WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.040 Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:06.320 Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:07.919 Let us pray. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:19.039 Assist us mercifully with your help, O God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts whereby you've given us life and immortality. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:21.359 Through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:22.320 Amen. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:24.239 The Lord be with you. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:25.679 And with thy spirit. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:28.000 Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:30.480 It is deeply right so to do. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:38.159 It is right to praise you, Almighty God, for the acts of love by which you have redeemed us through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:48.159 On this day, he entered the holy city of Jerusalem in triumph and was proclaimed as King of kings by those who spread their garments and branches of palm along his way. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:01:04.239 So let these branches be for us signs of his victory, and grant that we who bear them in his name may ever hail him as our King and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life, who lives and reigns in glory with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:05.200 Amen. 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:11.120 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:27.519 Glory be to thee, O Lord. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:43.599 When they were approaching Jerusalem at Bethphage in Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:45.439 Untie it and bring it. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:48.400 If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this? 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:49.519 just say this. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:53.280 The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:58.000 They went away and found a colt tied near a door outside in the street. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:04.239 As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt? 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:07.920 They told them what Jesus had said, and they allowed them to take it. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:13.280 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their colt cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:19.360 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they'd cut in the fields. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:26.560 Then they who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:29.919 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David. 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:32.240 Hosanna in the highest heaven. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:35.360 Then Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:40.960 And when he looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany in the twelve. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:44.240 The Gospel of the Lord. 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:50.319 Please be seated. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:02.000 This is a little bit of an abnormal Palm Sunday, obviously. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:05.840 We're not having a procession from the hallway like we normally do. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:08.879 And I want to split what we talk about in two. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:17.120 In the 1976 prayer book, we usually call this the new prayer book, even though it is now 45 years old. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:27.680 The suggestion for Palm Sunday is that we conclude the day by reading the passion narrative, that is, the story of what happens on Friday and on Saturday and Sunday. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:36.960 That is because, according to the information I have anyway, that in 1976 people noticed a downward attendance in Holy Week services. 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:44.240 So the decision was because we don't expect people to come to church during Holy Week, we're going to give them the whole story on Sunday. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.280 I'm going to warn you, we will not be doing that this year. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:54.960 I'm going to send you the Passion story in an email today, both in text and read aloud. 00:03:55.280 --> 00:04:01.360 But today in this service, I want to talk about Palm Sunday and let it be its own thing. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:04.400 Do I expect you to come to church this week? 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:05.840 I hope you will. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:16.160 I hope you will take each day as it comes so you can enter into the story, because quite honestly, the people who showed up on Palm Sunday were not expecting what happened Friday. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:24.079 And if we ride ourselves out of their surprise, we'd ride ourselves out of the surprises of our own faith journey, come what may. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:26.000 So about Palm Sunday. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:30.240 Most of us don't realize that there were, in fact, two processions that day. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:37.920 The best book, if you'd like to read this on the subject, is called The Last Week by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossen. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:42.560 Here is a model of Jerusalem that exists in Jerusalem. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:44.000 It's a scale model. 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:48.000 You can see exactly how large it is by looking at the people in the back. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:57.920 And what you see is the temple here, which is the size of two and a half football fields, and it is absolutely dominated by something called the Antonio Fortress. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:10.720 On Palm Sunday, Jesus, he's off the screen up here on top of the Mount of Olives, rides down across the Kidron Valley and into this gate to the temple, which is called the Golden Gate. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:19.439 It was rarely used because there were no money changers here, and the temple was the Mall of the Americas of Jerusalem. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:22.639 Vendors were absolutely packed into this area. