Palm Sunday

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Dear friends in Christ, for five weeks of Lent, we have been preparing for the celebration of our Lord's Paschal mystery.

Today we come together to begin the solemn celebration of Holy Week.

Christ entered in triumph into his own city to complete his work as our Messiah, to suffer, to die, and to rise again.

Let us remember with devotion his entry that culminated at the empty tomb and follow him with lively faith.

To that end, let us pray.

God our Father, we remember how Jesus entered Jerusalem and was welcomed as a king by those who shouted Hosanna and spread their clothing and palm branches in his path.

Accept our praise and listen to our prayers as we rejoice in our triumphant King, Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

God invites us to come into His presence and worship Him with humble and penitent hearts.

Therefore, let us acknowledge our sinfulness and ask Him to forgive us.

Holy and Merciful Father, I confess that I am by nature sinful, and that I have disobeyed you in my thoughts, words, and actions.

I have done what is evil and failed to do what is good.

For this I deserve your punishment, both now and in eternity.

But I am truly sorry for my sins, and trusting in my Savior Jesus Christ, I pray.

Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.

God, our Heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has given His only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Therefore, as a called servant of Christ, and by his authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

In peace, let us pray to the Lord.

For the peace from above and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.

For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all.

Let us pray to the Lord.

For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord.

Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.

The Lord be with you.

Let us pray.

Almighty and everlasting God, you sent your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, to take upon Himself our flesh and suffer death upon the cross.

Mercifully grant that we may follow the example of His great humility and patience and be made partakers of His resurrection through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem.

Behold, your king is coming to you.

Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt and the foal of a donkey.

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the war horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations.

His rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless death.

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope.

Today I declare that I will restore to you the word of the Lord.

The earth is the Lord's and everything in him the world and all who live in it, for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters who may ascend the mountain of the Lord who may stand in his holy place the one who has clean hands and a pure heart, they will receive blessing from God their Savior.

Sing Horsanna, loud Horsanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the name of the Lord lift up your heads, you gates be lifted up, you ancient doors that the king of glory may come in.

Who is this king of glory?

The Lord mighty in battle lift up your heads you gates, lift them up, you ancient doors that the king of glory may come in Who is he?

This king of glory the Lord strong the almighty he is the king of glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever.

Sing Horsana love Horsana Blessed is he who calls in thy name of the Lord, the name of the Lord.

Jesus has the name that is above every name.

Second reading from Philippians chapter two.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, both in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

The word of the Lord.

Now, when they drew nearer to Jerusalem and came to Bethlehem, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a cold wither, and tie them and bring them to me.

If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, full of obese burden.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.

Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.

The gospel of the Lord.

Go forth my son and free my children from the good and condemnation strife to bear, but by your passion the fruit of your own.

Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I love the audacity of what happens in today's gospel from Matthew chapter twenty-one.

Jesus is orchestrating a moment that is meant to be seen and noticed.

He signals his arrival to people he wants to expect him.

Every detail of the scene is laden with attention.

It's meant to communicate something.

This is not meant to be a kind of private moment of piety, but a public proclamation for people to see and hear.

Jesus picks a ride that the prophets had foretold.

He then joins a parade that is making noise, getting attention, and entering into the most significant place in his region and place and time.

Jesus is accepting praise and identification as the Holy One, as the Messiah.

You know, often in his ministry, when people started to realize his full identity, he would tell them to keep it quiet until a later time.

But now that time appears to have come, and he's willing to receive this acclamation as king from the lips of these people.

The whole thing is meant to reveal him as the Son of David, the Messiah, the divine intervention that mankind has been waiting for since the time Adam and Eve first fell into sin.

So Jesus has shown himself full of holy audacity on the day we call Palm Sunday.

But the people, the crowd around him, are full of their own kind of audacity.

In fact, I want to linger on them a bit because I think there's something there in them that we can see and hear.

What they did was important in its own way.

They are the ones who acclaimed Jesus as King.

They are the ones who lended their voice to this procession.

They pointed to him and they said, This is the one.

This is the one we've been waiting for.

This is the one we've been hoping for.

Blessed is he, for he is the Son of David.

That's why in Luke's account of this occasion, there were men there who were trying to get Jesus to get his people to pipe down.

See, they knew there was something bold about calling Christ the king in this moment.

Something risky and dangerous, even.

For they knew there was already someone who claimed to be king, ruler, and lord.

