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Palm/Passion Sunday
April 1
Scripture (from the Revised Common Lectionary, with links provided by TextWeek.com – a source for thoughtful worship and preaching throughout the year):
Liturgy of the Palms:
Click on Scripture Lessons below for study links and resources:
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Roman Catholic reading: Psalm 24 / Psalm 47
Episcopal reading (RCL): Psalm 118:19-29
Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16
Roman Catholic reading: Mark 11:1-10 or John 12:12-16
United Methodist reading: Mark 11:1-11
Liturgy of the Passion:
Click on Scripture Lessons below for study links and resources:
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Roman Catholic reading: Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalm 31:9-16
Roman Catholic reading: Psalm 22:8-24
Philippians 2:5-11
Roman Catholic reading: Philippians 2:6-11
Mark 14:1 – 15:47 or Mark 15:1-39, (40-47)
Roman Catholic reading: Mark 14:1 – 15:47 or Mark 15:1-39
Suggested opening movement of the service, covering the Palm portion of the day’s Gospel
This assumes that one or the other of the Passion texts will be read during the balance of the service. If this is not practiced, the following movement could be used without the reading of the Palm text as a Call to Worship and Procession to begin the day. Because many Disciples congregations do not regularly use procession as an act of worship, it is wise to have a leader stand before the congregation to preside for this opening movement, and to have assistance for whomever is processing. If weather is good, the entire congregation could process from outside the building to their seats. When children and choir are the only ones processing (which has been the case in many places), it is helpful to have a few adult guides for them. The editor has also found it helpful for the one giving leadership to “practice” the waving of palms, if they are already in the hands of a seated congregation, during the Greeting, by repeating it a few times, and to try to encourage them to continue to wave them during the entirety of the Processional Hymn.
Blessing of the Palms (for use before the liturgy begins) – Rev. William Flewelling
Be in these hands
* Greeting
L: Hosanna!
P: Hosanna in the highest!
P: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
P: Hosanna in the highest heaven!
* Story of the Palms: (appointed text for the Palm Sunday liturgy is read and the hymn begins without announcement)
* Processional Hymn
* Litany of the Palms
L: Crosses of palm unite us in our devotion to Jesus of Nazareth,
and focus our gaze on the King, the Lamb, the Son of God.
P: On the way to Calvary, palms were waved to honor the King.
L: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king comes to you, triumphant and victorious is he,
humbled and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
P: On the way to Calvary, palms were waved—
response to One who came to suffer so.
L: He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering
and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom
others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
P: On the way to Calvary, we take up our crosses,
and watch this One who rides toward death and life eternal—
one King, one Lord, one death—for all!
L: Let us give thanks and rejoice as we join the prayer that Christ taught us:
P: Our Father…
Suggested Hymns from Chalice Hymnal
Hymn of Praise: Palms: 191-193, 129
Passion Hymns: 195-205
Communion Hymn: 383
Dismissal/Missional Hymn: 207
More hymn suggestions, as well as helpful references for use of the arts in worship, are available from the United Church of Christ website.
Hymn of the Day from Rev. William Flewelling
Dealing with the Psalm of the Day:
Since Chalice Hymnal does not provide a complete Psalter, there will be occasions when suggestions may be made for alternate Psalm use (or hymn equivalent). Although the text for the Psalm associate with the Liturgy of Palms is largely available on 758, the Psalm for the Passion readings is not present. A litany appropriate to the Passion may be used, if desired, following the readings, and two are included in Chalice Hymnal (209 and 201). A litany on “The Mind of Christ” is also offered below (adapted by the editor from unknown source).
Let us remember Jesus: Who, though he was rich, for our sakes became poor and dwelt among us;
Who was content to be the child of a poor family;
Who lived the common life, earning his living with his own hands and declining no humble tasks;
Whom the common people heard gladly, for he understood their ways.
Let us remember Jesus: Who was mighty in deed, healing the sick and afflicted, using for others the powers he would not invoke for himself;
Who was master and Lord to his disciples, yet was among them as their Companion
and as one who served.