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:42.240 Most people entered the temple here on this side, and the money changers we hear about in the gospel were stationed here, so that appropriate non-idolatrous money, that is, money that did not bear the images of the Caesars, could be acquired for transactions and then changed back on your way out. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:47.439 So there was some messianic expectation to somebody coming in through the Golden Gate. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:49.600 Jesus comes in on a donkey. 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:58.800 We don't quite realize this, but if you know your scriptures, when King David conquers Jerusalem, he rides in it on a donkey. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:09.920 And sometimes we think, aha, a donkey is a strong military weapon, and it's important to hear that a donkey is of negative value in a military campaign. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:14.639 That is to say, a foot soldier is stronger than someone on a donkey. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:20.480 Donkeys are slow, they're stubborn, hence the nickname that they get. 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:24.000 Donkeys are not particularly spry or quick. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:32.319 Somebody with a sword or a spear on their feet is much more agile than someone on a donkey. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:39.120 What's important to hear is that when David rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, it's because it's already been conquered. 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:42.079 He's not riding into battle on the donkey. 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:47.600 He's showing the battle has been decisively won by getting on the beast. 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:54.079 Jesus gets on a donkey, and people expect him to take up arms. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:57.439 They give him the poor man's red carpet. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:00.000 They cut down palm branches. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:03.040 They're excited for what he might do. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:10.399 What we don't realize is that there's another procession that day that looked a lot more like the Nuremberg processions of Nazi Germany. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:26.000 That is to say, imagine a legion of Roman soldiers, which is in fact more than a thousand, marching in tandem, something like goose stepping, on horses, with standards, with red plumes. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.839 It turns out that Pontius Pilate did not live in the city of Jerusalem. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:30.800 He hated it. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:38.319 Pontius Pilate lived in Caesarea Maritima, which was the most cosmopolitan city of the ancient world when it was built by Herod the Great. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:43.040 It included a breakwater that pioneered waterproof cement. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:48.079 Herod the Great made this the most modern port in the Mediterranean. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:50.800 It had a circus, it had a gymnasium. 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:52.959 Jerusalem had neither of those things. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:08:03.600 And so Pontius Pilate spent approximately 50 weeks a year living in Caesarea Maritima and King of Jerusalem only during the high holy days. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:11.519 Because during Passover, the population of Jerusalem went from 40,000 to 400,000. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:18.800 It was so crammed full of people that riots were almost guaranteed. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:32.720 So here come, the parade of soldiers showing that Rome is not just sort of in control, but is ready to stamp down any sort of insurrection, any sort of hope of overthrowing. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:41.360 And they came into the Antonia, which overlooks the entire Temple Mount, ready to react to any threat. 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:47.759 Pilate came in a tour de force. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:52.720 Jesus came sort of like the holy locky of Haight Asbury. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:09:02.960 You have to imagine compare your palm branch to Roman legions armed to the teeth in armor. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:06.240 It's a counter procession. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:14.240 And it happens today on Palm Sunday where Jesus is not showing folks what he's getting ready to do. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:17.360 He's riding in a donkey because he's confident. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:26.080 This I think is important to hear, that the outcome has already been decided. 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.360 There's going to be cognitive dissonance on Friday. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:40.720 And most people who watch this procession undoubtedly think Jesus is going to do something with that whole legion that has just shown up. 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:46.159 But I invite you to consider that Jesus' perspective is different from the crowd's perspective. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:53.919 And that this week, I think, challenges our own perspectives. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:59.279 This is like the foam finger at the ancient world basketball game. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:09.679 And all too often we're so excited about what Jesus is going to do for us that we forget to ask, how are we going to be with him? 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:26.399 Palm Sunday, curiously enough, it's very possible that in the minds of the gospel writers, some of the people waving these fronds on Sunday waved their fists on Friday, some of the same people, and said, Crucify Him. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:30.240 Because he was not who they'd hoped he would be. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:49.039 And Jesus' ability to trust in God's ability for redemption, for forgiveness, to delight in humanity and all of its greatness and ugliness. 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:56.159 In spite of consequences that he undoubtedly knows are coming. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:58.879 That's his Palm Sunday. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:07.039 And I'm going to suggest to you after we read Philippians in a few minutes that that might be our opportunity for Holy Week. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:14.960 So bear this in mind, and then I invite you to join me in the Collect for Purity that's on page two of our bulletin. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.039 Let's pray together. