a donkey in a very humble manner. Here, I'll let you read an account from the Book of Matthew...

Matthew 21:1-11

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

⁵ “Say to Daughter Zion,
    ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”^[a]

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. ⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna^[b] to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”^[c]

“Hosanna^[d] in the highest heaven!”

¹⁰ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

¹¹ The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

So, we begin Holy Week on a high note. Next Sunday will be Easter, my favorite of all holidays. In between, though, we will travel some pretty hard days following Jesus' path to the cross. I will try to explain it as we go along as I know not everyone has heard these stories. They have had a powerful impact on my life, though, and I'd like to share them.

Christ our Savior is Born

 

Silent night, holy night
All is calm and all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from Heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing halleluia
Christ the savior is born
Christ our savior is born

Silent night, holy night
Son of God
Love's pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus Lord at thy birth
Jesus Lord at thy birth

Halleluia!
Halleluia!
Halleluia!

Christ the Savior is born

Merry Christmas, My Friends.

Let's Make a New Holiday - Santamas!

I have a GREAT idea!  Let's advocate for a new holiday and let's call it Santamas!  We can make it be about a chubby guy in a red suit that has reindeer to help him fly all around the world, delivering presents.  He can only deliver presents to children who earn them through their good behavior.

It will be FUN!  We can say that he slides down our chimneys.  Maybe we can make up that he has elves to help him make toys for children!  He can live far, far away... how about the North Pole?  He can be all about candy canes and we can focus on getting lots and lots of presents from him!

This new holiday can be appropriate for everyone as it will be quite secular.  We'll be able sing about Santa in our schools!  It will be so cool! We can make it clear that it is just for fun; that the story is just a story, loosely based on nice man who lived and died long ago.

THEN...

Let's celebrate another holiday, called Christmas!  We can focus it on Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God!  We can read about his birth from the Bible, including reading that his birth was prophesied centuries before it occurred.  We can imagine how it was for his mother, Mary, when she found out she was going to be mother to God's Son, and that her son would be The Savior. We can talk about multitudes of angels declaring his birth! It will be so exciting! Imagine the glorious songs we can sing in our churches, homes and even out caroling to shut-ins. Doesn't it just give you goose-bumps?

We can let our children know that it is a real story.

The story will be about giving, rather than getting.

It will be a story of joy and peace and hope.  

It will be just what the world needs.

It will be all about HIM.

It will be holy.

Ss

 Continuing with The ABC's of Bible Memorization...

2 Corinthians 5:17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies

Christ, whose glory fills the skies,

Christ, the true and only light,

Sun of righteousness, arise,

Triumph o'er the shades of night;

Dayspring from on high, be near;

Day-star, in my heart appear.

Dark and cheerless is the morn

Unaccompanied by thee;

Joyless is the day's return,

Till thy mercy's beams I see,

Till they inward light impart,

Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

Visit then this soul of mine,

Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;

Fill me, radiancy divine,

Scatter all my unbelief;

More and more thyself display,

Shining to the perfect day.

Text: Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

Tune: J.G. Werner, Choral-Buch, 1815



Question From an Opera Singer

I hope by now you've all gone to http://www.thenuttersisters.com/ to meet some of my new Twitter friends.  I follow their blog and am very entertained by it.

Another friend I met on Twitter is a young woman living in Madrid, Spain.  She studies microbiology AND she sings opera.  I've known people who've studied microbiology before, in fact I took one microbiology class myself and the instructor was one of my best friends.   But I've never known an opera singer!  I can't wait until her CD is ready.  I'll buy it and when I play it I'll just casually brag, "Yea, that's my friend the opera singer."

At one point, through our conversations, my new friend asked me if I was a believer.  Of course I answered "yes" I am a believer.  It was a simple question and a simple answer was all that was needed.  On Twitter, simple answers are a necessity since you only get to write 140 characters or less at a time.

I kept thinking about her question, though, and realized I couldn't remember anyone ever asking me that before.  Maybe some don't ask because they don't really care.  Maybe others don't ask because I wear a cross so often, it is pretty obvious.  I suppose being married to a pastor also leads to the assumption that I am a believer. 

This train of thought made me think about early Christians who had to fear for their lives if they were identified as believers.  Think back to Peter, fearing for his life and denying he was a believer after Jesus was taken captive.  Later, Christians were killed in a variety of horrible ways, just for being believers.  There are places on this Earth where people are still tortured or killed just for being Christians.

I remember hearing a story about the Christian fish symbol.  I don't even know if the story is true but I've remembered it for many years so I'm going to share it.  What I was told was that in the early years of the church, when two people met, one would casually draw one side of the fish symbol with their foot in the dirt.  If the other person was not a Christian they'd just see it as foot doodling.  If they were a Christian, they'd draw the second half.  In this way they'd both know they were safe to discuss their faith. 

I have a fish symbol necklace that Mike gave me more than 30 years ago. 

I also have that symbol on my Bible cover. 

Like I said, I don't know if that is true but I've liked the fish symbol more since I heard that tale.  It helps me remember those who've travelled this path before us.