Let us remember Jesus: Who loved people, yet retired from them to pray, rose a great while before day, watched through the night, stayed in the wilderness, went up into a mountain, sought out a garden;
Who prayed for his tempted disciple, and for the forgiveness of all who
rejected him, and for the perfecting of those who received him;
Who observed good customs, but defied conventions that did not serve the purposes of God. Who hated sin because he knew the cost of pride and selfishness, of cruelty and impurity—the cost to humanity and to God.
May this mind be in us which was in Christ Jesus.
Let us remember Jesus: Who, when he was reviled, did not retaliate, and when he suffered did not threaten; who emptied himself and carried obedience to the point of death, even death on the cross.
May this mind be in us which was in Christ Jesus.
Let us pray for Christ to dwell within our hearts.
O Christ, our only Savior, so come to dwell in us that we may go forth with the light of your hope in our eyes, and with your faith and love in our hearts. Amen.
Words of Greeting/Call to Prayer (created or adapted by the editor)
Phil. 2:5-11
L: We gather in the presence of Christ to join our hearts and minds in praise of God.
P: God has exalted Jesus and given him a name above every name.
L: So let every knee bend, in heaven and on earth, and every tongue confess:
P: Jesus Christ is Lord. Glory to God forever!
Act of Confession (created or adapted by the editor)
Unison: Forgive us, Lord, if in the light of Jesus’ concept of kingship we have possessed a distorted concept of power: if we have believed that large congregations and beautiful buildings mean success in the kingdom of God; if we have believed that through pronouncements and political pressure the church brings in the kingdom; if we have believed that Christ is defended with armaments and bombs; if we have equated power in the kingdom with a majority vote in the assembly. Father, forgive us, and teach us the sacrificial nature of Jesus’ kingship. (Silent confession is offered)
Minister: Christ exercises his kingship, not by force or coercion, but by forgiving our sins by his grace, by calming our spirits with his love, and by inspiring our wills by his example. Accept his lordship by going forth in peace. Amen.
Intercessions (created or adapted by the editor)
Option 1:
How we need you anew, each day, O God. Our minds may stray away from what is truly important in search for the things that are seemingly urgent. Yet you keep calling us back to the reality of Christ’s presence with us and are always striving with us to allow his mind to dwell in our midst.
Help us to look with his eyes—the eyes of the servant of servants—upon a struggling and hurting world. Let your church regain its mission in him and be helpers to helpless, a home to the homeless, and healers of those whose health has vanished away.
We pray especially for those whom we have named this day (________), and others whom we name in our hearts, along with our own needs. Silence
Renew us as your people, O God—especially as we enter anew into the paschal mystery of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, that together we may become a fit dwelling place for your Spirit made known in the mind of Christ, for we pray in his name (even as he taught his disciples, saying, Our Father…).
Option 2:
Loving God, you sent your Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. We pray that all who believe in him might be delivered from the power of sin and death, and become heirs with him of everlasting life.
Especially this day we pray for those within your community of faith who have offended you by our carelessness, and for those whose weaknesses have kept us from rightly serving you by serving our neighbors.
Forgive us our sins and free us for joyful obedience we pray in Christ. Hear us, God of grace as we pray for a new birth for your church; for its unity in witness and service; for its ministers and all those whom they serve; and especially for those who are about to be baptized and begin new life in your Spirit. Empower them to face temptation, suffering and even death with the boldness and zeal of true disciples. Together may we bring to life the gifts you have given for the sake of the mission of your holy church as servant of a dying humanity, we pray in Christ.
We pray to you, gracious giver of life, for all who suffer and are afflicted in body or in mind. For the hungry and the homeless, the destitute and the oppressed. For the sick and the wounded. For those in loneliness, fear and anguish, doubt and despair. For _____, and those whose lives are closely linked with our own, whom we name to you in silence. (Silence).