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:41.120 Almighty God, unto whom all our hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy name through Christ our Lord. 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:42.080 Amen. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:45.440 Hear the word of God to all who truly turn. 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:51.120 Come to me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.879 God has not dealt with us according to our sins. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:29.600 Holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal, have mercy upon us. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:38.639 As far as the East is from the West, as a parent has compassion on their children. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:43.679 Bless the Lord, O my soul. 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:49.840 Bless the Lord, O my soul. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:59.279 And let us give thanks to God for all of God's faithful gifts freely bestowed upon us. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:04.559 For the beauty and wonder of your creation in earth and sky and sea. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:11.600 For all that is gracious in the lives of women and men, revealing the image of Christ. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:12.639 We thank you. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:18.159 For our daily food and drink, our homes and families and our friends. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:19.519 We thank you for Lord. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:24.240 For minds to think, and hearts to love and hands to serve. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:25.600 We thank you to God. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:30.480 For health and strength to work and leisure to rest and play. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:37.120 We thank you, for the brave and courageous who are patient and suffering and faithful in adversity. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:38.559 We thank you to God. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:42.960 For all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:44.320 We thank you, Lord. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:49.039 For the communion of saints, and all times and places, especially Ryan. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:57.120 Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:07.039 The Lord be with you. 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:22.240 Almighty and ever living God, in your tender love for the human race, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:35.519 Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering and also share in his resurrection through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:36.799 Amen. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:22.080 Morning by morning, he wakens, awakens my ear to listen, as those who are taught. 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:27.200 The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:29.279 I did not turn backward. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:35.039 I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled up my beard. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:38.799 I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:40.960 The Lord helps me. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:43.919 Therefore, I have not been disgraced. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:49.440 Therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.879 He who vindicates me is near. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:55.200 Who will contend with me? 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:57.360 Let us stand up together. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:15:59.440 Who are my adversaries? 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:01.039 Let them confront me. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:07.120 It is the Lord God who helps me, who will declare me guilty. 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:14.000 Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:30.159 Psalm thirty-one, we will read responsively by half verse. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:35.519 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.720 For my life is wasted with grief and my years with sighing. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:58.399 I have become a reproach to all my enemies, and even to my neighbors, a dismay to those of my acquaintance. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:04.799 I am forgotten like a dead man out of mind. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:11.200 For I have heard the whisperings of the crowd. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:13.680 Fear is all around. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:23.440 But as for me, I have trusted in you, O Lord. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:28.480 My times are in your hand. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:37.440 Make your face to shine upon your servant. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:41.599 But emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:19:07.839 Therefore, God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.200 Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:28.880 Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a lamb of your own fold, a sheep of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:32.240 In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:33.359 Amen. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:39.680 This passage from Philippians is what scholars argue the oldest passage in our New Testament. 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:47.759 That is to say, this section is older than the rest of the letter, written probably more than 35 years before the gospel that we heard this morning. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:50.880 It was a hymn of the earliest Christian community. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:58.319 And it contains this key word that I would like to put before you for holy week and for discipleship in general, the Greek word kinosis. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:04.160 It's one of those words that we often gloss over, but it is like as significant a word as agape. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:08.559 Kinosis means self-emptying. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:16.079 It's not imposed, it's chosen, and of course, emptying yourself is in order to make room for something larger than yourself. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:22.240 Self-emptying is what a woman does in pregnancy, makes room. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:26.000 And this is the word used for Jesus. 