It was the Roman Caesar.

And that Roman Caesar happened to have an armed garrison in the very city that Jesus was entering into with this parade of his.

Now for Lutheran catechumens or confirmans, there's also some measure of apprehension as well, maybe some uncertainty.

You might be thinking, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to actually be feeling.

Is there something that I'm supposed to feel, something I'm not supposed to feel?

You have surely put in time and energy and effort, and in that sense things are clear.

But maybe you're not quite certain what precisely a body of believers like this is actually asking from you or what they want for you in a moment like this.

And perhaps you have gotten a sense that maybe your job today is to prove something, to level up your commitment in a way that will satisfy everyone in the room and say, I believe that person actually meant it.

Now, this may not be how you all have felt.

This may not be, and probably is not, a universal experience for every person who's gone through a Lutheran church or Lutheran catechesis or confirmation.

But this is not something that I'm making up either.

This is the kind of thing that people, young and old, tell their pastors, conversations that I have had, Pastor Moldenhauer has had, things where these sorts of fears and apprehensions come up again and again, and there's enough there to recognize that perhaps something is worth our attention, especially on a day like today.

In fact, sometimes when it's at its most crystallized form, it feels to us as if confirmation is a version of something that Lutherans actually keep their distance from.

And I'm referring to the altar call, a moment where we need to amp up the emotion, amp up the decision, and really leverage the moment and say this person now really means it.

We weren't sure he meant it before, but my goodness, we are sure now.

But all of this tends to put things in a different perspective, maybe one that's not helpful.

Now I want to be clear, I'm all for commitment and I'm all for courage.

The life of the Christian requires those things, commitment and courage to follow through on what we believe.

But I don't think we should allow our practices as we pursue those virtues to turn us inward.

Where we might start to put the weight on ourselves or the strength of our ability, the strength of our commitment, or the quality of our parenting, or the quality of our life as a church.

That kind of turning inward will start to put the weight in a place that cannot bear that kind of weight.

And you know that's happening when you feel guilt begin to arise instead of joy or fear beginning to arise instead of anticipation and longing and that path moving forward.

That's what can happen, and that's what we're working to avoid.

In fact, this is why here at Our Redeemer, we have been working to reform some of our practices connected to this day.

In fact, you might, if you're particularly observant, notice some differences today.

And you can ask about them later, but these are things we have done deliberately and intentionally.

We're starting to talk in terms of a catechumenate, this renewed but ancient path of formation for the believer.

That's what we're going to see the culmination of today, because today happens to be the first confirmation Sunday since we began this process of reform and change.

This is a process, a program, a path, we're calling it, that is meant to slow that journey down on purpose and to bring people not so much from a point of not knowing something to knowing something merely in the head, but to bring people into the life of the congregation through a far more varied approach, through worship, through being here today, through instruction, through learning about the word and putting the knowledge of God into our head and in our heart, through practice, to show that Christ asks us to not only believe things but do things.

And also that we do this together in community, that we have people walking alongside those who are walking this path into our congregation or into maturity in our congregation so that no one goes alone or gets the idea that this is something merely individual.

Therefore, we're aiming not to produce so much graduates from a program, but we're looking to form disciples who are ready for a lifelong of faith.

And to that end, I say that the timing of this text, Matthew 21, and this day, a day that we're making as a confirmation Sunday, could not be any better.

It's perfect.

Just look again at what we see here and how that can help us frame this day and what we're doing together in a good context.

Look at the crowd here.

Again, what do you see?

These are people who have seen with their eyes and heard with their ears what Christ has said and what Christ has done.

And they are now there to acclaim him.

And Jesus was already, we have to remember this, already Lord of heaven and earth before he got on the donkey, before he was on his way into Jerusalem.

The people, though, were recognizing what was revealed in Christ.

They didn't make him king, they recognized him as king.

And so they acclaimed him as king.

And so in this scene, the weight of the moment is not on the reaction of the people, but on the identity of the king.

And the power of the moment is that this king is able to be known and seen and heard, and that people can respond in faith and acclaim him with their words, confess him with their whole heart, and their life even.

And this framing makes all the difference.

In fact, I suggest that as we think of confirmation today, let's not think of confirmation as a kind of self-dedication or program completion, but let's think of this as people joining us all in the acclamation of Christ as King.

That they are joining with us in a procession that has been going on long before any of us were involved and will continue long after all of us have died.