Help, save and defend us, gracious Lord, as we join your people of all ages in boldly offering to you our prayers in the name and spirit of Christ (who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father…).
Option 3:
R=Hear our prayer, O Lord.
With faith and love and in union with Christ, let us offer our prayer before the throne of grace.
Have mercy on your people, for whom your Son laid down his life: R
Bring healing and wholeness to people and nations, and have pity on those torn apart by division: R
Strengthen all who are persecuted for your name’s sake, and deliver them from evil: R
Look in mercy upon all who suffer, and hear those who cry out in pain and desolation: R
Bring comfort to the dying, and gladden their hearts with the vision of your glory: R
Give rest to the departed and bring them, with your saints, to glory everlasting: R
Let us commend the world, for which Christ died, to the mercy and protection of God.
Open prayer may be offered and silence is kept. The Collect and Lord’s Prayer follow.
Collect of the Day (adapted by the editor)
O God, whose only Son Jesus Christ was betrayed and sold by one whom he called to be his disciple; have mercy upon our weakness, and grant us to so diligently watch and pray, that we may never be overwhelmed by temptation; but that, persevering to the end, we may come to freedom through his bonds, and to life eternal through his death. This we pray through Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Offertory Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you who expressed your kingship not by taking but by giving, not by demanding but by sacrificing – bless us now as we follow your example.
Dismissal:
Go forth in peace to walk the way of the cross and resurrection.
We are sent in the name of the Lord.
May Jesus Christ, who was put to death for our sins, bless you and keep you.
Amen.
May Jesus Christ who was raised to life for our salvation let light shine upon you.
Amen.
May Jesus Christ be your life and peace, now and forever.
Amen. Thanks be to God.
Collect of the Day from Rev. William Flewelling (© 2012, William Flewelling; All rights reserved)
On Mark 14:1 – 15:39
Confronting the heart of the gospel
in the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus, O God,
we turn to the barren isolation,
the stark brutality of Golgotha
that here in darkness and dejection
we may at last recognize
your boundless love
in our Lord Jesus.
RESOURCES from COMMON WORSHIP
Collect
Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race
sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh
and to suffer death upon the cross:
grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility,
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Post Communion
Lord Jesus Christ,
you humbled yourself in taking the form of a servant,
and in obedience died on the cross for our salvation:
give us the mind to follow you
and to proclaim you as Lord and King,
to the glory of God the Father.
Alternative Collect
True and humble king,
hailed by the crowd as Messiah:
grant us the faith to know you and love you,
that we may be found beside you
on the way of the cross,
which is the path of glory.
Common Worship Almanac and Lectionary for the year beginning Advent Sunday 2011. Compiled by Simon Kershaw October 2011 from the Common Worship Calendar and Lectionaries using Almanac Maker; compilation © Simon Kershaw 2011; Almanac Maker © Simon Kershaw 2010. The Revised Common Lectionary is copyright © the Consultation on Common Texts 1992. The Daily Eucharistic Lectionary is adapted from the Ordo Lectionum Missae of the Roman Catholic Church reproduced by permission of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. Adaptations and additions to the RCL and the DEL, together with Second and Third Service lectionaries and the Weekday Lectionary for Morning and Evening Prayer are copyright © the Archbishops’ Council 1997-2010. Version 2012-1.2 30 October 2011. http://almanac.oremus.org/lectionary
RESOURCES FROM THE JUBILEE FUND
This stewardship ministry serving the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) offers weekly emails, archived here, for each Sunday’s service.
You may also want to visit Worship Connection at MinistryMatters.com, which offers numerous helps, including electronic versions of print resources for worship and preaching planning.
Intercessions and other helpful planning materials geared to the Lectionary (using Roman Catholic version, but normally quite useful for all traditions) for preaching and worship are supplied for several weeks in advance at The Sunday Website of St. Louis University.
Liturgies created by Moira Laidlaw (Uniting Church in Australia) as a part of her doctoral dissertation are often helpful. Read more here.
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