Palm Sunday Procession and Liturgy
| March 28, 2010 | ||
| 10:00 am | to | 12:00 pm |
Please join us on Palm Sunday for a single 10:00 A.M. service, beginning with a procession from the Undercroft to the Nave.
Actually, the correct title of this first day of Holy Week is not “Palm Sunday”, but rather “The Sunday of the Passion.”
The central experience of all worship at Redeemer is communion with Christ and reappropriation of the redemptive power of God in and through receiving the consecrated bread and wine.
However, every liturgy has a thematic core. On this day, that core is the dramatic reading of the account of Our Lord’s passion and death from one of the Gospels; thus its actual title, Sunday of the Passion. We do this to “set the stage” and remind us of the events that we will commemorate during the rest of Holy Week.
It is the ancient custom of the church to begin important events and observances with a solemn procession from one location to another. On this day we begin Holy Week with just such a procession. This procession recalls Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem to begin the “mighty acts of salvation”, often called his Exodus (recalling the salvation journey of the Old Testament.)
During this procession we frequently hear the word “hosanna” sung and said. “Hosanna” is a Hebrew word which means, “Save us, we beseech you.” The word comes from the Gospel account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. It is a reminder that salvation comes to us from God through Christ, accompanied by the events of this last week of Christ’s life.
From the moment of our baptism onward, we have all become participants in the saving activity of God, making a journey into fuller experience of the Kingdom of God. The Palm Procession, Passion Gospel and reception of the consecrated bread and wine connect our personal spiritual journey with the events through which life and immortality have been given.