Shiloh United Methodist Church
April 5th 2020 Worship at Home: Palm/Passion Sunday
24 Hours That Changed the World: Jesus on the Cross
Items you may want to gather before worship:
- computer, tablet, or other way to play video and follow reading links/prompts
- candle and lighter
- offering, envelope, stamp
- Homemade palms: https://www.facebook.com/377656905595756/videos/239097883886549/
Gathering
Call to Worship
Light a candle in the center of your gathering space
as you bring the Light of Christ into your time of worship.
Even though the streets are empty,
Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Even though our sanctuary is empty,
Hosanna! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Because this is not the end of the story,
Hosanna in the highest heaven! Hosanna!
The Word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Hosanna Loud Hosanna (UMH 278)
Waving palm branches is a sign of welcome to a returning victor. This scene invites us to think about what kind of victory does Jesus bring?
Lyrics are on screen. Please sing along! If you made a palm branch, wave it while you sing!
Proclamation
Children’s Message
What do you find scary? Do you feel scared right now?
It’s okay to feel scared. We all do, even grownups. In our story today Jesus feels scared too. But we have the promise that God is with us and we can always talk to God.
Pray: Jesus, I hear you tell God that you’re scared on the cross. We’re scared too. Help us remember that God is always with us, no matter what. Amen.
Consider reading responsively with someone reading the odd verses and others reading the even verses.
The Word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built on the site where we believe Jesus’ crucifixion took place. You can see inside the church here. Pilgrims can kneel and pray at the rock where we believe the cross was placed. What would you pray if you were kneeling at the rock?
Pastor’s Reflection
We’ve come finally to Palm / Passion Sunday. We glance backwards in our story following Jesus’ day to remember the crowds celebrating his arrival into the city, waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna!” as those they were welcoming someone who had won a great battle. How excited and happy that scene was. Then we jump back to our regular timeframe, when after torturing Jesus the soldiers lead him out to be crucified. A crowd gathers, not to celebrate Jesus, but to insult him. What a different tone!
There on the cross Jesus shouts “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). That’s a scary line to hear at any point, but especially this Lent. Hearing the news, seeing the impact of the pandemic on the world, being separated from friends and loved ones, we too feel that God has abandoned us. Is Jesus abandoned on the cross?
Jesus is quoting Scripture here, Psalm 22:1. As the psalms were the Jewish songbooks, think about Jesus quoting the first line of a familiar song. When you hear it, you can sing the rest of the song yourself. If I start singing “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound” or “Silent Night, Holy Night,” you can fill in the blanks. Back home in Alabama anytime someone sings “Big wheel keep on turnin’” you can guarantee the room will break out into “Sweet Home Alabama.”
So what comes next in Psalm 22? Like all the lament psalms, after the psalmist expresses their frustration, grief, and pain, Psalm 22 turns towards hope. The psalmist proclaims that God does hear us in our distress and listens to our complaints, as the psalmist declares their intention to continue praising God (Psalm 22:24-25).
We learn two things from this moment with Jesus on the cross. First it’s good news to know that Jesus understands what it’s like to feel alone. He’s been there. There is nothing in our human experience Jesus does not understand. Jesus understands our pain, our loneliness, our fear, our uncertainty. Jesus knows what it means to feel alone and afraid, to grieve and hurt.
Second it’s good news is that God does not leave us alone. God does not forsake us. God does not abandon us. Even when we feel apart from God, God has not left us. We see this promise repeated through Scripture. Paul writes that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:37). John famously affirms that “God so loved the world,” not that God could not look upon the world (John 3:16).
So take heart friends! Even though this moment is hard and scary, God is still with us. God has not left us. And Easter is coming!
Watch a sermon from Church of the Resurrection on this story here.
Response
Apostles’ Creed (UMH 882)
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers of the People
Please lift the names of the people, situations, and places for which we ask God’s grace to be known. After all share prayer needs, the leader may prayer this or another prayer:
Holy Savior, we are caught in the midst of grief and waiting. Your death tore the curtain of the temple, so that we might approach you and encounter your holiness directly, but our sanctuary is closed today. Tear off the things that divide us from you.
We grasp for you in the midst of the unknown and unfamiliar time we are in. Be present with us during this Holy Week, even in the midst of uncertainty and worry and distraction.
When we feel forsaken, remind us of your comfort.
When we feel alone, remind us of your love.
When we feel despair, remind us of your salvation.
Creator, plant within us space for new life. Redeemer, remind us of our dignity in your love. Sustainer, hold us up when we are unable to travel by ourselves.
