Proclamation! For Palm Sunday, 5 April 2020

Today Reverend Shelley McVea tells the Palm Sunday the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph. Rather than a horse, the traditional animal for a powerful king, Jesus rides into the city on a donkey, a lowly service beast. He continues to re-write what power and glory will look like in God's kingdom.

This email includes the Prayers for the People, prepared today by Graham Fisher.

The scriptures for Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020 are:

Matthew 21:1-11: Jesus and his disciples come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish Passover. A room is secured, and a donkey for Jesus to ride on. People are caught up in the excitement of the day, lauding Jesus with branches and voices. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Psalm 31:9-16: The Psalmist is going through a crisis. All have turned against him. He pleads to God for help, as he is in distress. As he paints his picture, we can see how well it describes what Jesus will go through in our gospel reading today. Yet the Psalmist's final affirmation is that “You are my God – my times are in your hand”. This is not only Jesus' affirmation, but it can become all of ours as we face the hardships of our own lives.

Philippians 2:5-11: St. Paul invites each of us to step into the identity of Christ. Christ has voluntarily left all the privileges of the Godhead to take on human form. Christ embraced this new calling and humbled himself to the point of death. By dying a sinless death he has now been exalted by God to the highest glory in heaven or on earth. His name is above all others and we bow before him out of love and thankfulness.

Matthew 26:14-27:54: Today we do a dramatic reading of Matthew's version of the Passion story. Betrayal, love, jealousy, kindness, belief and unbelief. All are represented in this morning's reading. We see the resolution and faith of Jesus contrasted with the duplicity and fearfulness of so many others. As we read the story today, try putting yourself in each character's part. We are all capable of playing all the roles. Matthew includes the detail that as Jesus gave up his spirit “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom”. This curtain was used to shield the glory of God in the inner sanctuary from those on the outside. Now that glory is present for all to behold; the glory of God shining forth in the face of Jesus Christ.

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We miss meeting together, and we long for the day that we can meet again. One of things we miss is sharing our prayer burdens and praying together with sour St Saviour’s family, through book of intercessions at the rear of the church. In this time of separations and isolation, we present a new opportunity to put forward your prayer concerns so that we can all pray with you.

When you feel moved, please send your prayer concerns by email to [email protected] , or leave a message on the church answering service at 416-699-6512. The intercessory prayer team will receive your message and include them into the prayers for the following Sunday.

Prayers of the People – Sunday April 5, 2020, Prepared for you by Graham Fisher

On this Palm and Passion Sunday, in these unprecedented times. We greatly miss meeting together in the same room and we crave for the familiar. At the same time, we long to walk alongside our Saviour, Jesus, from his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Sunday, on the road to the cross on Friday, as is our habit in this holiest of weeks.

For our prayers today, we will be using the very familiar Litany No. 1, found on Page 110 of the book of Alternative Service, but adapted for this week and these times.

Also for the familiar. The hymn that is traditionally used as the recessional on Palm Passion Sunday. “Ride On, Ride On in Majesty”. For those who don’t know it, the You Tube version and the lyrics of the hymns are copied below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo5pfl6z6lA

1 Ride on, ride on in m(continued)