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:37.039 And I invite you to consider how old this goes, as I do every year, honestly, which is through the life cycle of the salmon. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:39.119 So I used to live in Alaska. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:44.480 I lived in Alaska for 10 weeks one summer with a guy who was similar to Grizzly Adams. 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:47.359 When everybody else was fishing, he was catching. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:21:00.480 And there is something absolutely transcendent about catching a 65-found fish at three in the morning and being able to see in almost full light the lure hit it in the mouth. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:04.720 There's something even more majestic and metaphysical about the fish, though. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:05.680 Many of you know this. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:13.839 You can see it on BBC or Discovery Channel, that salmon are born in freshwater lakes whose clarity is beyond parallel. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:17.599 A salmon lays something like 3,000 eggs. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:21.920 A few months later, the fish are called alofin. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:24.559 They look like an eye with a little tail. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:27.200 They swim around observing and growing. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:30.960 There's about 325 that make it to that point. 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:39.119 About a year later, they're the size of your finger, and so they're called fingerlings, and there's about 124 that make it to that size. 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:42.160 A couple years later, they're the size of your hand. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:53.200 And one day some urge overtakes them that scientists haven't still quite figured out how it works, and they become a smolt when they leave the waters that raise them and head for the ocean. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:56.000 Of course, you know the oceans are briny. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:22:10.319 And so to change the kind of air that you live in and thrive in is More than a little bit difficult, these fish who swim swiftly down raging waters, when they hit the bay, they kind of go belly up, they're completely disoriented. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:12.480 Twenty-four of them will survive. 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:22.880 They spend these 24 fish a few years in the bay, growing about as long as your middle finger to your elbow in biblical language that's called a cubit. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:27.119 When they're that size, they enter to these things in the ocean called gyres. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:32.240 A gyre is a current in the ocean that turns reliably, it's generated by the moon. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:37.839 The fish will swim in the next three years something like 24,000 miles. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:42.160 Every fish in Alaska will swim by every salmon in Japan. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:49.200 And then one day, that same bizarre mechanism that pulled them out of their freshwater lake fires again. 00:22:49.440 --> 00:23:01.680 And you know this now, they turn back and they swim somehow up exactly the same river that they swam down years ago, even though adjacent rivers can differ by one part per billion in mineral content. 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:10.559 So again, this is still beyond the science that we have at our hands to figure out how it is they know which river they ought to swim against. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:18.240 If you've seen the film before, or if you know about the fish, you know that they are not going to make the conversion this time around. 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:26.480 So because they're not going to go from saltwater to freshwater, the freshwater, curiously enough, is going to poison and kill them. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:31.519 They secrete something like a thick layer of slime to protect them. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:34.240 And they swim miraculously upstream. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:40.400 In fact, you can see videos of them flipping their way up a waterfall, and I mean literally. 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:48.000 Along the way, of course, there are anglers trying to catch them, there are bears who stand there and get them at their weakest. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:52.880 Many of them become exhausted and simply don't make it. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:56.160 In fact, three will make it. 00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:09.359 As that slime starts to wash off, as the fresh water that used to give them life starts to become toxic to them, they undergo a radical physical metamorphosis. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:12.079 In fact, they become more than a little disturbing. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:19.759 They go from being a silver-colored, hydrodynamic fish to kind of a monster. 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:22.799 They grow a large hump on their back. 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:34.559 Their jaws get really long, they elongate, and they grow teeth that are one or two inches long, they look like spines on a saguaro cactus, and their colors change. 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:38.720 If you've ever bought a sake salmon, they're blood red on the inside. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:50.640 But as that coating starts to wear off and they start to die from the fresh water, they leach out their fat and their skin becomes blood red, like fire engine red, and their head becomes green. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:52.559 They look nothing like they were. 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:55.759 That's the kind of fish you don't want to catch. 00:24:56.480 --> 00:24:58.559 They burned off all of their fat. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:03.279 They're kind of like living zombies, living dead, actually. 00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:05.119 Their time is limited. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:09.119 Grizzlies don't even eat the filet, grizzlies just eat the guts. 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:19.920 They get back to the pool in which they were spawned, and as I mentioned, they lay their eggs and they die soon after, and 3,000 eggs start over from three once again. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:26.799 While this is really a lovely story to hear, I invite you to consider it much like the gospel and much like Palm Sunday. 