When we doubt, remind us of your grace and mercy that do not follow the rules of this world, rather, you turn your world upside down. Be with us in this journey to the cross where you died, in the name of Jesus, who was surely God’s Son, and who taught us to pray, saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven.
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever. Amen.
Offering
Consider mailing your offering to the church (PO Box 315 Granite Quarry NC 28072).
Our conference has also opened up online giving here. To give to your church, simply complete the form below. Follow the prompts to identify your church, along with the amount of your donation. The conference will then remit the donation to the specified church, minus the convenience fees (unless you choose to add the amount of the fees to your donation).
Additionally, as a family, think of a way you might offer your time to someone this week (make a meal for someone, call and “visit” someone over the phone, offer to run errands for someone who may be staying in).
Sending Forth
Alas and Did My Savior Bleed (UMH 359)
This hymn moves through our various emotions of seeing this scene. From our sorrow at Jesus’ death and own self-reflection to gratitude at what Jesus’ sacrifice means for us. We celebrate with hope the promise that we are never alone or forgotten. God is always with us no matter what.
Lyrics are on screen. Please sing along!
Blessing
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you
wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness
protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.
Jesus Remember Me UMH 488
Blow out your candle and be the Light of Christ in the world!
Call to Worship and Pastoral Prayer written by Rev. Kathy Randall Bryant
For Your Week
Personal Reflection:
Rev. Adam Hamilton says that the cross is a reminder that (1) we need saving, (2) God experiences suffering because of our brokenness, (3) God has chosen to be merciful and forgiving toward us, and (4) God loves us. Which of these reminders do you need today?
Where do you find hope knowing that Jesus understands our suffering, pain, and fear? Where do you find hope knowing that God never abandons us in our suffering?
Scripture Study:
Jesus bears the mocking jeers of the crowds standing before the cross. The cross was likely only a few feet off the ground which means Jesus can easily see the faces of those who are mocking him. What kind of love does it take to stay on the cross, to say “Father forgive them” in the midst of that (Luke 23:34)?
Read Psalm 22. Psalm 22 is a classic “lament.” These personal hymns fully honored and expressed the psalmist’s pain and fear, while holding onto trust and faith in God’s goodness. On the cross, Jesus voiced even his anguish and loneliness in the words of Psalm 22:1. The psalmist pressed on, through grief and fear, to arrive at renewed trust in God. Jesus, too, held on through the darkness of the cross to commit himself into God’s keeping. How do the two aspects of the lament (fear and trust) cast light on what Jesus went through on the cross?
The very act of praying a lament psalm is an affirmation of faith. When darkness seems to prevail in your life, it takes faith even to talk to God and complain! When was the last time you complained to God out of an experience of despair or darkness and yet ended up affirming your trust in God? *
Like Mark, Matthew 27:51 and Luke 23:45 report that the Temple’s curtain was torn in two. The curtain veiled the Most Holy Place. Only the High Priest could enter there, and only once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Jesus’ death, the gospel writers were saying, tore down all the barriers between God and us. Hebrews 6:19-20 and 10:19-22 say that Jesus, the great High Priest, opened the way for us to come “behind the curtain.” We can go directly to God for mercy and grace.
Think back over the scenes we’ve examined during this study of the 24 Hours That Changed the World. What would the Roman centurion have seen and heard that moved him to the confession he made as Jesus died? How can your life bear witness that the one you worship and serve “surely was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39)? *
Sharing Together:
What’s scary right now? What helps you feel brave?
Mr. Rogers shares a story of his mother telling him to “look for the helpers.” Watch him talk about it here. Where do you see helpers right now?
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you really died on the cross. You were God in the flesh—I struggle to grasp what it meant for you to submit to that. What your death offers me fills me with wonder —release from my fear of death, freedom from my guilt, power to live a more truly human life than I have ever lived. In your divine creativity, you took the worst we could do, and brought from it the best gift I could ever receive. I submit myself to you. I praise your name. Amen *
Velázquez’s Christ on the Cross:
One of Velázquez’s achievements was to make his paintings seem to come alive with just the right luminosity. The irony in this particular painting is that the dying body of Christ appears real (or alive) enough to step down from the cross. What other features of Velázquez’s Christ strike you? What aspects of the Gospels’ account of Christ’s death on the cross do you think the painter wanted to portray to his viewers? *
Questions marked with a * are adapted from ShareChurch.com, a ministry of Church of the Resurrection.
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