<html><body><div>The draft for this Sunday, based on the Gospel for the Liturgy of the Palms. I preach after that and we conclude the whole liturgy with a dramatic reading of the Passion Gospel.</div><div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>THE
EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>THE SUNDAY OF THE PASSION: PALM SUNDAY
a</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>MATTHEW
21:1-11<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>9<sup>th</sup>
APRIL, 2017</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>ISAIAH
50:4-9a<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>PSALM 118:1-2, 19-29</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>PHILIPPIANS
2:5-11<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>PSALM
31:9-16</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>MATTHEW
26:14 – 27:66</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>You
and I –<b> <u>WE</u></b> – are the sermon today.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I’m
sure you’re familiar with the saying attributed to St. Francis: “Always preach
the Gospel. Use words if necessary.” It’s true! I’m sure you’ve found this out
for yourselves already. We try to teach our children and grandchildren to have
a life that will be as fruitful and satisfying to themselves and others as
possible. We try to bring people up to be decent human beings. But whatever we
say may be contradicted almost immediately by thoughtless, careless behavior.
And saying. “Do what I say, not what I do.” simply doesn’t cut it.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>You
and I, then, are called upon, again and again, to centre our lives on the way
that Jesus’ words and actions were completely in sync.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Despite
the fact that today’s Gospel passage is used only once a year, it’s firmly
imprinted on our minds. I mean, what’s not to like? There’s an animal involved!
Jubilant crowds, practically through the gate in the wall surrounding
Jerusalem. Ahead lies the central focus of their lives as Jews – the Temple,
and at Passover, the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Salvation and Renewal.
Already the crowd was filled with expectation and thanksgiving. Plans,
developed and tested year after year, were on the point of coming to
fulfilment. All the thoughts of lambs ritually offered to God and then brought
to dinner tables throughout the city; the thought of gathering together in all
the magnificent sacred spaces; the anticipation of unique, intimate
celebrations with the extended families; all of that must have energised the
people as they came to the end of their long journeys.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>As
much as anyone else, Jesus’ friends would have been bubbling over with emotional
feelings. No matter that the last time that they were there, the authorities
with varying jurisdictions had tried to have Jesus deported or killed. That worry
had been set aside because of the importance of their religious commitments.
Their love of God, especially as explained by Jesus, was <b><u>THAT</u></b>
strong.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Then
Jesus actually appeared, riding on a donkey.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Immediately,
everyone remembered the prophecy, “</span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>Daughter of Zion, rejoice with all your
heart; shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king is coming to
you, his cause won, his victory gained, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a
colt, the foal of a donkey.” <sup>1</sup> Jewish people had been taught to look
for God’s Anointed Messenger coming in such a manner.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Finally, it was looking as if
everything was coming together, and all that brought anxiety, and trouble, and
oppression, and despair – all of that the people thought would be done away
with. So, in their frenzy, they ripped the limbs off trees, and tore off their
cloaks and threw them on the dusty, stony path in front of Jesus.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It was a scene that put even the
Super Bowl half-time show to shame.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>So far, so good.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We all need to have experiences like
that in our lives. We too need to grab branches, and to shout and sing our way
through life. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>THIS</u></b> is what
it’s like to put the Gospel into action. But we know that this is only part of
the story.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However, I’m getting ahead of
myself. Everyone, Jesus included, knew the value of providing heart-lifting
experiences to anyone faced with monstrous dreariness.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“My soul tells out the greatness of
the Lord,” as Mary sang when she and God started this whole ball rolling.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jesus and His friends so enthused
most of the crowd that they joined in Mary’s song. They recognized that “This <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>IS</u></b> the day the Lord has made, so
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>LET</u></b> us rejoice and be glad in
it.”</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If you and I <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><u>DON’T</u></b> act as if we recognize all the incredible
opportunities of blessing God gives us, then we may be missing out on some
wonderful chances to preach the Good News to the world.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I know there are always pressures.
There are always those who try to push us. Of course, there are times and
places for different styles of appropriateness. And there <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><u>ARE</u></b> some whose walking and praising abilities are limited.
But there are always gifts we can offer.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>St Bernard of Clairvaux has a
marvelous comment on this. “… </span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>shall I now comfort (the donkey) a little? We know he cannot sing; he is
not of those who can say, 'Thy statutes have been my songs in the place of my
pilgrimage'! But he has something, all the same, that all the others lack; for
to none other is the Lord so near. No, no(t) even those who keep close to His
side have Him so close to them as has the beast whereon He sits; the prophet
says as much, 'The Lord is nigh to them that are grieved at heart.' For a
mother also, when she knows her son is sick, takes all the greater care of him
and folds him in her arms more frequently. Let no one, therefore, think it an
unworthy or small thing that he should be a riding-beast for Christ.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“<span style="margin: 0px;">That beast on which Christ sits, is it not
you, who glorify and carry Christ in your own bodies, as the apostle says?” <sup>2</sup></span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>So,
take a palm frond, in a moment. Join with your neighbours in singing and
praising – and listen to one another – not just this morning, but every morning
– and afternoon – and evening. Go down the hall. Stop at the door to the place
where we usually worship and, palms in hand, singing again after the prayer, be
prepared to be startled, to be disappointed, maybe even to be silenced, that
the purple drapes are still there; the deep red of the vestments don’t seem to
shout so much “Rejoice!” but, instead, “Is that blood?”</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Take
your singing with you, however, as a comfort for all those times when we feel
we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>CAN’T</u></b> sing. And, remember,
“Blessed <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>IS</u></b> the one who comes
in the Name of the Lord.” Let us preach!</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>NOTES:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>[1]</span></span></span></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><font size="2">Zechariah
9:9, Revised English Bible, translation. </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>2</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>
</span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>Bernard of Clairvaux 1090-1153
from Dominica Palmarum II and Dominica Palmarum 1.4. See </span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><a href="https://www.cistercianpublications.org/Products/GetSample/CF052P/9780879074524"><font color="#0000ff">https://www.cistercianpublications.org/Products/GetSample/CF052P/9780879074524</font></a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><a href="https://www.cistercianpublications.org/Products/CF052P/Bernard-of-Clairvaux"><font color="#0000ff">https://www.cistercianpublications.org/Products/CF052P/Bernard-of-Clairvaux</font></a><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>Quoted
by Suzanne Guthrie in “<i><span style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 51);">At
the Edge of the Enclosure: Soulwork Toward Sunday: Self-Guided Retreat Palm
Sunday/ Passion (Year A)” by </span></i><span style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 51);">Suzanne Guthrie 9<sup>th</sup> April 2017 <a href="http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/palmliturgy.html"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/palmliturgy.html</font></a></span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;"><font face="Calibri" size="3"> </font></p>
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