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:30.000 See, once upon a time, Jesus grew up in a really small village. 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:32.960 Like Nazareth had maybe 74 people. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:38.640 And he spent his childhood as much as we do watching how we're supposed to behave. 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:48.559 He was carried along by the currents of his culture, and sure enough, he entered into the big, the big pond called being a carpenter or a day laborer. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:58.960 He swam there for a while, and then one day he heard in his cousin John the Baptist a call to swim against some of the same currents that raised him. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:10.000 You know what I'm talking about, like Jesus said, you've heard it said that human beings were made for the Sabbath, but no, no, the Sabbath was made for human beings. 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:16.720 Jesus went out of his way not just to talk with women, but to touch them. 00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:22.720 He touched dead people and gave them new life. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:35.759 He swam against the forces of the culture that raised him that threatened to take the dignity from the creatures of God. 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:42.400 And of course, this week there were people trying to catch him. 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:45.839 Should we pay taxes to the emperor or not? 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:47.200 You know the story. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:53.519 There are bears, let's just call them Rome, trying to devour him. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:27:02.240 And at the end of the week, there's maybe about 12 or 15 people who are commissioned to swim as Jesus was. 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:04.480 We call those people the disciples. 00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:26.000 The thing that is supernatural about Jesus this week, consider that the salmon show us what is natural when we swim against powers that have raised us, powers that strip dignity from God's creation. 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:44.400 The salmon show us that in that swim, which is against steep currents and even against waterfalls, the natural thing for us to do is to become sort of living dead, to grow self-righteous humps on our back, to grow barbed teeth to lash out. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:46.880 After all, I'm trying really hard. 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:49.599 Why do you keep getting in my way? 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:53.359 I wish everybody could just think and do like I do. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:56.480 That's natural. 00:27:56.960 --> 00:27:58.640 The salmon prove it. 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:09.599 It's metaphysical. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:16.640 In the middle of swimming against anglers and up the same stream that carried him. 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:21.279 We're going to hear Jesus say on Friday, Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:25.279 That's not natural. 00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:27.440 And it is the gospel. 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:38.480 Jesus invites us to consider that as we swim the way of our faith, we're also invited to take that self-righteous hump off our back. 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:44.559 We're invited not to grow teeth. 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:54.160 We're compelled by our Lord to keep our true colors and not to change them. 00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:05.440 We can only speculate as to what Jesus was thinking on Palm Sunday. 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:11.039 But I want to suggest to you that his actions show us he trusted in God's final outcome. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:21.279 The hardest thing about my life, both secular and sacred, as if there were a difference, is knowing it's going to work in the end. 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:35.039 You know, as a father, I could get up every morning for the rest of my life and give extra tutoring, or make breakfast if I knew it was going to work. 00:29:36.319 --> 00:29:40.640 I could run an ultra marathon if I knew it was going to work. 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:50.480 The difference I want to suggest between Jesus' faith and mine often is Jesus does know it's going to work. 00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:53.680 And this is the promise of faith. 00:29:54.960 --> 00:30:04.720 Love, joy, pace, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, self-control, these are the things that will win. 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:20.880 And perhaps Jesus is able to ride in Jerusalem on a donkey because he knows that even if not in his own lifetime, even if not in our lifetime. 00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:31.519 That these faith, hope, joy, and love happen inside of God and have no end. 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:37.839 And we're invited to see Jesus swim that swim this week. 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:41.839 And I want to suggest we're invited to swim that swim ourselves. 00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:45.599 Would Jesus have been a better king than Caesar? 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:46.720 Probably. 00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:48.720 Easily. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:53.200 And this is the challenge of Holy Week. 00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:55.359 Jesus isn't interested in being your king. 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:08.880 And that ween we result to taking control, really, even for the best reasons. 00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:13.920 We're acting like Caesar and we're acting like Rome. 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:17.279 And it sure does take a lot of trust. 00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:22.000 And all of that looks like the difference between jumping and falling. 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:29.599 If you know you're gonna get caught, falling can be kind of fun. 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:34.880 If you're not sure, it's pretty terrifying. 00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:39.920 This week, this day, and I don't want to move past Palm Sunday. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:45.440 Palm Sunday is the day where we have high expectations, and I think we need to hold on to those. 