Palm Sunday2022

Friends, if we could uh everybody get a palm and uh and a service sheet.

Do you have the service sheets?

Are they there?

Okay.

There are some as we go as we go in.

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

He's in heaven and glory unhighest.

Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Lord be with you.

Also with you.

Let us pray.

It is right to praise you, Almighty God, for the acts of love by which you have redeemed us through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

On this day he entered the holy city of Jerusalem in triumph, and was proclaimed as King of kings by those who spread their garments and branches of palm along his way.

Let these branches be for us signs of his victory, and grant that we who bear them in his name may ever hail him as our king and follow him in the way that leads to an eternal life, who lives and reigns in glory with you and the Holy Spirit now and forever.

Amen.

A reading from Luke.

After telling a parable to the crowd at Jericho, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

When he had come near Bethage in Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, Go into the village ahead of you, and if you enter it, you will find tied there a coal that has never been ridden.

Untie it and bring it here.

If anyone asks you, Why are you untying it?

Just say this The Lord needs it.

So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them.

As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, Why are you untying the coal?

They said, The Lord needs it.

Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on.

As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.

As he was now approaching a path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven.

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, order your disciples to stop.

He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.

Let us pray.

Almighty and ever-living God, in your tender love for the human race, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon him our nature and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility.

Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering and also share in his resurrection.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

As you are seated, the children may go with Alex to children's church.

A reading from Isaiah.

Declare and present your case.

Let them take counsel together.

Who told this long ago?

Who declared it of old?

Was it not I, the Lord?

There is no other God besides me, a righteous God and Savior.

There is no one besides me.

Turn to me and be saved, all ends of the earth.

For I am God and there is no other.

By myself I have sworn, for my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return.

To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Only in the Lord it shall be said of me our righteousness and strength.

All who are incensed against him shall come to him and be ashamed.

In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall triumph in glory.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.

Today's Psalm is Psalm chapter 22, verses 1 to 11.

Psalms 22:1–11

We will read responsively by the half verse.

Yet you are the holy one.

Our ancestors put their trust in you.

They cried out to you and were delivered.

But as for me, I am a worm and not a man.

All who see me laugh me to scorn.

He trusted in the Lord, let the Lord deliver him.

Yet you are he who took me out of the womb.

I've been entrusted to you ever since I was born.

Be not far from me, for trouble is near.

Even death on a cross.

Therefore, God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name.

So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.

Then Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews?

And he answered, You say so.

Then Pilate said to the chief priest and the crowd, I find no basis for an accusation against this man.

But they were insistent and said, He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee, where he began, even to this place.

And when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.

And when he heard that he was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

And when Herod saw Jesus, oh, he was glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign.

But he questioned him at length, and Jesus gave him no answer.

And the chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him.

Even Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him.

And then he put an elegant robe on him and sent him back to Pilate.

That same day, Herod and Pilate became friends with each other.

Before this, they had been enemies.

And here I have examined him in your presence, and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him.

Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us.

Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death.

I will therefore have him flogged and release him.

Then they all shouted out together, Away with this fellow, release Barabbas to us.

For this was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city and for murder.

And Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept shouting, Crucify him! Crucify him! And the third time he said to them, Why?

What evil has he done?

I have found him no ground for a sentence of death.

I will therefore have him flogged and release him.

But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified.

And their voices prevailed.

So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted.

And he released the man they asked for, the one who had been put into prison for insurrection and murder.

And he handed Jesus over as they wished.

And as they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country and had laid a cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.

A great number of the people followed him, and among these were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him.

But Jesus turned to them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

For the days are surely coming when they will say, Blessed are the barren, and the womb that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.

And then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, cover us.

For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.

When they came to the place that is called the skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

And then Jesus said, Father, forgive them.

For they do not know what they are doing.

And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

And the people stood by watching.

But the leaders scoffed at him and said, He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one.

And the soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself.

There were also an inscription of him saying, The king of the Jews.

One of the criminals who was hanged there kept deriding him and saying, Are you not the Messiah?

Save yourself and us.

But the other one rebuked him, saying, Do not fear God.

Since you are under the same sins of the condemnation.

But this man has done nothing wrong.

And then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come to your kingdom.

And he replied, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn into two.

And then Jesus crying in a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

And having said this, he breathed his last.

And when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, Certainly this man was innocent.

And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their brothers.

But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things.

Her name was Ruby Bridges, and she started first grade in New Orleans with probably a million or two other six year old kids who also started the first grade that year.

