Palm Passion Sunday – Hosanna

What an awkward day this past Sunday was, Palm Passion Sunday. Or maybe that’s just how I feel about Palm Passion Sunday.

The tumblr feed EV’RY DAY I’M PASTORIN’… imagines Palm Passion Sunday like this:

<http://everydayimpastoring.tumblr.com/post/114771705131/palm-passion-sunday>

That awkward blending of two things that just down seem to go together.  A shark and a horse.

Is that what you think of when you think of Palm Passion Sunday?  On the one hand celebrating the triumphant and yet unexpected arrival of Jesus into Jerusalem. On the other celebrating the passion of Christ, because some people won’t make it to Good Friday Service and as a church we don’t want to skip over the passion and just run straight to Easter Sunday.

But what does it mean to hold those two together?

I think about that awkward tensions in life.  The funny ones, like a picture of a horse-shark or a shark horse, or a hoark…, or when you friend calls you in the middle of a meeting about spirituality to ask if it’s ok to make a circumcision joke in seminary paper.  (It is, just in case you were wondering).  I think about less funny ones, like almost dumping a bowl of popcorn on your ex-girlfriend, literally running into someone you’ve been avoiding, or walking into the middle of an argument between two friends about racism and the church.  I stop and pray about the really painful tensions, like living in a “Christian” country that argues over religious freedom as we discuss being unkind to other human beings.

For me the greatest tension I find as I think about my daughter.  I wrestle with the joy I have of watching her grow and thrive, against the anxiety and fear I have for the world she’ll grow up in.  That’s Palm Passion Sunday for me.  Excitement and sorrow wrapped into one.

Donna Claycomb Sokol, the pastor of Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, reminded me this Sunday of something very important, though.  The shout of the people, as Jesus rode into Jerusalem wasn’t Hallelujah, it was Hosanna.  While Hallelujah mean “Praise God”, Hosanna means literally “Save Now”.  The people were crying out to Christ, to Jesus, to save them.  And I found myself realizing that more often than not, that’s what I’m crying to God for, Save Us.  Save my daughter, save her parents and family, save this city, this nation, this world, from what we have done.

In the world there is joy and pain everyday.  Babies are born, speak their first words, learn to walk, and grow up!  But at the same time babies of all ages are neglected, abused, and killed.  And in that tension what better thing can we shout to the humble servant king, the long expected messiah, than Hosanna.  Save Us… Save us now…

There is a Palm Passion tension in our everyday lives. That tension is present in the world that we encounter everyday. But do we ignore it?  Do we miss it? And what does it mean when we do?

I don’t have it all figured out.  If you do, please let me know, and I’ll share it everywhere I can.  For me, I pray, in thanksgiving for the joys, and in lament for the sorrows.  I pray for the sunrises and sunsets, the moments and seasons of happiness and healing. I pray for the pain in the world, for those who are afflicted and the afflictors, and for the moments and seasons of sadness and grief.  And I long for the day when all will be reconciled, and all made one in the God who created the world, and sent us a messiah in the form of the son, that we might all be one.

How do you live in that tension?  How do you navigate the Palm Passion Tension of this world?  I invite you to share your thoughts in the comments below.