00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:47.279 High expectations. 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:53.279 But you realize Jesus is not going to meet their expectations, and quite honestly, he's often not going to meet ours. 00:31:53.440 --> 00:32:00.079 And this, I think, is the message that we hear in that little quit from Abraham Lincoln: let's never presume that God is on our side. 00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:03.200 Let's ask how instead we can be on God's side. 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:16.720 The most disappointed I've ever been in my faith life was when I put God squarely on my side, because that's when I start to grow teeth and hooked jaws and change my colors and put a hump on my back. 00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:19.759 Because since God's on my side, why are you in my way? 00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:25.279 And it's a hard message. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:29.759 As Dorothy Day said. 00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:35.359 Love is a terrible thing to ask. 00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:37.920 This kind of love. 00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:40.559 But it is the only way. 00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:44.240 And I put before you, it's the way of faith. 00:32:44.400 --> 00:33:00.799 And I invite you, as you swim both this holy week with Jesus and in your faith life, to continue that swim, to join Jesus and staying true to your colors, the colors of faith. 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:06.960 And when those teeth grow, pull them back in. 00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:10.240 It's gonna take some energy to do that. 00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:21.519 And that's why I'm gonna offer you the Eucharist in a few minutes, so that God can give you the energy you need this week to swim in a holy way. 00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:32.240 Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:36.799 We believe in one God. 00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:48.079 We pray for God to fill us with the Spirit. 00:35:48.719 --> 00:35:54.719 Generous God, we thank you for your power to create discomfort and reveling within us. 00:35:55.519 --> 00:36:02.320 We ask that you disturb us so that we may be distressed and serve you and our neighbors better. 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:18.079 When we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams come true because we dream too little, when we arrive safely because we fail too close to the shore. 00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:27.440 When with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life. 00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:33.440 Having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity. 00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:41.119 And in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heavens to dim. 00:36:44.320 --> 00:36:55.039 To dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your majesty, where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. 00:36:55.440 --> 00:37:05.760 We ask that you push back the horizons of our hopes and to push us forward with strength, courage, hope, and love. 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:23.199 So that while we are in health, we may be steadfast in prayer for the healing of others, especially for Chris, John, Jerome, Mark, Janet, and Leslie. 00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:32.000 May we not only pray for the sick among us, but also give them the gifts of personal contact and visit. 00:37:34.880 --> 00:37:45.440 When we strive to be anything less than agents of reconciliation and wholeness in a world where there is division, sickness, and sorrow. 00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:57.039 Disturb the Lord until we see others as you see them, until peace becomes as precious to us to bear, until we love as you love. 00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:02.559 The peace of the Lord be always with you. 00:38:13.280 --> 00:38:16.079 Good morning, peace, and thank you for worshiping with us at St. 00:38:16.239 --> 00:38:17.119 Thomas today. 00:38:17.280 --> 00:38:26.320 If you're new to us or haven't done this before, there are some cards on those little tables in the Narthics, and we'd be grateful if you fill one out so we have a record of your visit. 00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:30.800 And thank you for adding your prayers and participation to our worship here today. 00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:33.920 I want to offer you a few announcements. 00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:39.119 You'll again see this one coming out this week in addition to the passion reading that will guide us today. 00:38:39.599 --> 00:38:41.360 What Holy Week looks like this year. 00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:43.840 First of all, we're really grateful we get to have it. 00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:45.760 It's amazing. 00:38:45.840 --> 00:38:49.599 I never thought I would be so grateful to be able to have services, but we are. 00:38:50.079 --> 00:38:51.519 It's a little bit pared down. 00:38:51.679 --> 00:39:04.639 We won't be doing footwashing this year because of COVID, although I do invite you to honor the spirit of that by taking care of somebody's need whom you love, even if it's giving your daughter or your mother a manicure. 00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:07.440 That's the message of the day. 00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:11.760 We're going to meet Thursday, Maundy, Thursday at 6:30 p.m. 00:39:12.239 --> 00:39:17.840 It'll be streamed, it'll be live as we uh celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist. 00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:22.000 And if you've not done this before, it's dramatic and there's nothing like it. 00:39:22.239 --> 00:39:34.239 We begin in light, we begin in celebration, and of course, we live into the story of the darkness of the night, of the betrayal, and we leave in darkness and we leave with all decorations stripped. 00:39:34.320 --> 00:39:39.199 It's moving, it's a powerful way to remember the story literally. 00:39:39.360 --> 00:39:45.119 I hold to you that these services on Thursday, Friday, and on Sunday morning are unlike any other. 00:39:45.199 --> 00:39:49.119 Uh, and if you haven't done them, they really they really contain the power of the story. 00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:55.119 So on Friday, which uh the earliest Christians called Black Friday, but of late we've called Good Friday. 00:39:55.199 --> 00:39:56.800 There's two opportunities to worship. 00:39:56.960 --> 00:39:58.800 They'll be streamed or they'll be live. 00:39:58.960 --> 00:40:00.079 They're somber. 