This should not have been a remarkable day for any of them, and it wasn't for almost all of them, other than the nervousness that.

Felt at beginning their educational experience like you and I did when we started first grade.

But for Ruby it was not so ordinary a day.

Ruby started at William Franz High School or elementary school in uh in New Orleans, and she was surrounded by U.S.

marshals.

Because you see, Ruby Ridges was black, and there had never been a black student at William Franz Elementary School in history.

Barbara Henry, who was Ruby's teacher, stayed in the school to teach Ruby, and she taught Ruby by herself for the entire year.

Because all of the white parents had taken their children out of the school and boycotted the school because there was a black child admitted to William French Elementary School.

On her way to the school, with the U.S.

Marshals surrounding her, there were white people on both sides of the street shouting and taunting and calling Ruby names that she didn't even understand because she was six years old.

They even shoved a child-sized casket in front of her with a little black doll in it.

This continued on most days during that school year.

Barbara Henry, who was uh Ruby's teacher, recalled these things to a psychologist named Robert Coles.

And Robert began to meet with Ruby.

And the teacher told Mr.

Coles that she noticed Ruby's lips moving as she arrived at school every day.

So the psychologist, Robert Coles, asked Ruby, he said, Who are you talking to when you get to school?

She said, I'm talking to God.

And she said, I pray when I go to school and when I go home.

And one of the reasons that she does, she did that, she said, was that there were so many people on the sides of the street under such terrible distress.

Well, what is it that you say to God?

said the psychologist.

She said, I pray for the people on the side of the road because they are angry and they are upset, and I pray that God will give them peace and take away whatever it is that is making them so angry and so upset and so unhappy.

This was, of course, at the beginning of the great war that the civil rights movement was in our nation.

Where did you learn this?

asked Mr.

Cole.

From my mommy and my dad, and from the minister at our church.

Ruby Bridge's parents were illiterate.

They could neither read nor write.

But they raised their child to know God, to know about peace.

To know about right.

We just heard Jan read to us a terrible story that followed on a joyous story that Eric read to us out in the hallway.

Today, Palm Sunday, we remember when Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem.

And the next Friday, some of those same people who were shouting his praises, were shouting, Crucify Him, crucify him.

You and I stood in that hallway and raised palms and said, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna, in the highs.

Where will we be on Friday?

I wonder.

Now, I don't blame the people.

I don't blame the people.

I mean, for one thing, they they go along with the crowd.

There is such a thing as mob mentality.

You know that.

You've probably experienced it at one time or another.

I don't blame the people too much because they shouted out, the Pharisees did.

The Pharisees said to Jesus, tell your supporters over here to be quiet.

And Jesus said, and rightly so, if these were quiet, the very stones would shout out.

Now, there are a lot of ways to interpret that.

The way I interpret it is that when the earth sees truth, then it responds truthfully and appropriately.

God says in the reading from Isaiah today, by myself I have sworn, and from my mouth goes forth a word that will not return.

Now, what that means, it's kind of funny, we don't talk like that very often these days, but what that means is this is a word that I will never go back on.

This is a word that cannot return to me empty.

In another place in Isaiah, Isaiah says, Isaiah has God say, My word will not return to me empty, it will prosper in that for which I sing.

Jesus goes, he goes out to the Mount of Olives and then he goes through the trial and he goes through all of this stuff and he has to carry his cross or Simon or Cyrene has to carry his cross.

When the psychiatrist or psychologist asked Ruby Bridges what she prayed for, she said, I prayed for the people on the side of the street.

And when he said, Why do you do that?

She said, Because they don't know what they're doing.

Because they don't know what they're doing.

Bless them, God, because they don't know what they're doing.

I get it.

I get it.

Like Peter, I often say blah blah blah because I don't know what to say.

When we had the story of the Transfiguration only a few weeks ago, Peter said, Lord, it's good to be here.

Let's build three booths, blah, blah, blah, on the top of the mountain.

You remember that?

And the gospel says, he said this because he didn't know what to say.

My mama told me, if you don't know what to say, don't say it.

Probably a good idea.

They don't know what they're doing.

And here we are, and here we will be on Friday.

And in the midst of all of the abuse, in the midst of all of the disrespect, in the midst of all of the anger, in the midst of all of the passion, in the midst of all of the suffering, and in the midst of all the pain.

The words are there.

Forgive them, Lord, they don't know what they're doing.

They thought they were doing the right thing.

