PALM SUNDAY: LET US JOIN THE WELCOMING, PALM BRANCH WAVING CROWD OF BIBLICAL TIMES

DO YOU REMEMBER? Palm Sunday is a Christian celebration that marks the beginning of the Holy Week leading to Easter Sunday. It commemorates Jesus' triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, when people laid down palms and branches in front of him as a sign of honor.

In his Palm Sunday sermon, my friend Rev. Randy Benson reflects with a degree of remorse on Easter church services of the not-too-distant past and the absence of children in today's pews. I take the liberty of reproducing extracts from that sermon because he has taken words right out of my mouth, albeit it more eloquently.

"Now…well, we have to raise the age of childhood to 70+ in order to have children (in church). And, we all sing with a bit of sorrow and the anger of lament in our voices as we miss the joyful noise of all those children banging and clanging in a well-attended service," he exclaimed with a typical hint of humor coupled with obvious sadness.

"Things Christian have fallen so far off the map in our culture that it’s a rare kid, even counting those 70-and-under, who could answer if you stopped them on the street and asked 'What’s Palm Sunday?'"

"If we want to know why the church is in the shape it is, one way to find out is to give a good, honest ear to those who have left the church in droves these last several decades, and trying to understand their reasons for doing so. Doing so we will realize that it is because the church has been and continues to be too much like that religious establishment in Jesus’ day that coveted power over people rather than actually loving God with all its heart, soul, mind, and strength and its neighbour as itself. 

"We have been too much like that institution with our judgementalism and exclusion of vulnerable people while not inventorying our own “sins”. We have not only colluded with corrupt political powers whom we should have held accountable, but we have also sought governmental power for ourselves and abused it. We’ve been warring. We’ve blamed the poor. We’ve been racist. We’ve been misogynist(ic).  

"We’ve stood by while children died in educational institutions run by us. If you ask people out on the streets why they don’t come to church, if they know what church is they will tell you what I just said and more.

"It was that religious establishment by means of coopting the power of government that crucified Jesus who was God come to be with and among them…with and among them manifesting the power of the reign of God. But, they were too corrupted by power to know their own God so it was not among them but rather amidst all “those people”, the outcasts whom those religious authorities had deemed to be not allowed in the presence of God, that “God with us” manifested the Kingdom."

In concluding, Randy reminded congregants that the same thing happens today. "Instead of our owning up and admitting our own weaknesses and blatant failures and thus truly becoming a part of the ragtag crowd of outcasts needing Jesus to save us now, we’ve let ourselves be an establishment that cruelly insulates itself against the outcasts among whom we will find Jesus. 

"Maybe the best thing we can do this Palm Sunday is to welcome Him in as He comes to cleanse our Temple, welcome his crowd of outcasts realizing we each are one of them. Let’s put our pride and fear aside and humbly join the joyful chorus, 'Save us, now, Jesus. Now'.”

Thanks to Rev. Randy for those heart-felt, honest words!

NOTE: Rev. Randy Benson serves a four-church Presbyterian co-op ministry (Chatsworth, Dornock, Chesley and Southampton) representative of no more than 100 active members combined. He knows whereof he speaks.