In fact, there's something powerful about the fact that we processed in today.

That's not just a mere exercise.

We are practicing what we believe and preach, that we are walking together with a body of believers, and that this procession stretches all the way back from this place to a dusty road on the way into Jerusalem.

A procession that countless other Christians have walked together with Christ.

A procession that leads from the font to the altar to the feast that will never end.

And all the while the people who have seen it, the people to whom the Spirit has revealed it, they acclaim again and again, week in, week out, year after year, with their voices and their lives, He is the King.

He is the Lord.

And so we are welcoming more people today into that procession.

They're joining us.

The weight and the power, it belongs to the King.

The voice, then, is ours in response.

And I think that reframing will help to alleviate some of the fear or apprehension or uncertainty or maybe even guilt that we Lutherans have somehow accumulated over the many generations of this church.

You see, now we can start to see this as something different, something where day after day there's still something there.

Because if this is just a dedication, you know how this goes.

There's a big day, and then it's behind us.

But an acclamation, the procession, isn't that something we continue to do again and again as the body of believers?

That will make all the difference.

And so as today you think of this, think of your acclamation in three terms.

One, that acclamation is a kind of identification.

It's you and me looking at Christ and all that the scriptures have revealed about him and saying, Yes, he is the one.

He's the one who was promised, he's the one who has delivered, I see him for who he is.

He is the Lord of heaven and earth.

And when I acclaim him, I am doing what everyone else who has done so is also doing, saying, He is mine, my savior, my king.

And there's something audacious about that.

You have to realize that once you have seen Jesus for who he is, there's no going back.

Everything in your life has to be different, it has to be reconfigured based on what you have identified in him, the Lord of heaven and earth.

Acclamation is also a kind of submission.

It's saying he is the one, but he is the king.

And kings have authority.

See, Jesus wrote into a place, into a world like ours, too, where the tendency we always have is to put ourselves on the throne, to say it's going to be my authority, it's going to be my way, I will decide what is right and wrong, I will decide how my life will go.

And if it isn't the way I want it, I am going to react badly.

But when we acclaim Christ as King, we are saying it is He who rules, it is He who directs, it is He who guides.

And I will submit to His rule.

And I will know that through the church, through the body of believers, God will provide me with people, with pastors even, who will bring Christ's authority to me.

And to submit to that, to listen to it and to follow it is part of that acclamation.

And it's not something that costs us something we really want to keep.

For if we have our own authority and we're left to our own, it will not end well.

But if we trust in Christ and His authority, then we have freedom, true freedom, because then we know that He is going to lead us to where He wants us to be.

And where He wants us to be is something best for us.

And the third thing, when you acclaim Christ as King, you are also joining.

You're joining with His people.

You're joining with His body, the church.

That means this is not a moment to prove yourself.

None of us are here to really prove ourselves, but instead to walk in that procession I mentioned before, the one that has moved across generations, that began with martyrs and missionaries and proceeded to reformers, the path that the loved ones of yours who prayed for you, trained you, raised you, brought you up, and continue to hope the best for you, a path and a procession they have all walked before you and with you.

Today we're joining that procession, joining his people and walking in the path that God has led.

From that font to the altar, to the feast that will never end.

And we will praise Christ our King once for all, forever.

And today each and every one of us gets to add our voice to that ancient but eternal procession as well.

Therefore, it's a day of joy, it's a day of gladness, it's a day of anticipation, a day of relief.

Because the question hanging over this day is not, will it work?

What's gonna happen?

What am I supposed to feel?

Am I really ready?

Am I the right one?

The question that hangs over this day is, who is the king?

And we have our answer.

He is the king of glory.

He is Christ the Lord.

He is the one who entered Jerusalem to die on a cross and left Jerusalem resurrected as eternal Lord of all, conqueror of death.

And you and I acclaim him as King.

We know who he is, we submit to his power, we join with his people, and that is what we do this day, every Lord's day, as we cry out, Blessed is he who comes.

Amen.

Please stand.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Apostles' Creed.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

I believe 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 into hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, the life everlasting.

Amen.

I invite our confirmants forward.

Dear friends, when you were baptized, your gracious Lord forgave all your sins and covered you with the robe of Christ's righteousness.

Through water and word, he created faith in your hearts and adopted you into the family of believers.

As you have been instructed in the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit has enlightened your minds and preserved you as children of God.

After this preparation, you are ready to receive the Savior's body and blood in the sacrament.