They thought they were doing the thing that would protect their culture and protect their way of life and protect them from all of the stuff that was going on that was new and weird and strange.

But the words somehow were there.

I had a hard time understanding it because the people who hurt me, I have to remember that I was told to pray for them in order to do that.

On this case, the words were there.

Forgive them, Lord.

They don't know what they're doing.

Those words came too.

Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church.

Grant that every member of the Church may truly and humbly serve you.

We pray for Michael, our presiding bishop, for Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay, our bishops, in the diocesan cycle of prayer, Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Grace Houston, and Holy Family Houston, for Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, for the priests in our community, Mike, Jim, Craig, Bill, and Lillian, and for all bishops, priests, and deacons.

We pray for all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world.

For all the members of the armed forces, and for all who struggle for peace and justice, that they may act with prudence and vision to plant the seeds of your kingdom everywhere.

We pray for our parish and our vestry.

We pray for St.

Thomas the Apostles' School, for those who teach and those who learn.

Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake.

Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble.

That they may be delivered from their stress.

Give to the departed eternal rest, especially Jim Hall.

We praise you for St.

Thomas the Apostle and your saints who have entered into joy.

May we all welcome to share in our own kingdom.

Let us give thanks for our blessings and pray for our own needs and those of others, especially Chris, Ken, Nancy, Amber, Christina, Patrick, Helen, and those the congregation wishes to name at this time silently or aloud.

Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit, you have made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth.

Grant that in our earthly pilgrimage we may always be supported by this fellowship of love and prayer, and know ourselves to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy.

We ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whom all our intercessions are acceptable through the Spirit, and who lives and reigns forever and ever.

Amen.

A few announcements, mostly about Holy Week.

But I want to tell you that Garvin Ashke, who is our our choir director, of course, uh came down with COVID and he tested positive uh yesterday, and he called I called him last night, and he uh he's feeling fine.

He has sniffles and a cough, but no other symptoms, and he is uh hoping that on uh by Thursday, May Thursday, he will be back in the saddle, as it were, with us.

So do keep Garmin in your prayers.

I want to thank you, uh, and and I'm not I'm not casting any aspersions on those of you who are not wearing your name tags, but for those of you who are, I thank you because this is my first Sunday doing this.

Uh I don't, I haven't met every one of you.

I've met many of you, but I haven't met every one of you, I don't think.

And my capacity for retaining names is uh iffy as life goes on.

Uh I said to somebody at breakfast this morning that of all the things I miss, of all the things I lost, I missed my mind the most.

So if you will continue to wear the name tags through the next several weeks, I would appreciate it.

And maybe would uh other people that you don't know.

Which leads me to say, why don't you find somebody in this room right now, look around if you want, find somebody that you don't know and go up to that person after church and say, hi, my name is, and give them your real name and learn who they are.

That's a good thing to do.

Uh I want to say uh that this Holy Week is uh uh has made me appreciate Mike Stone very, very much because I have never heard of a priest who left town before Holy Week.

What a brilliant man he is.

We have a number of opportunities to worship this week.

Uh first of all, on Wednesday from 3 o'clock to 5 o'clock in the afternoon, we will offer the sacramental uh service of reconciliation, used to be called confession.

Uh, and the the liturgy of reconciliation is for uh anyone.

The Episcopal Church's stand on confession is all may, some should, none must.

You are all welcome to uh to exercise, to do auricular confession.

Auricular means to the ear.

Uh and uh we will be here uh between three and five o'clock on Wednesday to hear confessions if you want.

You do not need an appointment to come between three and five.

If you want to come at other times, then you should give me a call and we will arrange a mutually convenient time.

And then at six o'clock in the evening, uh Wednesday, we will do the stations of the cross.

These beautiful stations of the cross that you see around the uh around the uh uh sanctuary will be an assistance for us as we pray the stations on Wednesday at 6 o'clock.

Thursday, of course, is Monday Thursday, and that will uh that service will be at 6 o'clock as well.

And we will uh that's the service at which we strip the altar and the and the altar area of all ornamentation.

There won't be any ornamentation left.

The only thing that's gonna be left will be that font uh because it weighs about a short ton, and we're not gonna move it out of the out of the uh the sanctuary, but the uh but the the ornamentation is is uh taken out of the sanctuary, and the sacrament, uh which usually lives in the the little gold box back there called an almir, but we have to have a special date for everything, you know.

The sacrament of the bread and wine will be uh taken into the chapel, and there is a small altar of repose in there, and that's where the uh where the elements will stay overnight.