00:40:00.320 --> 00:40:02.079 There will be no lights on. 00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:04.719 Um, it'll be light enough inside, of course. 00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:08.079 Um first is at noon, and the other is at 6 p.m. 00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:13.039 And again, I warn you it's a somber service because it's a somber story. 00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:19.920 On Sunday, um, we'll begin at 6:30 with something called the Easter Vigil. 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.159 Again, there is no service like it the rest of the year. 00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:32.079 Uh we will come in with candlelight and the darkness as the first women who waited for the uh the apparent sunrise on Easter morning. 00:40:32.239 --> 00:40:35.519 We'll come in candlelight, we'll hear the story of salvation. 00:40:35.679 --> 00:40:37.119 There will be a great noise. 00:40:37.199 --> 00:40:40.079 I mean, I'm gonna prepare you, it's going to be very loud. 00:40:40.239 --> 00:40:42.239 Uh that's the earthquake. 00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:44.320 Um, it'll probably be drums. 00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:46.320 You may want to turn your hearing aids down. 00:40:46.400 --> 00:40:47.840 I just want to tell you this now. 00:40:48.079 --> 00:40:55.440 It will be loud and it will be joyful, and the sun will be up, and we'll continue forward with the celebration of the resurrection. 00:40:55.679 --> 00:40:58.480 And then there's two services that are actually different. 00:40:58.639 --> 00:41:01.119 They have different readings, they have a different sermon. 00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:05.920 They're at 8:30 and 10:30, and they'll both be, of course, in person and streamed. 00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:08.400 And that's what Holy Week is going to look like at St. 00:41:08.639 --> 00:41:10.800 Thomas this week. 00:41:11.280 --> 00:41:17.280 I also want to guide to you that um even though there's difficulties, it's just lovely to hear. 00:41:17.360 --> 00:41:22.239 Yesterday we have our mobile fresh food distribution, and it was a slow day. 00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:29.519 And what I'm grateful to tell you is a slow day means 379 people left with a ton of fresh groceries. 00:41:29.599 --> 00:41:36.159 Uh, so thank you for those who you who served and those of you who support this valuable ministry and our community. 00:41:38.960 --> 00:41:42.800 My prayer for you is that this will, in fact, be a holy week. 00:41:42.880 --> 00:41:47.280 And of course, holy means one that is set apart towards larger life. 00:41:47.519 --> 00:41:52.320 On the way out today, I'm going to invite you, please, to take your palm with you. 00:41:52.559 --> 00:42:08.559 This is uh, of course, the fresh one, but I'm going to give you one of our parishioners has worked with a village in Africa to offer a sustainable product, and they've they've formed uh these palms, such as these, into lovely palm crosses that you may consider to pin on. 00:42:08.719 --> 00:42:17.920 And really, I'd like you to hold on to these throughout the week as objects of contemplation, both the palm cross and the fresh one that people waved. 00:42:18.320 --> 00:42:21.920 That's the bandwidth of the week. 00:42:22.880 --> 00:42:24.559 Continue to walk in love. 00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:30.000 As Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God. 00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:35.920 Oh am I that for thy sake I want to take my fence and Christ came from heaven's throne, salvation to be so, but equals corn another long for Christ would know. 00:43:39.920 --> 00:43:42.000 Oh, my friend, my friend, indeed. 00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:10.559 No toy on never once laughter king, never once great my fun. 00:44:13.280 --> 00:44:15.360 My friend, I've heard green great. 00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:26.239 My song is love unknown. 00:44:26.880 --> 00:44:30.320 My song is love unknown. 00:44:30.800 --> 00:44:35.840 Is love his love is love. 00:44:58.079 --> 00:45:01.199 This is the table not of the church but of Jesus Christ. 00:45:01.440 --> 00:45:05.039 It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more. 00:45:05.199 --> 00:45:14.800 So come, you who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often, and you who have not been for a long time or ever before. 00:45:15.119 --> 00:45:18.480 You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come. 00:45:18.960 --> 00:45:21.840 Not because the church invites you, it is Christ. 00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:24.159 And he invites you to meet him here. 00:45:25.519 --> 00:45:27.039 The Lord be with you. 00:45:28.480 --> 00:45:30.000 Lift up your hearts. 00:45:32.079 --> 00:45:34.559 Let us give thanks unto our Lord God. 00:45:37.280 --> 00:46:04.320 It is very meet right and our abound in invitation that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father Almighty, everlasting God, who does bid thy faithful people cleanse their hearts and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast, that fervent in prayer and in works of mercy, and renewed by thy word and sacraments, they may come to the fullness of grace which thou hast prepared for those who love thee. 00:46:04.559 --> 00:46:21.679 And therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee and saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory. 00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:24.639 Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High. 00:46:24.880 --> 00:46:30.480 Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna and the highest. 00:46:30.880 --> 00:46:38.400 All glory be to thee, O Lord our God, for that thou didst create heaven and earth, and didst make us in thine own image. 00:46:38.639 --> 00:46:48.079 And if thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to take our nature upon him, and to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption. 00:46:48.719 --> 00:47:03.840 He made there a full and perfect sacrifice for the whole world, and did institute, and in his holy gospel command us to continue a perpetual memory of that, his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again. 00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:07.760 For in the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread. 00:47:08.239 --> 00:47:10.719 And when he given thanks to thee, he broke it. 00:47:11.199 --> 00:47:14.320 Gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat. 00:47:14.559 --> 00:47:17.039 This is my body which is given for you. 00:47:17.679 --> 00:47:19.599 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:26.079 Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine. 00:47:26.480 --> 00:47:30.880 And when he given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink this, all of you. 00:47:31.199 --> 00:47:36.320 This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for all for the remission of sins. 00:47:36.639 --> 00:47:40.400