You have expressed the desire to publicly confess your faith in Jesus and become communicant members of this congregation.

You have learned to examine your thoughts, words, and actions in the light of God's law, and you have experienced the comfort of forgiveness in the Savior's gospel.

You are ready to say with St.

Paul, I believed, therefore I have spoken.

We are filled with joy as we see how the Lord has grown your faith and love.

We bring our prayers to the Savior's throne of grace and implore him to keep you faithful to him and his word until you join us in all believers in the glory of heaven.

I now ask you, do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

If so, answer, I do.

Do you believe that the teachings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and this congregation as you have come to know them are faithful to the Word of God?

If so, answer, I do.

Do you desire to remain faithful to the teachings of Christ, be diligent in the use of God's Word and sacraments, and lead a godly life as the Lord gives you strength?

If so, answer, I do, and I ask God to help me.

Is it your desire to join us in worship and mission and support this work with your prayers and gifts?

If so, answer, it is, and I ask God to help me.

With sincere joy, we welcome you as communicant members of our Redeemer Lutheran Church.

And Lucy.

Encourage your heart and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6.

Proverbs 3:5

Lucy.

The Father in heaven, for Jesus' sake, renew and increase in you the gift of the Holy Spirit for your strengthening in faith, your gross and growth and grace, your patience in suffering, and for the blessed hope of eternal life.

The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing, everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, and they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Go in peace that you may return to your sins.

Please stand.

Because our King has come to us righteous and having salvation, let us pray to our Heavenly Father for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for all people in need.

For the true wisdom of God to fill our lives, that we hold tightly to the seemingly weak and foolish gospel, because it is the power of God for our salvation, and that we humbly rejoice that God chooses what is foolish and weak to shame the world and grant life in Christ Jesus.

Let us pray to the Lord.

For the members of this parish, that trusting in Him who gave Himself humbly as a sacrifice for us, we humbly give ourselves in service to Him and the people of this world, that we shout our Hosanna's of welcoming praise, and that we never fail to trust Christ, whose passion provides our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.

For those stricken by disease, for those enduring famine and natural disasters, for those in bondage, and for those who are in any need, especially the friends of Nick and Carrie in Thernopal.

That our Heavenly Father hear their pleas, meet their needs, relieve their suffering, and lead them to rejoice in Him who never fails us in our time of need.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy for those who live without faith in Christ, that the Holy Spirit call them to repentance and grant them a confident trust in the King who comes in the name of the Lord.

Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

Into your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.

Amen.

The Lord be with you.

Lift up your hearts.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is truly good and right that we should at all times and in all places give you thanks, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty and Everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who brought the gift of salvation to all people by his death on the tree of the cross, so that the devil who overcame us by a tree would in turn by a tree be overcome.

Therefore, with all the saints on earth and hosts of heaven, we praise your holy name and join their glorious song.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take and eat.

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it all of you.

This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.

The peace of the Lord be with you always.

For our guests who are with us, please note that in doing this we are not making a judgment about your personal faith in Christ.

I'd be happy to speak with you after the service about how you may in the future join us to receive the sacrament here at Our Redeemer.

You may be seated.

Hear the prayer of your people, O Lord, that the lips which have praised you here may glorify you in the world, that the eyes which have seen the coming of your Son may long for his coming again, and that all who have received in his true body and blood the pledge of your forgiveness may be restored to live a new and holy life through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.

Special word of welcome to guests and families who have joined our confirmants today.

As Pastor Ben Bassett mentioned in the sermon, we've made a number of changes to our confirmation process, and I wanted to extend a thanks to uh especially to the families and also to our entire congregation for bearing with us as we we make these changes and grow and learn and figure out what will truly work best.

So I appreciate that.

In this uh announcements for this coming week, please note it is Holy Week.

That means that we offer services every evening of this week at 6.30 p.m.

Those are brief comp line services, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

We have our Maudi Thursday service, Thursday evening, and Good Friday, both 6.30 p.m.

as well as a 1 o'clock p.m.

service here.

Then we look forward to Easter Sunday as well.

And I would remind you that there will be a brunch between the services that we hope you can join us for next Sunday.

I invite you now all to stick around for a reception of our Compromands, both those who are confirmed in this service as well as the ones who will be confirmed in the 1030 service.

That's going to take place in our community room.

All are invited for cake and punch and to celebrate and encourage one another as we walk our Christian faith together.