Uh Good Friday, we will have services at 12 and 6, at noon and 6.

Friday again from 3 to 5 will be uh sacramental confession if you want to take uh advantage of that.

I I don't know if you've ever done confession.

If you're a longtime Episcopalian, you might not have ever done it.

If you were raised Roman Catholic, you've probably done it before.

Uh I have done it a few times.

I'm a lifelong Episcopalian, but I've done it a few times, and it's it's good.

As Father Mike reminds us, sometimes we have burdens to carry.

And as time goes on, the burden just seems to get heavier and heavier.

And if you have something like that in your life and you want to lay it down, and you think you might need some help doing that, then this is a time to take advantage of that.

Uh then on uh uh Friday evening at 6 o'clock again will be the uh Good Friday Liturgy and Distribution of Communion.

There'll be distribution of communion at both services on Good Friday.

And then on Sunday morning, uh next Sunday, Easter Day, uh, the Easter vigil will begin at 6.30.

And we'll start out in the in the Portico Share there with uh lighting a new fire as we do traditionally in the Easter Vigil.

And that starts at 6.30.

And next week, the 8 o'clock service will be at 8.30.

Okay?

It'll still be the 8 o'clock service, but it will begin at 8.30.

So if you plan to come to the 8 o'clock service next week, uh, and you do, you'll be a half hour early.

That's okay.

You can sit in here and say your prayer.

Uh but it will begin at 8.30 because the vigil sometimes goes long.

Uh, and then the late service next week will be at 10:30 as usual.

I think we have covered everything.

Is that it?

Okay.

Any other announcements that needed, Alex, are there announcements needed with Alex?

Yes, Ellen?

If you want to give flowers for the Easter service, there are envelopes in the uh narthex, or you can just send a check to the office.

Okay.

Uh, in case you didn't hear, if you would like to give Easter flowers in uh memory of someone or in honor of someone's life and ministry, uh there are envelopes in the uh narthex.

That's this room right outside the doors.

Uh, there are envelopes there, and you can uh uh write a check, or you can just Send a check to the church office with a note for it on your very large check.

You send it to the church office.

Yes, another one?

Another one.

Easter egg hunt?

Yes, the Easter egg hunt is at nine o'clock next Sunday.

The Easter egg hunt is at nine o'clock.

Thank you.

That's one of the sacraments I forgot about.

The Easter egg hunt is at nine o'clock next next Sunday.

On Easter Day.

Yes, Ellen?

Other Ellen.

Thank you.

DOK meeting daughters of King Mary meeting right after church in Christ Hall, is that correct?

In Christ Hall, okay.

The Daughters is a great organization, by the way.

Guys like me depend on the daughters because their main job is to pray.

That's a big deal.

Okay.

Walk in love as Christ loves us and gives himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.

You just made ready for those who love you and those who want to love you more.

You have much faith.

You have been here all in here not in here for a long time or never before.

You would try to follow me.

It is right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, for our sins he was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world to himself.

By his suffering and death, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who put their trust in him.

Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your name.

In the calling of Israel to be your people, in your word spoken through the prophets, and above all in the word made flesh, Jesus your Son.

For in these last days you sent him to be incarnate from the Virgin Mary, to be the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

In him you have delivered us from evil and made us worthy to stand before you.

In him you have brought us out of error into truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life.

On the night before he died for us, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread.

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

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you.

This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for all, for the forgiveness of sins.

Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.

Therefore, according to his command, O Father, we remember his death, we proclaim his resurrection, we await his summoning of the glory.

And we offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to you, O Lord of all, presenting to you from your creation this bread and this wine.

We pray you, gracious God, to send your Holy Spirit upon these gifts that they may be the sacrament of the body of Christ and his blood of the new covenant.

Unite us to your Son in his sacrifice that we may be acceptable through him, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

In the fullness of time, put all things in subjection under your Christ, and bring us to that heavenly country where with blessed Thomas and all your saints we may enter the everlasting heritage of your sons and daughters.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, the firstborn of all creation, the head of the church, and the author of our salvation, by him and with him and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever.

Amen.

Now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say, 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.

Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image and nourishing us with spiritual food and suffering of Christ's body and blood.

Now from thus forth the people forgiven, healed, renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world and continue with the life of Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world.

All things break, and all things can be mended.

Not with time, as they say, but with intention.

So go.

Love intentionally, extravagantly, and unconditionally.

The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you this day and always.

Thank you.

I'm not sure how to do that.

But that's why I don't know.