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<\/p>\nHosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna!<\/p>\n
Palm Sunday is proof of American exceptionalism. While the rest of Christendom celebrates Palm Sunday on a Sunday \u2014 more specifically, on the Sunday before Easter Sunday \u2014 we white American Christians celebrate the occasion on the third Monday of January.<\/p>\n
This is the day we set aside each year to honor the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. \u2014<\/p>\n
Ah, fuck it. Nevermind. Give us Barabbas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the other exceptional thing about white American Palm Sunday \u2014 we can\u2019t even make it a whole week before switching from \u201cHosanna\u201d to \u201cGive us Barabbas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the first reading from the liturgy for Palm Sunday, from Isaiah 50:4-9:<\/p>\n
The Sovereign\u00a0Lord\u00a0has given me a well-instructed tongue,
\nto know the word that sustains the weary.
\nHe wakens me morning by morning,
\nwakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
\nThe Sovereign Lord has opened my ears;
\nI have not been rebellious,
\nI have not turned away.
\nI offered my back to those who beat me,
\nmy cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
\nI did not hide my face
\nfrom mocking and spitting.
\nBecause the Sovereign Lord helps me,
\nI will not be disgraced.
\nTherefore have I set my face like flint,
\nand I know I will not be put to shame.
\nHe who vindicates me is near.
\nWho then will bring charges against me?
\nLet us face each other!
\nWho is my accuser?
\nLet him confront me!
\nIt is the Sovereign Lord who helps me.
\nWho will condemn\u00a0me?<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThat\u2019ll preach.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As proof of American exceptionalism, we white Christian Americans celebrate Palm Sunday on the third Monday of January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":65685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Palm Sunday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As proof of American exceptionalism, we white Christian Americans celebrate Palm Sunday on the third Monday of January.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2024\/01\/15\/palm-sunday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Palm Sunday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As proof of American exceptionalism, we white Christian Americans celebrate Palm Sunday on the third Monday of January.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2024\/01\/15\/palm-sunday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-15T11:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-02T22:36:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/52\/2024\/01\/MarchPoll1963.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"305\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2024\/01\/15\/palm-sunday\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2024\/01\/15\/palm-sunday\/\",\"name\":\"Palm Sunday\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-15T11:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-02T22:36:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"As proof of American exceptionalism, we white Christian Americans celebrate Palm Sunday on the third Monday of January.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2024\/01\/15\/palm-sunday\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2024\/01\/15\/palm-sunday\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2024\/01\/15\/palm-sunday\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Palm Sunday\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7083ccd514d4fb8d5043041756d766a0?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. 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